City Council is being asked to endorse an 8,000-square-foot entrepreneurial hub to be located downtown.
The hub, called The Sandbox - Business Knowledge Exchange, would be one-stop shopping for entrepreneurs to meet, learn from other professionals and share best practices.
"The purpose is to help grow start-ups, the entrepreneurial eco-system in Barrie," said Zvi Lifshiz, Executive Director, Invest Barrie
Lifshiz says services now exist as 'separate entities' throughout the city and The Sandbox would put them all in one place.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business announced in October that Barrie is the third most entrepreneurial of all large cities in Canada - up from a ranking of seventh last year.
The proposed location for The Sandbox is the second floor of the Transit Terminal downtown, 8,000 square feet of space that is currently empty.
Lifshiz highlighted Chickapea Pasta when asked to give an example of a successful entrepreneur in Barrie.
The business was born out of a Canada-wide entrepreneur contest called "smOffice" run by the Creative Space, one of the already existing entrepreneurial hubs downtown.
"It (Chickapea Pasta) is now in 360 stores in Canada and will be in 600 plus stores in the U.S. as of the new year," Lifshiz said.
The concept was met with unequivocal support from several councillors.
"This is the probably the single, greatest thing we could do as a council," said Councillor Arif Khan, who quickly added 'not to mention roads."
But Councillor Bonnie Ainsworth's enthusiasm was muted and she questioned whether the city should give The Sandbox a 'rent-free space.'
"What is the value of the space?" asked Ainsworth. "What is the return?"
Entrepreneur, President and CEO of Busch Group of Companies Craig Busch is a lead on the project and told council the return will be new businesses that maintain a presence in Barrie.
"Why do we support the downtown?" Busch asked council. "Because it's the centre of the community."
Busch said Thunder Bay, Oshawa and Peterborough all have hubs for entrepreneurs and "Barrie is lacking that."
The Sandbox would be run privately, without the city, and get capitol dollars from sponsorships and federal programs.
Mayor Lehman noted that the vacant space is revenue neutral for the city right now.
"We're not making one dollar. We're not spending one dollar," said Mayor Lehman.
Business leaders behind The Sandbox will gather more figures for council and present them at a later date.
