PETERBOROUGH, ON – May 20, 2025—Innovation Cluster – Peterborough and the Kawarthas (Innovation Cluster) announced a new program, BuildUP, specifically designed to help skilled trade workers with entrepreneurial zeal to get their businesses started. BuildUP is provided at no cost to accepted participants.
BuildUP’s 8-week cohort program provides journeypersons, upper-year apprentices, and experienced tradespeople with the knowledge, tools, and connections needed to launch and manage their businesses. The Innovation Cluster offers two cohorts of twenty participants in 2025, with the first cohort beginning on June 24, 2025.
Led by industry experts and successful trades business owners, the curriculum covers setting up a business, tax basics, finding financing, customer service and reputation management, and hiring. The cohort will meet once a week for two hours in the evening, in-person and hybrid, at the Peterborough offices of the Innovation Cluster.