New Training Agreement will benefit Oakville labour market

TORONTO — Implementation of the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement provides Oakville with a comprehensive employment and training network and double the resources to get things done, said Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn.

“Bringing together two training systems that were not previously well coordinated will reduce gaps in services and make it
easier for employers, jobseekers, students and newcomers to find the programs and services they need,” said Flynn. “Investing in people is a cornerstone of the McGuinty government’s economic strategy.”

Through the Canada–Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement, seven federal programs that help people looking for work, employers and communities are transferred to the provincial government, along with the staff and resources to manage them. The transfer results in an investment of about $525 million each year from the federal government in Employment Ontario and no disruption in service to clients.

“Oakville and communities across the province will benefit from further investments in the programs and services they need to find employment, develop skills, and access important labour market resources and information,” said Minister of Training Colleges and Universities Chris Bentley.

The transfer of programs means Ontarians will get:

• More resources: $525 million in transferred federal programming every year will combine with $360 million in Ontario programs

• More service: people and businesses served yearly will grow from more than 500,000 to 900,000

• More locations: the number of third–party service providers will grow from 470 to 1200 in all regions of the province

All Ontarians will benefit from a fuller range of connected training and employment services, in particular:

• Employers, who will benefit from expand-ed services to help them find the workers they need and to encourage their invest ment in skills development

• Job-threatened or laid-off workers, who will benefit from better coordination and availability of services

• Employers, workers, newcomers, and youth, who will get more flexible programs that support life-long learning to meet changing needs

The agreement also results in easy access to services through:

• In-person referrals between communitybased program deliverers offering Employ- ment services to better meet your needs

• Free hotline — 1.800.387.5656 — with expanded referral ability for all Employment Ontario services.

New feature for small businesses

Welcome to our new feature series that is dedicated to helping small and medium -sized businesses overcome some of the hurdles in growing their enterprises successfully and profitably.

With today’s creation of many new small businesses we want to address the issues that entrepreneurs keep coming up against. Today, people are increasingly taking their dreams and ideas and making them a reality. By taking their lives into their own hands they are hoping to gain the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing their efforts generate the financial and personal rewards that come with doing something themselves.

We also wanted to let you know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Going out on your own can be tough (a lot of small businesses don’t make it) but the task can be made a lot easier if you prepare yourself properly and use the often free advice that is available through business development centres, banks, and other help agencies. Then, once you have organized and launched your business and managed successfully through those first critical early months, you can get help from your accountant, lawyer, and other business advisors.

Based on our many years of successful experience with all kinds of small businesses, we know that our articles will help because we will be providing you with practical information as well as some lessons about how others have handled problems and challenges just like yours. Whether the sticking points involve Marketing and Sales, or Finances, Production/Manufacturing, or Employee Relations, we will cover them in our regular monthly columns.

Sometimes we will be presenting actual tales from the trenches — cases where real businesses have experienced specific problems and how they solved them using our practical advice. Other times we will be reviewing current issues about taxation, staff and corporate structures. Finally, we will give you leads and tips about where you can go for more information on relevant topics. For example, recently we saw a very interesting article about how to make the most of using business cards to promote your business (www.hamiltonsmallbusiness.ca).

We hope that you will read our articles and let us have your comments. If there’s anything that you want to discuss or that you think we should talk about our email address is BAG@smallbusinessadvisory.com or call us at 905-381-1999.

The Shotgun FundTM launches “I Hate My Partner” Campaign

TORONTO — If you love your business you don’t always love your business partner. The Shotgun FundTM, a private equity firm, is going to the streets of Toronto to point out the funny and not so funny side of a business marriage gone wrong. The I Hate My Partner campaign highlights the real challenges of a frustrated business partnership and how actions can be taken to remedy the situation where a shotgun clause is already in place.

A shotgun clause is a simple contract that allows one partner to buy out another at a fair price in a limited time frame. The Shotgun FundTM specializes in giving private business owners quick access to private equity and the experience they need to effectively manage a shotgun clause situation.

“Today’s prudent business owners recognize that in personal or business relationships nothing lasts forever,” said Jim Ambrose, Partner of The Shotgun FundTM. “The I Hate My Partner campaign is a fun way to draw attention to this challenge and how The Shotgun FundTM levels the playing field when partners are fighting. When the smoke clears, and the bad guy is gone, The Shotgun FundTM helps you to focus on the business and move on.”

The Shotgun Fund’sTM I Hate My Partner campaign will combine innovative street marketing, newspaper ads, media outreach and viral web elements that will poke fun at the business marriage gone bad but also lead business people to the more serious consideration of how to deal with it effectively.

Finding yourself in the middle of a shotgun clause dissolution of a partnership, can be difficult leaving you with only weeks to find new capital investment if you want to remain in control of your business. The Shotgun FundTM reviews the business situation and can provide an investment decision within days.

Through The Shotgun FundTM website, business people will be able to view a list of 10 Signs of a Bad Business Relationship. Signs of trouble include:

• A lack of respect

• An inability to share power

• A lack of shared values

• Conditional or no offering of assistance

“Money is not the most important thing to find in a shotgun execution. It is finding smart money that you can trust,” said David Bork, Shotgun Fund Advisor and Founder of the Aspen Family Business Group. “Otherwise you may just go from the frying pan and into the fire with a new set of problems you didn’t anticipate.”

The Shotgun FundTM works with operating partners to realize shared growth and success for the business. On average The Shotgun FundTM is invested in business partnerships for a minimum of five years. The Fund’s approach is to treat operating partners fairly to and align their shared interests to realize the interim and longer term success of the business.

“I partnered them because of their professionalism, but after only a short time, I realized that Jim and Richard were better and more trustworthy business partners than I first had in the business,” said Billy Shawn, Founder, Canadian Drugstore. “That made a big difference to me and for helping our business realize its full potential.”

Unique in North America, The Shotgun FundTM is a targeted fund managed by Argosy Partners. Argosy Partners is a private investment partnership established in 1995 to provide merchant banking to small and medium-sized companies. As general partner of The Shotgun FundTM, Argosy combines its own capital with that of a small number of institutions and entrepreneurs to make investments in private companies that are experiencing shareholder conflict.

JMP Engineering earns International CSIA Certification

BURLINGTON — JMP Engineering now stands among a select group of five other companies across Canada as a Certified Member of the international Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA). The CSIA certification is a pinnacle achievement in better business practices for control systems integration companies. Manufacturers turn to this certification as a clear identifier that
the solutions they are receiving meet critical standards of quality, performance, and long-term support. CSIA’s audit process is one of the most stringent in the industry with seven critical business areas reviewed, including project management, quality management, business development, and technical management.

As more industrial automation hardware or software suppliers endeavour to provide similar services, CSIA works to provide clarity on the role and significance of dedicated control and information systems integrators.