Alternative funding for small businesses is critical to keeping expansion activities going strong. Whether you’re a new B2B startup company still building a client base or an established organization aiming to scale up your business, you know how much work needs to be done and how much it costs.
You probably want to step up your marketing, implement AI-based technology, enhance your website, and most of all, find a way to acquire new clients. But that requires resources, especially in times of economic pressure.
That’s why we suggest exploring grants for Canadian businesses. Between federal, provincial, and municipal grants covering various types of businesses, these grants will provide you with the funds needed to enhance your marketing, outreach, operation optimization, and tech implementation.
Let’s examine the different types of funding available to small businesses and how they can be leveraged to grow.
Training Grants
With labour shortages impacting recruitment efforts across Canada, hiring has become more challenging than ever. To ease the burden, numerous grants are available to help businesses attract new talent and provide the necessary training to align them with industry best practices.
These grants address challenges to hiring, training, or retaining employees, including apprentices. For example, the Federal program Digital Skills for Youth (DS4Y) helps match underemployed youth with SMEs in digital-related roles and provides digital skills training.
Another example is the government of Quebec. They offer the workforce training program (Le programme de formation de la main-d’œuvre) which assists employers in developing specific employee skills related to the job held or a task required by a new project.
Other grants will offer funds for business training and mentoring purposes. In fact, the range of options is endless: some small business funding programs can help facilitate strategic growth, and even foster international trade opportunities. These grants can provide your business with a range of new skills, individual mentoring, and coaching across a broad spectrum of fields.
Business Development, Improvement and Productivity Grants
Let’s say you want to grow your organization and expand to additional markets or industries. Do you feel that you’re pouring in a lot of precious time, money, and energy without getting the requested results? As it turns out, there are many grants across Canada to help SMEs invest in developing their business.
Available across all provinces, these programs, some offering $100,000 or more, cover a wide range of activities, including market development and diversification, R&D, commercialization, distribution, and marketing strategies. Also covered is the creation of marketing materials, such as branding, positioning, website design, and social media advertising. Business development, improvement, and productivity grants would greatly benefit your business, as they provide opportunities for market assessment, developing new sales processes, and building relationships with new partners.
The CanExport grant, for instance, can assist in entering new international markets while providing business and digital marketing advice, SEO and market intelligence, advertising on digital platforms, translation, adaptation, and creation of marketing material.
Technology & Online Implementation Grants
New technologies seem to pop up every day. AI is being harnessed in innovative ways to automate every aspect of work, and companies that don’t deploy advanced technologies can fall behind their competitors.
That’s why it’s crucial to implement automation technologies and AI tools. Luckily there are grants for small businesses just for that. They can help you adopt new technologies for business success, like boosting your online presence, implementing e-commerce or digital strategy, or becoming more productive.
The Boost Your Business Technology (BYBT) grant is part of the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP). It enables businesses to assess their digital readiness and implement advanced technologies to increase their competitiveness.
Interested in knowing which funding for small businesses you could apply for? Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with one of our experts to see how you can benefit from funding opportunities!
