For the past 36 years, Enterprise Brant has been providing a variety of services to entrepreneurs and business owners across Brantford and Brant County, in order to foster economic development and growth within the local economy.
Sara McLellan, who has been the organization’s general manager since 2022, explained a little more about Enterprise Brant.
“We’re a Community Futures Development Corporation which is a program in the community that’s funded by the federal government through the federal development agency for Southern Ontario. Enterprise Brant started operations in 1988 as a business incentive corporation, and we received a loan fund from the federal government of $1.5 million dollars…that was to lend to businesses that were unable to get paid financing…we were given some operational funds as well,” McLellan said. “Right now, we have a three-year contract with the federal government which helps us fund our operations. The contract ends in 2026 and we will have to apply again for those funds. [However,] the funding we were given has been lent to businesses in the Brantford and Brant Community for the last 36 years, and…we are actively working in the community for economic development and job creation which are our goals. It’s for supporting businesses in the community. Along with that loan program, we provide business advisory services. So, if businesses are having challenges, we provide counseling for them, and the money is meant for startup businesses as well as expansion and maintenance of businesses.”
Nevertheless, Enterprise Brant continues to support various economic development special projects.
“Our board sets aside some money to give for special project grants every year, and those grants are for not-for-profits in the community which are doing events that are going to create some type of economy, like tourism. Many years ago, Brantford had a committee that was looking at bringing a university to Brantford. We provided a $50,000 grant to do the strategic planning to bring what is now Wilfrid Laurier University to the community,” she explained “We do funds for strategic planning [and] we will be contributing to the Special Olympics that’s coming to Brantford in July 2025. This event will bring people here…there will be tourism…people will be booking rooms, they’ll eat at our restaurants, and the events will draw crowds. So those are the types of events and organizations that we support with those funds.”
McLellan, who originally started with Enterprise Brant in 2007, discussed what attracted her to the non-profit.
“Before joining Enterprise Brant, I was a controller for companies. I then had a break in my employment, so I decided to apply to Enterprise Brant because I liked the idea of working in the community and supporting local businesses. At that time, we were running a program that was a self-employed benefit program as well as the loans program that we have which we continue to offer now. I worked with clients to start businesses…. but I quickly moved into the lending side [and] also assisted Cindy Swanson, who was the general manager at that time, writing policies and procedures for the express grant,” she said.
McLellan shared a story of an entrepreneur who she helped many years ago.
“I had a client that I did a $15,000 loan for when I first started at Enterprise Brant…and when I came back to the organization in 2022, that gentleman called me within a few weeks and I learned that he got another $50,000 loan a couple of years after that, and he had grown his business to $1.6 million in sales. And now he was looking at succession planning to move the business into the hands of his daughters,” McLellan said. “He was a heavy equipment mechanic, and he has employed many people over the years, and has bought from other businesses in the community for his parts and his service. That’s a great example of what a $15,000 initial loan can do for a business in the community.”
By 2012, McLellan decided to leave after five years seeking other opportunities at the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board. And in 2022, McLellan decided to apply for the general manager role; fulfilling her passion to help grow the local economy by helping businesses.
“I think because of the way we lend, we’re a character-based lender, so we get to look at them as a person, [and] what they bring to the business. And it’s extremely satisfying to see the talents of these people…being utilized in our community to employ people and grow businesses,” she said. “Not everybody succeeds, but we are flexible lenders. So, we work with people to get them over humps, and so we will do interest-only payments, or sometimes forgive payments for a while for business to get them back on track. And that’s the uniqueness of our business. I have a real passion for business and economic growth in Brantford and Brant County, and to be able to be in this position is very rewarding. The other thing is I also have the satisfaction of mentoring staff and growing our team as well.”
However, McLellan also is focused on developing, fostering, and managing an array of partnerships across the community.
“One of the requirements through the federal government is that we work in partnership. Many years ago, when I was at Enterprise Brant, we ran all of the seminars out of our offices. Since then, we have partnered with the Business Resource Center and we sponsor workshops and seminars that they deliver for startup businesses. I also sit on the grant committee for their Starter Company grants.,” McLellan noted. “One thing about the community Futures Program is we’re there to fill gaps in the community. We try not to duplicate what others are doing, but work alongside them. We also have a great relationship with both chambers of commerce in our community…we collaborate on Small Business Week, which is in October [and] work together…in providing support and training for business owners in the community. So that’s been very beneficial.”
McLellan further explained the importance of these partnerships in order to benefit the community as a whole.
“I’m in contact with BRC, and the chambers, and both economic departments in both the County of Brant, and the City of Brantford. We are involved in their strategic planning, [as] it’s important that we know what their direction is, so that we can work alongside them to bring the best to our community. There are 280 offices across Canada which are within the community futures network, and there’s 60 here In Ontario and we belong to the south western region. I’m a general manager that’s on the board there and we work regionally,” McLellan described. “And also, just like with the chambers, we are a sponsor of the Business Excellence Awards, and I’m also on the judging committee there. So, we’re out in the community at networking events throughout the community. We also work very closely with the banks…because if they cannot finance a company, we may be able to help them so that it gives them a place to refer their clients to.”
Despite the challenges between Brantford and Brant County, Enterprise Brant looks to work together with them and support them as McLellan explains.
“We have the County of Brant and the City of Brantford, who don’t always work together cohesively, so that’s definitely a challenge. And since we’re supporting both communities, we want to see them come together and work together for the benefit of everyone,” said McLellan. “I understand they each have the interest of their own community, so that’s one of the challenges we face here. But I know that there are community partners of ours that meet together to try to help that situation along. We have so much opportunity here in our community, because we are growing. We’re on a 400 series highway. We’re quite well positioned. I think we have very good mayors in both communities and I think the goals are to make our community as good as it can be. That’s what I feel like we’re all working towards, making Brantford and Brant the best place to live and work in.”
