Bradford’s Catalyst Centre is one step closer to becoming a reality.
On Tuesday evening, John Pickard — the founder and managing director of consulting firm Accolade Innovations Inc. — provided council with an update on the progress toward creating a business and operational plan for the centre. Later, during committee of the whole, councillors voted to move ahead with Accolade and for staff to provide a final report at a later date.
Pickard said the creation of the centre is expected to provide support targeted to business start-ups, early-stage entrepreneurs and small business operators; provide access to business funding; and address demand for collaborative training, networking, meeting and event space.
In addition, the centre is expected to help fill the gap from lack of local co-working or flexible smaller office space.
“The centre would aim to develop a collaborative ecosystem whereby industry, small business, entrepreneurs, start-ups, government, academia and venture capital can intersect to create community, spark innovation and stimulate economic growth,” Pickard said in his presentation.
The town’s Office of Economic Development aims to create the centre in the downtown core, which Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano questioned. He suggested there might be more room “a hop skip and a jump from the downtown area.”
“There’s something about these places, there’s an energy to them, a vibe to them and we think that is best delivered downtown,” said Pickard, adding the additional crowd could be beneficial to other nearby businesses as well, such as restaurants.
Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik agreed that it’s important to attract business to downtown.
“We need to revitalize our downtown. We need to concentrate our efforts on trying to get business down there,” Verkaik said, but wondered what would keep start-ups and small businesses from moving on to other municipalities once they get going.
“One of the features of a centre like this ... is it starts to build an ecosystem in the community. The bigger it gets and the more robust it gets, the less reason there is for entrepreneurs to wander away,” Pickard said.
In co-operation with a project steering committee, the consultant identified eight potential models for the town to consider including:
- Maker space
- Industrial maker space
- Trades and skills training centre
- Commercial kitchen
- Co-working space
- Entrepreneurship hub
- Incubator
- Accelerator
The consultant recommended a combined co-working space and entrepreneurship hub with a fully equipped shared office space which could be rented out to provide professional office amenities, modest meeting and event space for members and the community, and to offer professional mentorship, training, programming, and events for entrepreneurs.
They also recommended a public-private partnership with a not-for-profit to act as an anchor tenant in the targeted 5,000 sq.-ft. (465 sq.-m) space with professional management; longer-term plans could include a child-care partner.
The consultant proposed that the centre could also charge admission to programming such as boot camps for entrepreneurs at any stage, boot camps for food specific businesses, a weekly mentorship program and accelerator programs for female entrepreneurs and newcomers.
Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney asked how the town can ensure the centre is accessible to people of all income demographics, and questioned the possibility of subsidies.
“Is there an opportunity to have free time, free services? Yeah, I think that is possible. The way to do that is through sponsorships. We could go and get the big corporations in town to buy a chunk of time, and we have say, six hours a week where people can come and use that time,” Pickard said.
In a report about the centre presented to committee of the whole, Michael Disano, manager of economic development, noted that Bradford has approximately 2,400 self-employed individuals, and “approximately 1,000 registered businesses, 83 per cent of which have between one and nine employees.”
The report projected initial costs could be evenly split three ways between the town, the tenant and government funding.
During discussion of the report, Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine asked if the consultant would investigate combining the centre with the proposed social services hub planned for 177 Church St.
“It’s open sky right now. We’ll be looking at all options,” Disano said.
In response to concerns about available space, Mayor James Leduc expressed appreciation for looking at all options, but favoured the downtown.
“It’s not about building a building; it’s about using space in the downtown core that might be available to us. To bring young entrepreneurs downtown, that will bring a vibe downtown. One day, maybe we’ll get the next Bill Gates coming out that door,” Leduc said.
Disano confirmed that staff will be “exploring any and all options,” including combining the business hub with the social services hub if there’s enough space, but “I think you need to be mindful that we’re really trying to create a business hub with this model,” he said.
In creating the plan, the consultant spoke with ecosystem partners (those already providing support to entrepreneurs in Bradford, Simcoe County, York Region and Ontario), the public library, commercial real estate experts, community partners (colleges, municipalities, government agencies), the Bradford Board of Trade leadership, town council members, SWAN Bradford (Successful Women Always Networking), prospective content and programming partners and prospective co-working space management partners.
Pickard said a draft business plan is being developed and expected to be presented to the steering committee on June 12, and based on the committee’s feedback a final plan is expected to be presented to council on June 26.
Only after the plan is finalized will the town look at options for implementation. The process is expected to begin sometime in 2024.
