Ontario Youth Entrepreneurship Pathway: Where to Go at Every Age

Why this page exists

A fourteen-year-old in Ontario who wants to start something runs into the same wall every time: almost everything is for adults, and the things that are not are scattered across a dozen organizations that do not link to each other.

This is the map. It is deliberately not a list of what we do — Launch League appears once, in one age band, and most of what follows is somebody else's. If the right next step for your teenager is Summer Company or a co-op placement or a college incubator, that is the answer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Ages 12 to 14: before anything official will take you

Nothing government-funded starts here. Summer Company begins at 15 and Futurpreneur at 18, so a twelve-year-old with an idea has to find their own way in.

• Just start something small and real. Lawn cutting, baking, reselling, tutoring, dog walking. The learning is in charging a real person real money, not in the idea. Our list of things a young person can actually start is free and has no sign-up.
• Learn the fundamentals free. Business 101 is eight modules, free, no account, written for this age.
• Enter something. The Launch League competition accepts entries from age 12, costs nothing, and gives written feedback to every entrant whether they place or not. It is one of very few places this age can get judged work back.
• Volunteer hours start now. The 40 community involvement hours can be earned from the summer before Grade 9 — see what counts and what does not.

Ages 15 to 18: the years with the most on offer

This is where Ontario actually puts its money, and where most families do not know what is available.

Summer Company — up to $3,000

A provincial grant for students starting a summer business: up to $1,500 up front for start-up costs and up to $1,500 on completing the program. You must be 15 to 29, in high school, college or university, living in Ontario, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, not already running a business, and returning to school afterwards. Under 18, a parent or guardian signs the agreement.

Your Small Business Enterprise Centre — free, and nearer than you think

Free advice, consultations and seminars, in locations across the province. They administer Summer Company in many regions and they will talk to a sixteen-year-old. This is the most underused thing on this page.

Find your Small Business Enterprise Centre

Inside school, where the credits are

• Business and career courses. There is a course for this from Grade 9 onward. We publish a page for each of the 25 Ontario business studies and guidance course codes, using the Ministry's own descriptions.
• Co-operative education. Co-op credits count towards the diploma, and up to two can count as compulsory credits — see the full diploma requirements.
• Specialist High Skills Major. Bundle courses and certifications around a sector and graduate with a red seal on the diploma.
• Dual credit programs. Earn a college credit while still in secondary school.

If the answer is the trades rather than a business

• OYAP — start an apprenticeship while still in secondary school.
• Pre-apprenticeship training — free training and a work placement for people who are not ready to be hired as an apprentice yet.
• Our parents' guide to apprenticeship explains how the whole thing works, because that is usually the conversation that stalls.

Post-secondary: every campus has one of these

Almost every Ontario university and college runs an entrepreneurship centre or incubator, and they are generally free to that institution's own students. This matters more than it sounds: choosing between two similar programs, the one with a working incubator is a materially different offer.

• Velocity — University of Waterloo.
• YSpace — York University.
• DMZ — Toronto Metropolitan University.
• Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre — Queen's University, Kingston.
• Brock LINC — Brock University, Niagara.
• Brilliant Catalyst — Ontario Tech University, Durham.
• LEAP Junction — Fanshawe College, London.
• Innovation Hub — Carleton University, Ottawa.
• EPICentre — University of Windsor.

That is not the complete list, and it is not a ranking. If your institution belongs here, or the description of yours is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

Province-wide, the Ontario Centre of Innovation works on the commercialisation and talent side of the same ecosystem.

Ages 18 to 39: real money

Futurpreneur — financing up to $75,000

The main national step once school is behind you: start-up financing of up to $75,000 and up to two years of mentorship, for entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39. It is not available earlier, which is precisely why the years before it matter.

Futurpreneur Canada

Starter Company Plus

Training, mentoring and a grant for people starting or expanding a business, delivered through Small Business Enterprise Centres. Starter Company Plus

If you are rural

Community Futures Development Corporations serve rural Ontario with financing and business support that the bigger programs often do not reach. Community Futures Ontario

The shortest honest summary

• 12 to 14: start something small, learn the basics free, enter a competition that accepts you.
• 15 to 18: Summer Company, your local Small Business Enterprise Centre, co-op and business courses, OYAP if it is the trades.
• Post-secondary: join the campus incubator. It is free and most students never do.
• 18 to 39: Futurpreneur, Starter Company Plus, Community Futures if you are rural.

The point of the map is that there is always a next step. The reason young people drop out of this is almost never the idea — it is arriving at fifteen with nowhere obvious to go.

If your teenager is at the start of it, Business 101 is free and takes no sign-up, and the career test takes ten minutes and stores nothing. If it has gone past reading and into worry, this is what one-to-one coaching involves.