When NORCAT CEO Don Duval reads the Canadian Federation of Independent Business placed Sudbury 88th out of 121 communities across Canada, he can't help but be a little skeptical.
From his perspective, Sudbury is holding its own as an entrepreneurial city.
“We are the fastest growing innovation centre in the province of Ontario,” Duval said, referring to NORCAT's own Innovation Mill (http://www.norcat.org/norcat-innovation-mill/), which provides resources for entrepreneurs to launch their businesses and make them successful. “That to me is an indicator that we have a growing and vibrant tech entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Duval said the NORCAT Innovation Mill's portfolio of new entrepreneurs had doubled each of the last three years.
While he said that growth will eventually flatten out, he added it shows Sudbury provides a healthy environment for new companies.
Part of that health, he said, is due to a network of local angel investors NORCAT has helped foster over the last two years.
Duval said the Innovation Mill Angel Group now includes around 100 high net worth individuals from the Sudbury region who are open to investing their own money in new entrepreneurs.
In the last 18 months some of those members have participated in six angel investment transactions worth a total of $2.5 million.
“There's a civic pride among our high net worth individuals in the community,” Duval said. “They want to help, contribute to and support quality deals in our community.”
