Accessing Government Funding for Your Company ’ s Profitability.

Is government funding part of your business strategy? If not, it should be.

The Government of Canada allocates billions of dollars in grant funding every year, which can support up to 75% of any small businesses ’ planned project costs. The main objective is to facilitate growth and prosperity in the economy by encouraging investments and continuous innovation. This funding could result in substantial subsidies for your business. Ensuring that you proactively apply for all funding opportunities is imperative to profitable growth.

There are thousands of grant programs available, all with varying funding amounts, criteria, and timelines. Most grants are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis making it critical to align your planned projects with the most lucrative programs available. Unlike Tax Credit incentives, grants require you to apply for funding before you incur any costs, as you must pre-qualify to receive funds. Your planned investments will be reviewed, and once approved, funding is awarded. When Does Your Business Qualify for Funding?

Your business may qualify for funding if you are investing in any of the following areas:

Developing a new manufacturing process or product. Developing new software for your business or for your client. Improving existing products or processes. Incurring costs related to a project, prototype, or process that is incomplete because of technical problems. Planned investments focused on growing your business and market share. Improving your competitive advantage. Research & development. Hiring new employees or training new skills. Creating or purchasing innovative solutions. Having a regional impact.

The Various Funding Categories

When considering applying for government grants it is critical to align your planned projects and investments with the correct program(s). To help quickly identify the potential for funding, Ayming has streamlined the process by categorizing the grant programs into the five groups below:

1. Business Growth:

SMEs need to have proper business growth strategies in place to ensure they are remaining competitive in their market. Grants in this category help with:

Improving export growth, productivity, performance, and competitiveness Infrastructure or facility modifications and process improvements Building innovation capacity Exhibiting at international trade shows

2. Capital Purchases:

For any size company, purchasing and/or maintaining the equipment or machinery necessary to do business can be overwhelming. For a Small Business with little to no capital, this can be even more challenging. Grants in this category help with:

Purchasing new or improved manufacturing machines and equipment Retrofitting existing technologies to become more competitive Upgrades to energy efficiency equipment or technology Purchases that improve productivity and efficiency to introduce new technology or contribute to increasing exports 3. Research and Development:

If a company is conducting its research and development initiatives within Canada, there are plenty of highly lucrative grants (and even tax incentives) to offset some of those costs. Grants in this category can help with:

Projects that grow and generate profits through adoption, adaptation, development, and commercialization of innovative, technology-driven, new or improved products, services, or processes.

4. Hiring or Training:

Hiring and training employees is a part of any company ’ s daily operations. Finding the right candidates or training existing employees requires significant effort, time, and resources. Grants in this category help with:

Hiring new employees Training current and/or new employees Training to support the adoption of new technology, processes, or procedures Training to enhance skills and career development

5. Green and Clean Technology:

With growing concerns of global warming and climate change, there has been a dramatic shift towards identifying and promoting businesses that offer sustainable solutions using green and clean technology. Grants in this category help with:

Lighting retrofits and controls HVAC re-design Chiller replacement Variable speed drives Improvement on thermal performance Implementation of new operating procedures Low carbon emissions

Common Industry Challenges

When applying for government funding, there are many potential roadblocks that applicants can face. Below are some common industry challenges:

There are thousands of grant programs, all with varying eligibility criteria, application processes, and submission time frames. Knowing which one you are eligible for and when to apply can be tricky. The funding landscape is constantly evolving with the frequent introduction of new programs, unscheduled end of existing ones, or the depletion of funds without prior notice. This makes it imperative to proactively identify your program of choice, align your planned initiatives, then complete and submit a strong application as soon as possible. Each grant intake is extremely competitive and usually has hundreds of companies applying for the same pool of funds. Applicants often lack the knowledge required to complete strong submissions that will gain interest and get approved over others. Companies often struggle to clearly determine which cost(s) they can include in their applications to maximize their ROI and hence, often leave money on the table. In addition, grants can also impact an organization ’ s SR&ED tax credit claim. It is necessary to have a strategy to maximize the combination of both programs. Some projects may encompass multiyear investments. Sometimes, future investments do not proceed as planned and special amendments need to be agreed to with the government agencies. Companies lack the proper knowledge required to pursue such amendments, while still preserving the initially approved funding amounts.

Why Ayming? How Can They Help?

Ayming

’ s holistic methodology and thorough understanding of government grants result in $1.5 billion of funding achieved annually. They are proactively engaged for the entire life cycle of the project, including identification, application preparation and submission, reporting packages, and assistance with government correspondence.

Ayming

’ s proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven database has real-time access to thousands of grant programs, including a custom snapshot of all federal and provincial grants currently available, specific to each business. This database, combined with their vast experience and specialists located across the country, means you get a funding strategy customized for your specific projects and industry.

Ayming is the first Canadian company to establish a national grants practice. Partner with a highly experienced team that boasts over 50 + years of combined grants experience and over 200+ years of combined SR&ED experience, meaning you partner with true subject matter experts who are invested in your success. With Ayming, clients do not have to wait for the government agencies to process their grant and SR&ED applications in order to receive money immediately. Ayming has an exclusive fund of $150 million which provides accelerated access to funding through our attractive financing offer. No risk success-fee remuneration.

For small and medium-sized businesses, Government Grants are the key to funding future innovation and growth. Ayming will work directly with your team to understand your near-term needs and long-term objectives, becoming a critical part of your company ’ s decision-making process for planning future investments. If a company plans to spend money on any projects that could fall into the above-mentioned areas, contact Ayming for a free analysis of the immediate funding opportunities available.

