Manufacturing, agriculture, health care, and creative professional services dominate the landscape of Wellington's economy. In 2015 Wellington County Economic Development produced Sector Investment Profiles for each of these four key dynamic growth sectors. View our profiles.

Wellington County has many advantages to offer those looking at locating or expanding their business. The County offers access to 130 million people within a day's drive and a half hour to major urban cores - Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Milton, Brantford and Hamilton. The short distance to the GTA also provides the County with access to over 5.1 million potential customers and visitors.

In November 2015, the County of Wellington hosted 147 Ontario and European delegates for a full day forum which focused on market entry strategies, trends in the agri-food sector and opportunities for international collaboration. A business matchmaking event was organized by the County and the Guelph Chamber of Commerce with 39 participating businesses.

During the summer of 2015 Wellington County, the University of Guelph and the City of Guelph hosted 46 business delegates from the Netherlands. Day 1 included tours of businesses and research institutions, Day 2 involved organized business matchmaking in Toronto. Delegates were provided with information and resources in order to pave the way for future investments as it relates to agriculture and food.

Wellington County's objective was to understand foreign owned manufacturing businesses initial investment decision process, their current status, how to support them and how to use them as ambassadors for foreign investment attraction. Eight businesses in Wellington County were interviewed. Overall results were Annual Sales Range of $10,000,000 with 75% of businesses anticipating increased sales in the next year. Industry outlook was described as either growing (75%) or stable (25%).

The County of Wellington became a member of the Ontario Food Cluster in 2016. The Ontario Food Cluster (OFC) is a cost-sharing partnership of government and economic development organizations in southern Ontario pooling their resources to attract agri-food company investment to the participating Ontario communities. Learn more at www.ontariofoodcluster.com.

The University of Guelph, City of Guelph, Guelph Chamber of Commerce and the County of Wellington will lead a mission of regional agri-food companies to France in October 2016. Guelph and Wellington identified agri-food as a growth sector in their respective economic development strategies and this work is being supported by the University of Guelph, Canada's Food University. The programme includes pre-mission sessions, one-on-one business meetings, site visits and attendance at SIAL Paris.