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Communities of Opportunity: Hearst

Hearst is located approximately 935 kilometres north of Toronto along Highway 11.
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The Town of Hearst and its partners signed a declaration in 2017 proclaiming Hearst as an entrepreneurial community and indicating the intent of the partners to become actively involved in promoting entrepreneurship in their respective scopes of work.

The entrepreneurial community has produced a study on business succession opportunities and other business opportunities. A workbook on introducing the values of entrepreneurship at the preschool and daycare level was developed and a workshop on promoting entrepreneurship as a career was prepared and will be used at the high school level. 

Furthermore, the elementary classes in the local Catholic schools presented an Entrepreneurship Fair where the students promoted and sold products and services. Finally, the entrepreneurial community promotes all year long through workshops, events and conferences.

The goal of the entrepreneurial community is to increase the number of persons who will be not only thinking of starting a business but actually starting it. 

To achieve this, the schools, the lending partners, the different stakeholders and the municipality must foster entrepreneurship as a way of life, as an opportunity to realize one’s dream and to increase locally owned businesses. 

With November being the International Entrepreneurship Month, the community has decided to focus on the ‘intrapreneurs’ in the local businesses and organizations.  Intrapreneurs are managers or employees who promote innovative product development.

An Intrapreneurship Gala will be held on Nov.  29 when employees with entrepreneurial qualities will be honoured by their employers.  

Three conferences will be held on intrapreneurship and business startups.

By collaborating on a synergy of actions, the entrepreneurial community hopes to develop the entrepreneurial culture, entice the youth to think of entrepreneurship as a career, and to support existing entrepreneurs in their ventures.

The ultimate goal is to create more businesses in the Hearst community.

The Town of Hearst’s Economic Development Service is available to support new businesses in their implementation in the Hearst area. We offer personalized services in making your transition to Hearst as smooth as possible. Also, the Economic Development Service collaborates with their partners on many structural projects that address challenges identified by the business community.

Communities of Opportunity is an annual advertising feature allowing Northern Ontario municipalities to showcase their unique social attributes and economic assets to the investment world, and demonstrate why they are open for business.