Casino Rama near Orillia will host the OACFDC’s 22^nd annual conference September 14 – 16, 2015, so block that time on your calendar now! 

For your budgeting process, please take note of these figures: Registration fee $275; Meals $200:  Hotel $130/night for 2 nights = Total: $735 plus travel.  Watch for more information coming soon.

The new section on Professional Development is now available on the OACFDC website.  Go to www.oacfdc.com, click on Professional Development and log in.

The section has three main areas:

Online Learning for Small Business

-        Includes links to Contact North, where you can locate a Contact North centre near you.  They will assist you and/or your clients in finding the online course to suit your needs. You will also find links to the courses that are most often searched by small business clients.

Professional Development for CFDC Staff and Board

-        For Staff, there are links to the Community Futures Leadership Institute online self-assessment, which leads to certification.  There is also a list of courses in Business Lending, offered by Omega, and a link to the CF Network of Canada Orientation video for new staff members.

-         For Board Members there is a link to Community Futures Leadership Institute board training information, with descriptions of the various modules offered, and a link to the CF Network of Canada Board orientation video, and a listing of Resources for Board Training.

Webinar Library for CFDCs

-        The Webinar library includes links to recordings of the various webinars that the OACFDC has offered in recent years.  The recent webinars on Social Media and Government and Media Relations, along with the Fraud webinar are posted, along with a many timely topics. 

Space has been allotted for any CFDC offering a webinar to post a recording of it. 

Congratulations to Betty Langford on her new position as General Manager of the Centre For Business and Economic Development.  Betty has been with the Centre For Business for 17 years. She has held the position of Loans Officer as well as Program Manager for the CAF grants. She continues to sit on many CFDC committees.  Prior to the CFDC world, Betty held many positions at CIBC, as well as experience working in the legal field.  Betty brings extensive experience for support to small businesses not only through her CFDC role but as the owner of a small family business.  Best wishes to former GM Tillie MacDonald on her retirement.

Rock Lefebvre is the new Chief Executive Officer at Cornwall and The Counties CFDC.  With a long-time passion for promoting business growth, economic development, and responsible business advocacy, Rock joins the CFDC after serving as a senior executive of a national professional association. From 2004 to 2014, Rock led CGA Canada’s research, standards, and professional compliance agendas and contributed to the national and international accounting and auditing standard-setting process.  Rock has an MBA from the University of Edinburgh, received his CGA designation in 1989, is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), as well as the newly unified Canadian CPA designation.  

The OACFDC tracks the “reach” of their social media and other marketing formats.  Looking back on 2014 data, some interesting numbers have come to light. 

Website: With the transition from the old website to the new one, the traffic has more than held its own:  in the 1^st quarter of 2014, there were 6,322 visits, and in the 4^th quarter, there were 6,602 visits.  The number of pages viewed is way up with the new more user-friendly website:  from 27,354 in the 1^st quarter, up to 40,276 in the 4^th quarter.

Facebook: the number of Likers has grown from 57 in the 1^st quarter, to 98 in the 4^th quarter – please “Like” our facebook page – push us over that magic number of 100! We average about 350 posts and shares every quarter.

Twitter: Our Twitter followers have grown from 228 in the 1^st quarter to 349 in the 4^th quarter, and each quarter we tweet and re-tweet well over 2,000 messages,  starting with 2,026 in the 1^st quarter, climbing to 2,811 in the 4^th quarter. 

You Tube:  We continue to upload videos on the OACFDC You Tube channel.  At present there are 22 videos posted, including all award winners since 2010.  Mariposa Dairy has the most views with 1,251, while the Ice Bucket Challenge at September’s conference is picking up lots of views, with 213 already.  

Rollover Calls: Each month, the calls made to 1-888-ONT-CFDC which are re-directed to the nearest CFDC, are tracked.  The number of calls ranges between 165 and 200 each quarter. 

On January 16, the OACFDC sent a survey to CFDC Managers asking about their use of Equifax.   At present, only 11 have responded – we would like to hear from more of you.

