When entering the workforce, it’s always an advantage to have some workplace experience under your belt. For entrepreneurs, taking their small business idea from concept to reality, it is even more important. What better way to see if your idea has what it takes than experiencing the ins and outs of operating a small business for yourself? Durham College’s new Entrepreneurship and Small Business program provides just that for students.

Local entrepreneurs and business people will soon be able to create, test and validate some of the most innovative products in the world without ever having to leave the Greater Oshawa Area. A new Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) is being built on the north campus of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). This will be the first research, development and innovation centre of its kind in the world, and it will be available to businesses and researchers on a rental basis.

ACE will be a multi-level centre with an area of approximately 13,585 square metres. It will be divided into two distinct sections, a core research facility and an integrated research and training facility. [Photo Left] During a recent media tour of ACE, people stopped to view the outside of the climatic wind tunnel. The wind tunnel is three stories high and is one of the largest and most sophisticated on the planet. [More photos continued on page 2]

Thank you to our Chamber members, the gift bag is full to overflowing! The Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce welcomes the opening of the new Oshawa Courthouse and its 450 employees and invites Chamber members to participate in the Welcome Gift Bag Promotion. If you wish to introduce and promote your business to the new employees, you can do so by providing promotional material to insert into the gift bag. NOTE: The gift bag is now full and no additional gifts can be accepted.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) needs your help to determine interest level in a Trade Mission to India. The OCC through the Export Market Access (EMA) program provides funding to help companies expand into new and consolidate existing export markets. In addition, the program also provides financial support to companies for export focused missions to overseas markets. In this regard, we are trying to gauge the level of interest of our chamber network/member companies for an OCC led mission to India in early spring. Please take a few moments to complete the survey. Responses are requested by Wednesday January 27th, 2010.

February 28, 2010 is the deadline for the 2009 Tax Relief Applications for Ontario Commercial/Industrial Properties Under the Municipal Act, 2001, and the City of Toronto Act, 2006, commercial and industrial property owners are entitled to tax rebates for vacant, renovated or demolished space. To obtain the benefit for the 2009 tax year, a taxpayer or representative of the taxpayer must make application to the municipality no later than February 28, 2010. Click here for details.

A local chamber of commerce in Ontario has sniffed out a scam that is currently going the rounds. An ISO is doing phone solicitation regarding merchant accounts saying that they have the support of the "XXX chamber of commerce" or "chamber group" and want to offer a better program etc. ... and in so doing is asking for merchant information that in no way should be shared with third parties. An Oshawa Chamber member was contacted and was asked for member information (i.e. verification of address and contact). The person calling commented “we heard you were moving”. The member realized by the background noise and the fact the person could not pronounce Oshawa that it was a call centre. The member pressed for information on who was calling and the call was disconnected. It is good practice to remember that a business should not provide merchant information over the phone or submit any documents (merchant or bank statements) to an entity that is unknown to them.

Oshawa chosen to battle 64 cities to earn its place on the new Monopoly Canada Game Board!
Hasbro is launching a Canada wide vote to find our nation’s 22 favourite cities that will be included on the new MONOPOLY Canada game board! Beginning Monday, January 11, 2010 at midnight ET, MONOPOLY fans can visit www.monopolyvote.ca  to cast votes for their favourite Canadian cities to help create a new MONOPOLY Canada game board.  Oshawa is one of the 65 great Canadian cities and one of 23 Ontario cities that have been pre-selected for the top 20 city vote. Canadians are invited to cast their ballots for 3 of these great cities each day of the vote, which will be open until February 7, 2010.  “In the GTA Oshawa is up against Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton for naming rights”, stated John Walker, 2010 President of the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce adding “nationally were are once again doing battle with Winnipeg for top spot”.

2009 was once again extremely busy for the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, with close to 2500 business people attending the over 60 events and meetings throughout the year. An army of close to 100 volunteers organized events, researched and discussed issues affecting the business community. The events ranged in size from 10 to 12 at Lunch and Learn to over 260 at our Business Excellence Awards. Membership in a tough economy held with over 1,100 entrepreneurs, managers and corporate executives on the Chamber Who’s Who list.