If you’re a small business owner in The Valley the chances are very good that you have brushed shoulders with Enterprise Renfrew County and perhaps have been fortunate enough to sit down with Heather Inwood-Montrose as I have.
Heather is the Small Business Advisor with Enterprise Renfrew County and in her role she has helped literally hundreds of business get their start and maintain a foothold in small business in The County. She joined The County in 2022 in her current role having previously been an aerospace welder as well as a teacher in the trade for many years before getting her calling to Enterprise.
One of the things that stood out in the conversation I had with Heather was her enthusiasm towards education which she says is something that should always be striven for at any level or any age:
Chief among her roles is to encourage entrepreneurship and to do that they offer a number of courses and services around coaching and skill improvement in an effort to help small businesses remain competitive and ever evolving. Whats more, it’s all free:
Enterprise Renfrew County is funded by The Ministry of Economic Job Creation and Trade in partnership with The County of Renfrew which is why they are able to offer the programs they do at no cost to small businesses.
According to Inwood-Montrose the organization conducts consultations with over 300 unique business in the County annually and the roster keeps growing as The Valley grows which she says in an invaluable trend. Well over 500 businesses in total tap into their various workshops and seminars which keeps everything fresh and vital as businesses continue to grow and thrive.
Heather was asked why it’s important to support Small Business Week and her answer involved a reminder that the entire County is represented by the organization so all businesses within can feel included and well represented regardless of geographic location.
Sincere thanks goes out to Heather Inwood-Montrose for taking the time to chat with us and for being a Title Sponsor of our celebration of Small Business Week. For more information on their programs and services please click on the link below.
https://www.enterpriserenfrewcounty.com/
(Written By: Richard Evans)