Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) is a community-based economic development programme that focuses on supporting existing businesses. It helps communities understand local business needs so that they can help businesses stay, grow and become more competitive in the community.
BR+E Short Term Objectives
Build and improve relations with existing businesses
Build capacity within the community and strengthen relationships between organizations
Identify the positive and challenging attributes of the community as a place to do business
Identify and address immediate concerns and issues of individual businesses through an assessment and referral process
Collect business and market data to support economic development planning
Establish and implement a strategic action plan to support existing businesses
BR+E Long Term Objectives
Increase the competitiveness of existing businesses
Enable business development, investment and job creation
Foster and enhance the environment for business development
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Wellington County Projects
The County of Wellington will be reaching out to businesses in downtowns to understand what their current climate is.
In 2021, the County of Wellington and seven member-municipalities completed a regional BR+E Project focusing on Business Recovery through COVID-19.
Rationale
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, funding resources and opportunities were changing rapidly for the business community. Business outlook and recovery was also rapidly changing, and the County of Wellington wanted to understand how to best support their business community given the dynamic environment of the pandemic.
Project Scope
Businesses were contacted through this project via email or phone call, and were invited to complete a survey. Over 400 businesses completed the survey confidentially to provide insight on what supports they needed most from their local governments.
Objectives
The objective of the business recovery survey was to:
Develop a good relationship with businesses during times of uncertainty
Understand what the County’s role was in support and how to best provide that support
Act on the key gaps that were identified by businesses improve communication
In 2016, the County of Wellington and seven member municipalities completed a second regional BR+E Project, focusing on the Downtown and Retail Sector.
Rationale
Following the success of the 2014 BR+E study and the subsequent progress made to enhance the County’s business environment, the implementation of an additional regional BR+E study was identified as a key priority. The 2016 BR+E Project focused on the Downtown/Retail and Foreign Direct Investment sectors.
Project Scope
During the 2016 BR+E Downtown/Retail Project, a total of 139 businesses were surveyed; The BR+E programme involves visiting businesses to conduct confidential interviews with senior level management, owners or managers. Data analysis and action planning is then undertaken to address issues and opportunities.
It is important to note that some businesses did not respond to our invitations to participate. Other businesses also noted that they had too little time to complete the survey or that they were hindered by the length of the survey. A key point to make is that the smaller the business community is, the percentage of businesses required to participate increases. As such, it can become more difficult to engage the required number of businesses to meet a higher level of statistical accuracy. Percentages used throughout this report may deviate by +/- 2 percent.
County of Wellington Downtown/Retail BR+E
The objective of the Downtown/ Retail BR+E programme seeks to:
Develop a strong relationship with the business community and understand their needs and requirements
Support the needs of the business community
Identify and act on key issues raised by the business community that are a disincentive to business operation/growth
In 2013, the County of Wellington and seven member municipalities completed our first-ever regional BR+E Project, focusing on the County's four main sectors: Agriculture, Manufacturing, Health Care, and the Creative Economies.
Wellington’s BR+E Project Scope
Wellington’s BR+E project was multidimensional as it included its seven municipalities as well as a particular focus on four key sectors; agriculture, health care, manufacturing and the creative economy. Two municipalities completed additional downtown interviews, recognizing the importance that their downtowns play in their local economies. As Puslinch relies heavily on the transportation sector they interviewed ten transport businesses. The Local Immigration Partnership assisted in the interview process and conducted eight interviews to understand a newcomer’s perspective.
Who Did We Talk to?
The Wellington County BR+E project was well received with 270 businesses participating. Those businesses represented a cross section of municipalities and the four key sectors.
Key Findings
On February 20, 2014 a BR+E Retreat was held with a working group including members of the WMEDG, the Wellington County Economic Development Committee of Council and the Wellington Federation of Agriculture for the purpose of reviewing the countywide survey results. Participants were assigned to tables that would focus on one of the four key sectors of the industry throughout the session. This was intended to ensure that as the data was reviewed and discussed, the unique challenges and opportunities by key sector would be understood and reported on. The groups reviewed the quantitative data as well as the qualitative data (open ended comments) that had been collected in the survey process. The open ended responses were useful in providing context for the survey responses as well as suggestions on how businesses see the County and municipalities assisting them in the future. Discussion that day revealed that there are several shared issues that affect all sectors as well as those that are sector specific.
Shared Responses
Hydro outages and cost problems
Hi-speed internet availability
Show youth the job path of future careers
Commercial banks are limiting start-ups and expansions
Need commercial/industrial space
Businesses are unaware of products/services of other Wellington businesses
Need to market Wellington County
Need for cross business promotion
Need affordable housing
Business training needs (succession planning to online sales)
Need for commercial/industrial space inventory
Train small business to become big business
Agriculture
Lack of 3 phase hydro
Need help navigating regulatory challenges for value add expansions and on-farm processing
Misperceptions about career opportunities
Current networking does not work for farmers
Local food is huge market opportunity in Wellington
Need help navigating regulatory hoops
Lack of natural gas
Adapting to unforeseen changes
Manufacturing
Lack of 3 phase hydro
Not enough commercial/industrial space for small and medium businesses
Provide assistance/training for international growth
Need uniformity of municipal permits/zoning
Transportation of workers is challenging
Provide starter home options
Misperceptions about career opportunities
Lack of natural gas
Health Care
Challenges recruiting beyond just physicians
Demands are growing but funding is not
Be creative with opportunities of new Fergus hospital and Mount Forest expansion
Need to prepare workforce for changing health care needs
Market the wellness opportunities in Wellington
Creative Economy
So many unique products/services in Wellington, but no opportunity to network
Need more attractive/vibrant downtowns (commercial/residential mix)
