When I first arrived to Canada, one of the things that I was most amazed by was the willingness of Canadians to help you get started once you knock on a few doors. However, as a new immigrant, knowing WHERE to knock can be intimidating and confusing.

Depending on what your business idea is, finding the group of people that share the same passion of entrepreneurship is key to get you through the parts of the journey where you are ready to give up.  Some of these places offer drop-in clinics, free educational seminars, shared office space and even shared commercial kitchen space.

Entrepreneurship in a developing country can be very competitive and cut throat (ok, even in developed countries) however, I have to give it to Canada that the willingness to help is very much alive.

Personally, I have visited places in Ottawa such as Collab Space and Invest Ottawa and have benefitted from the environment of sharing knowledge, resources and ideas. If you are in the food industry, think of shared kitchen space such as Cauldron Kitchen or the Ottawa Incubator Kitchen. And believe it or not, local libraries are also a good resource as they often have seminars and panel discussions on entrepreneurship – these ones usually happen in the larger, central libraries.

If you are stuck, a simple Google search with the words “sharing entrepreneurs <insert your city>” will provide a good starting point.

Have you used other collaborating services that have helped you grow your business? Is there a specific industry you are looking to start a business in?