If you haven’t done so already, please check your email of Friday, January 16 and click the link to complete the survey.  If you don’t use Equifax, please answer just the first question indicating that you don’t. 

Online Registration is now available for the 2015 National Event in Charlevoix, Quebec, June 3-5. http://en.pancanadien2015.sadc-cae.ca/program-1/.

You can also view the conference agenda and transportation options on their website.  Among the special guest speakers are Marc Dutil, 2013 Quebec Entrepreneur of the Year, as awarded by Ernst & Young; and Ovide Mercredi, former Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.  Impressionist extraordinaire André Philippe Gagnon will be the entertainment at the final banquet.

Food Producers’ Happy Hour

The Quebec hosts of the National Event have asked each province for suggestions of food or beverage producers whose products could be served at a special Happy Hour.

Ontario Success Story Videos

Each province will have the opportunity to incorporate a client or CED success story into a video production to be presented at the conference.  

If you have a client who produces a specialty food or beverage, or a success story video clip, please contact Diana Jedig at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

By Kyle Robinson

Fern Software would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended our two recent FaaSBank demonstration webinars. We received great input and feedback during the sessions, much of which will be used to make the software a more intuitive and durable product for all CFDC end users.

A video recording of the second webinar was made for those who were unable to attend. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this video and the scenario script that was used during the webinar, please feel free to contact Kyle at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

By John Meredith

CommonGoals Software will be releasing a new version of TEA 10 in the spring of 2015 that will incorporate several new features, fixes and enhancements to make your data entry and use of the software significantly better.  Watch for news regarding the latest release of TEA 10 and be assured that we will provide online instructional webinars to assist users in taking advantage of the great new features. 

CommonGoals has reintroduced the free lunch and learn seminar series starting with “Streamlining Features within TEA Administration” on January 29th, 2015.  A complete schedule will be released in the next month outlining the upcoming sessions.  Additionally, TEA Mini Courses are being offered from March 23 – March 27, 2015 so visit our website for more information and registration details. 

The OACFDC has submitted its business plan to FedNor and FedDev Ontario, and continues its discussions about areas of collaboration with the Regional Networks. Board members met twice in December to discuss and review the plan.  

The OACFDC is seeking a Communications & Professional Development Officer (CPDO) - Bilingual Position.  For more information, go to www.oacfdc.com, click OACFDC, Classified Ads, Employment Opportunities.

The Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) is offering a workshop on what it takes to be a great board member.  The session will explore:

•  The Board’s job

•  What the rules are

•  The role of the Chair

•  Monitoring Compliance

•  Best practices

The workshop will be Thursday, February 12, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. at CPA Ontario in Toronto, and the cost is only $49.  Attendees will receive a free copy of the facilitator’s book at the event. 

The session will also be live-streamed across Canada, and participants can join up for only $29.00. 

To register, go to http://www.csae.com/EducationEvents/Details/ArticleID/2240?utm_source=mailoutinteractive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Knowing%20How%20to%20Make%20Your%20Mark%20as%20a%20Not-for-Profit%20Board%20Member

The Entrepreneurship Centre at Acadia University has many new courses at different levels of interest to managers and staff in the Community Futures program. 

Who Should Attend?

• Business development professionals,
• Economic development officers,
• Business counsellors,
• Consultants,
• Trainers,
• and any other professionals who support entrepreneurs

Topics include:

• Foundations of Entrepreneurial Client Management
• Essentials of Entrepreneurial Client Management
• Financial Analysis for Business Development Professionals
• Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas

Visit http://www.acadiaentrepreneurshipcentre.com/ to see the list showing dates and locations across Canada for the workshops, as well as information about online training. 

The Q3 2014 issue of the Venture Capital Monitor publication is now available on-line at the following address: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_02924.html

This issue covers venture capital (VC) investment and fundraising activity in Canada during the third quarter of 2014.

Calling Canada’s young entrepreneurs to compete for $100,000 Grand Prize http://ow.ly/I46FO