Support for Businesses
Support for Businesses

Starting and Growing Your Business with Help from the SÉO

With its vibrant network of Francophone business people and partner organizations, the Société économique de l’Ontario (SÉO) fields the experienced team you need to help you start and grow your business. The SÉO offers entrepreneurs a complete program of training and direct support, in French, to help you make your business decisions and prioritize your business needs effectively.

The services that the SÉO offers include customized advice, online training, group workshops, networking events, access to entrepreneurial resources and support for financing.

Online Training on Starting a Business

If you’re starting a business, here’s your first step, for free: the SÉO offers you 10 modules of online training, with supporting documents and templates, to help you develop your business concept and build your business right. And you can take this online training at your own pace, wherever you want. 

Start online training
Customized Advice

The SÉO offers you customized consulting sessions with a certified business advisor. At these sessions, your advisor will use a tool called GrowthWheel to guide you and show you where and how to focus your efforts effectively. Together with our catalogue of easy-to-use visual tools, our advisors will become indispensable to you. They’ll help you to make the right decisions at the right time for the greatest impact on your business.

Book an appointment
Group Workshops in Entrepreneurship

No matter what stage you are at in developing your business, SÉO’s entrepreneurship workshops, led by consultants who are experts in their fields, will provide you with excellent professional development as well as exceptional networking opportunities. 

View schedule of upcoming workshops
Networking: connect with your Francophone and bilingual business community

With its extensive network of Francophone and bilingual business people, the SÉO offers you numerous networking opportunities everywhere in Ontario. The networking opportunities provided by our various events will open doors and connect you with new customers, partners, employees, mentors and investors.

Financing: the key challenge

Financing often poses a major challenge for people starting a business. Our advisors are available to guide you in your search for financing and to help you prepare your business plan and funding applicatons.

Contact
To work with the SÉO’s entrepreneurship experts, contact us now!
Contact us
Success Stories
  • Hosni Zaouali
    We would like to congratulate the Société Économique de l’Ontario for having set up this program. Over 60% of our employees at Voilà Learning have been immigrants. Without the SÉO’s help, without this program, we wouldn’t still be here today.
    Hosni Zaouali
    Toronto
  • Ali Bahri
    Thanks to the SÉO’s guidance and its mentoring program, I was able to get my first real work experience in Canada as a bilingual immigrant and become familiar with how the Canadian job market works.
    Ali Bahri
    Toronto
  • Kheireddine
    The SÉO provided us with a space where we were able to build the start of our first network of French-speaking contacts in Toronto.
    Kheireddine
    Toronto
  • Ashvin Sobhee
    I want to thank you for your commitment to helping me as a job seeker. I especially appreciated your responsiveness and how quickly you gave me an appointment to come see you. The advice that you gave me at our meeting was very effective and highly profitable.
    Ashvin Sobhee
    Toronto
  • Audric Zedong
    Long before I arrived in Canada, while I was still in Cameroon, my SÉO counsellor took wonderful care of me. She was dedicated and always there when I needed her. She and I went over everything that I needed to find a job and fit into Canadian society. The SÉO is like a big family. I can’t thank them enough, and I recommend them very highly
    Audric Zedong
    Ottawa
  • Jean-Charles Tanzilli
    My husband and I benefitted from the SÉO’s services before and after we settled in Ottawa in July 2018.
    Jean-Charles Tanzilli
    Ottawa
  • Jaoued Bourzik
    I want to offer you our support for the community of newly arrived Francophone immigrants and for your mentoring program, which have enabled us to recruit highly talented people who have become invaluable assets for our growing company. Company : Hertz Canada
    Jaoued Bourzik
    Toronto
  • Ali Soumah
    I want to thank you for your help in coordinating the interviews and the training of the candidates whom we have hired. Many thanks for helping our Francophone business community and for assisting in the economic development of small and medium-sized businesses. Company : A.S. Business Center
    Ali Soumah
    Toronto
  • Rabia Markou
    We are very proud of our partnership with the SÉO. We have acquired some talented profiles, in various fields of expertise. The SÉO is helping DHL to grow our business. Thank you! Company: DHL
    Rabia Markou
    Toronto
  • David Nanta
    Through its various programs, the Société Économique de l’Ontario provides a real value-add for a knowledge of the economic market of the most dynamic province in Canada.
    David Nanta
    Toronto
Toronto
CCO
GrowthWheel
Emploi et developement social Canada
CIC