In Conclusion

Kim Knight and Shanelle McKenzie

Empowering WOC by Taking an Organic Approach

C o - f o u n d e r s o f T h e V i l l i j

Kim and Shanelle met at work in 2016. Through conversation, they realized that they were not alone in their feelings of exclusion, isolation and overwhelm while navigating health and wellness spaces.

They believed there was a better way to help women like them take better care of themselves and their communities.

Less than six months later, The Villij was born.

Born out of their personal experiences being Women of Color, founders of Vilij, Kim Knight and Shanelle McKenzie were motivated to start their journey as strong entrepreneurs in the wellness sector given the apparent lack of opportunities and representation in the WOC community. Creating a space in the wellness sector where women of color can feel empowered and safe was important to Knight and McKenzie. Their organization, Vijil, puts forward a digital wellness membership that includes ondemand and real-time virtual fitness and yoga sessions, mental health workshops, and guided meditation, creating an accessible, culturally appropriate and cost-effective wellbeing option that focuses on the experiences of WOC.

Kim Knight (@bykimknight) is an educator, writer, and Co-Founder of The Villij. Using her background in user experience design, Kim cultivates mindful wellness tools and social networks that center equity and culturally affirming practices. In between achieving her goals, Kim spends time connecting with her Caribbean roots through food and travel. She Is currently writing her first recipe book that weaves together culture, creativity, and affirmations for nourishment.

Shanelle McKenzie (@thecolorsofwe) is a Program Director, Wellness Activist and CoFounder of The Villij. Raised in the USA, she returned to Canada as a young adult and quickly realized that wellness spaces were non-representative of her community. She became passionate about breaking generational curses and providing access to wellness and mental health advocacy for women of colour. Today, Shanelle is bringing awareness to the importance of well-being through curating intentional spaces.

What are the key findings on the goals and barriers of Black business owners and workers in Canada for 2022?

The pandemic

’ s impact on Canadian business owners is undeniable, but Black business owners have especially felt the effects. According to Intuit QuickBooks ’ Black Wellness Data Report, more than one in three Black business owners and workers say their personal finances got worse during the pandemic. What’ s more, those surveyed who do not currently have positive financial well-being, only 55 percent report feeling positive about their mental health. You can ’t pour from an empty cup, and yet we see many are deprioritizing their own self-care because they are putting other people or responsibilities first.

As small business owners, we know this pace is unsustainable and it can be challenging to shift focus not only for the survival of your business, but for yourself. That’ s why we ’ re thrilled to see almost half of Black business owners (48%) are placing a higher priority on well-being because of the pandemic, and more than one in five (22%) making it a “ significantly higher priority ” . The study also revealed the top two priorities for improving personal well-being are maintaining mental health and boosting income. Achieving financial and health prosperity goes hand-inhand, it’ s impossible to realize one without the other. By checking in with ourselves, we give our minds a chance to reset and recharge, so we can continue to innovate and become our best selves, both personally and professionally.

How do you ensure that your team members are maintaining their mental, emotional and physical health?

As entrepreneurs in the wellness sector, we strive to support our team members by putting their overall health at the forefront. We begin by facilitating access to tools in the form of fitness, mental, and emotional health courses led by accredited professionals. As such, each member has an invested interest in improving and maintaining their overall well-being.

Self-advocacy is also encouraged and celebrated in our organization. Upon onboarding, we support our team with setting clear boundaries for themselves and with others. We urge each individual to communicate when they feel overwhelmed, depleted or need an extension on a deadline. Each member takes regular time away from their routine tasks to recharge with activities that bring them joy. Our aim is to reduce the instances of burnout and stress and create a firm work/life balance ethos.

Are there any particular methods or practices that have been helpful in managing stress and anxiety for you and your team?

Like any small business, we are often pulled in various directions so we like to prioritize our to-do list to focus on the most important items. We begin by taking a full inventory of our day-to-day

tasks and deadlines. This way, we are able to keep track of progress and create with a clear mind. Maintaining a realistic workload and organizing to-do ’ s have kept the stress at bay during the busiest of seasons.

We use various organizational and customer relationship management tools to make processes easier and more efficient. Leveraging technology also takes care of the mundane and repetitive tasks so we can spend our time focusing on more important things to our business. Solutions such as QuickBooks have helped our team stay on top of our finances as we continue to grow, enabling our team to carve out meaningful time to decompress and focus on their life balance between tasks.

What role do you think mental, emotional and physical health plays in the success of Black businesses?

As Black business owners, nurturing our well-being is pivotal to our success. We experience systemic barriers that have a direct impact on our decision-making. When we first started The Villij in 2017, we faced challenges gaining access to capital and finding supportive business networks. Hence, we had no choice but to figure everything out ourselves.

We know what it is like to have great ideas but no funds or advice on how to execute them. These types of stressors affect our thoughts, our emotions and our bodies. It is a challenge to take care of yourself when stressing about your business ' success. And how many small business owners can afford therapy? We certainly could not. We learned to tend to our health through accessible practices such as finding community, setting boundaries, making time for daily movement, and rest. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are starting out and trying to build a healthy foundation for their business?

Show yourself some compassion. Throughout your entrepreneurial journey, you will fail, you will feel lost, you will compare your success, and you will feel like throwing in the towel. You will also have great moments, and we believe it is important to hold space for the entire journey. Life is a practice. And, the success of your business is not an indication of your self-worth. On the not-so-good days, become your own best friend/cheerleader that will encourage you to keep going. Make it a habit to celebrate your wins, both big and small.

About The Villij

We are a wellness club designed to help women of colour nurture their mental, emotional and physical well-being.

Our mission is to help women of colour nurture their well-being through affirming wellness education, experiences, and support.