Young Northwest entrepreneurs to benefit from Provincial funding

NDP Minister Doug Donaldson
announced another round of
Rural Dividend funding Thursday

The NDP government keeps rolling out the Rural Dividend funding announcements, making note on Thursday of close to 349,000 dollars that will be distributed in the Northwest to support the Futurepreneur Canada program.

The non-profit organization is best known in the Northwest for the ThriveNorth program which provides financing, mentoring and support tools to aspiring business owners from age 18 to 39 years.

Over the last year, the Thrive North initiatives have included the 2017 Business Challenge, the organization also features a range of resources that are made available to regional entrepreneurs as they prepare to take that first step into the business world.

In the Northwest, the partners for the program include:

Community Futures (Terrace),
District of Kitimat,
Lax Kw’alaams Band,
Nisga’a Lisims Government,
Northern Savings Credit Union,
Northwest Community College
Prince Rupert & District Chamber of Commerce

The funding announcement comes as Small Business Week in BC and Canada is about to come to an end. Doug Donaldson, the Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources and Rural Development outlined how the funding will benefit entrepreneurs in the Northwest.

“This new funding means Futurpreneur Canada and its partners can support young entrepreneurs, which, in turn, helps rural communities grow their economies and create jobs – now and for the next generation.”

You can review the background to Thursday's announcement here.

Last week we made note of the Rural Dividend distribution on the North Coast, which saw the City of Prince Rupert receive 150,000 dollars, which Mayor Lee Brain has announced will be put towards the city's Redesign Rupert initiative.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice celebrated the funding announcement this week for Prince Rupert and other locations in the region through her constituency website.

More notes related to the work of the provincial government and its engagement with the Northwest can be found on our Legislative Archive pages below:

Skeena constituency 
North Coast constituency

You can learn more about the Futurpreneur Program and the Thrive North initiative here.

More items of interest related to the Northwest Commercial sector can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review