Found Money: It's More than the Loose Change in Your Couch
Written by:
Alby Algranti, Vice President of NorthBridge Consultants.
Challenges for manufacturers and businesses in Canada are unrelenting. Between higher operating costs relating to labour, significant property taxes, more stringent safety requirements, and higher freight costs coupled with the near parity of our currency with the US dollar, there are many obstacles which create an uneven cost structure for Canadian businesses compared to foreign competitors.
Innovation has been a long standing staple for Canadian businesses in order to facilitate differentiation over foreign competitors. Finding ways to offset some of the inherently higher costs associated with doing business in Canada can be critical for a company’s growth and sustenance.
NorthBridge is continually seeking out beneficial programs that can help financially supplement various company initiatives. Typically, businesses apply for government funding based on actions they are already looking to undertake. This includes initiatives like hiring an export sales manager, expansion of a facility or exhibiting at a trade show.
Approval of specific funding opportunities for your company may be the support needed to take strong action toward improving the performance of your business. Our goal is to maximize the funding available to businesses, fueling additional growth and innovation. The potential to receive government funding for something you are already planning on doing makes a lot of sense, right? These are the types of actions that can provide the key separation between you and your competitors.
Along with the Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program, there are various government initiatives available for funding across various regions and industries; these include business expansion, hiring, technological advancement, capital expenditures, development of export sales, marketing to increase exports, etc.
The challenge and the opportunity is that there are literally hundreds of accessible funding programs in various forms including, grants and tax credits that change on a frequent basis. Funding programs have specific application timelines and finite financial resources to allocate, resulting in difficulties for funding identification and compliance.
Our experience has shown that the arduous, time-consuming application processes and lack of awareness about existing programs are the main reasons that companies hold off on participation in government funding programs.
With multiple NorthBridge managers having at least 10 years of extensive hands-on manufacturing experience through ownership, we understand the challenges as well as the opportunities businesses need to act upon for growth and improved financial performance.
With the success we have experienced, our team is ready to help find much more than loose change in your company’s couch.
