This new program will support social enterprises, with a focus on community learning across small cohorts in areas throughout Southern Ontario in a peer-learning model. The benefit from shared learning approaches will support participants to improve their market readiness.
The COIL STEP program is designed for social entrepreneurs with a circular focus, operating in any business model (for-profit, co-operative, non-profit and sole proprietorships) to launch and scale. This includes food, environment, agriculture, and material sectors (fabric, material reuse, packaging etc.).
We recognize that the circular economy and wellbeing economy are intrinsically linked, and the challenges of non-profits or social enterprises are different than other business models. Within COIL STEP, entrepreneurs will use circular economy principles, apply an equity and gendered-lens to their business models, and create scalable community oriented circular enterprises.
This program offers a range of support that participants can access in real-time – while developing your business, ensuring that at the end of the program, you have access to resources to take your project to the next step.
This program will support 10 social enterprises with $8,500 in program value starting in March to May 2023.
Our complete Program Guide is available here.
All applicants can access:
Circularity and Sustainability in Food Production - a single 2.5 hour workshop offered in collaboration with Food Venture Program. We are offering this program to support idea development before the application window closes. This course is set for February 2, 2023 at 9:30am EST, email us at investment@harvestimpact.ca if you'd like to register.
Once accepted into STEP, all applicants can access:
Financial support:
$3,000 non-repayable grant to support program participation and hard costs of your enterprise
$2,000 in social purpose lending through Harvest Impact offered at 0% interest with a 12 month repayment timeline.
$1,000 allocation towards place-based costs, such as a shared commercial kitchen rentals, workshop or maker space rentals, pop-up retail space, Farmers’ Market booths for product retailing, co-packing facility fees, or product testing fees. We’d be happy to discuss other relevant expenses that this program can support with you.
Mentorship: 14 hours of one to one support in areas you identify as wishing to develop. We will match you with a mentor who understands where you’re at and can champion new connections, practices or tools to help you move to next steps.
Access to an additional 20 hours of support with a Circular Entrepreneur in Residence (virtually). The Circular Entrepreneur in Residence will support all program participants to help keep you on track and advance core objectives.
Through STEP, the Harvest Impact by 10C team will support you in accessing educational training relevant to your current stage of work.
- All participants can receive access to the short course Circular Systems Design by Unschool - we will have a code for users to enter for both the course and the handbook.
- Food Based Applicants: A 12 session Circular Food Enterprise Bootcamp - $1000+ in value offered in real time with weekly sessions beginning March 9, 2023 from 9:30am-12:00pm EST.
AND/OR
Circular Businesses working in non-food sectors - such as fabric, material reuse, packaging etc. - can receive enrollment support in existing courses or other content (up to $500 value) that you would like to access. Please let us know in your application what training you’d like to access that you have never had the opportunity to take.
We will provide other asynchronous training tools that will be relevant to you during this work together.
COIL STEP
This new program will support social enterprises, with a focus on community learning across small cohorts in areas throughout Southern Ontario in a peer-learning model. The benefit from shared learning approaches will support participants to improve their market readiness.
The COIL STEP program is designed for social entrepreneurs with a circular focus, operating in any business model (for-profit, co-operative, non-profit and sole proprietorships) to launch and scale. This includes food, environment, agriculture, and material sectors (fabric, material reuse, packaging etc.).
We recognize that the circular economy and wellbeing economy are intrinsically linked, and the challenges of non-profits or social enterprises are different than other business models. Within COIL STEP, entrepreneurs will use circular economy principles, apply an equity and gendered-lens to their business models, and create scalable community oriented circular enterprises.
This program offers a range of support that participants can access in real-time – while developing your business, ensuring that at the end of the program, you have access to resources to take your project to the next step.
This program will support 10 social enterprises with $8,500 in program value starting in March to May 2023.
Our complete Program Guide is available here.
All applicants can access:
Circularity and Sustainability in Food Production - a single 2.5 hour workshop offered in collaboration with Food Venture Program. We are offering this program to support idea development before the application window closes. This course is set for February 2, 2023 at 9:30am EST, email us at investment@harvestimpact.ca if you'd like to register.
Once accepted into STEP, all applicants can access:
Financial support:
$3,000 non-repayable grant to support program participation and hard costs of your enterprise
$2,000 in social purpose lending through Harvest Impact offered at 0% interest with a 12 month repayment timeline.
$1,000 allocation towards place-based costs, such as a shared commercial kitchen rentals, workshop or maker space rentals, pop-up retail space, Farmers’ Market booths for product retailing, co-packing facility fees, or product testing fees. We’d be happy to discuss other relevant expenses that this program can support with you.
Mentorship: 14 hours of one to one support in areas you identify as wishing to develop. We will match you with a mentor who understands where you’re at and can champion new connections, practices or tools to help you move to next steps.
Access to an additional 20 hours of support with a Circular Entrepreneur in Residence (virtually). The Circular Entrepreneur in Residence will support all program participants to help keep you on track and advance core objectives.
Through STEP, the Harvest Impact by 10C team will support you in accessing educational training relevant to your current stage of work.
- All participants can receive access to the short course Circular Systems Design by Unschool - we will have a code for users to enter for both the course and the handbook.
- Food Based Applicants: A 12 session Circular Food Enterprise Bootcamp - $1000+ in value offered in real time with weekly sessions beginning March 9, 2023 from 9:30am-12:00pm EST.
AND/OR
Circular Businesses working in non-food sectors - such as fabric, material reuse, packaging etc. - can receive enrollment support in existing courses or other content (up to $500 value) that you would like to access. Please let us know in your application what training you’d like to access that you have never had the opportunity to take.
We will provide other asynchronous training tools that will be relevant to you during this work together.