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SAMSSA partners with export business portal

Devon Franklin is the project manager of the Magnet Export Business Portal based at Ryerson University in Toronto. Devon is passionate about engaging and empowering businesses to realize their full potential. When businesses thrive, we all do.

Devon Franklin is the project manager of the Magnet Export Business Portal based at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Devon is passionate about engaging and empowering businesses to realize their full potential. When businesses thrive, we all do. Providing businesses with the necessary tools, resources and information to grow and expand is central to that success. Through the Magnet Export Business Portal Devon aims to help businesses realize the benefits of tapping into foreign markets, and builds the capacity of Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs.

Q: The Magnet Export Business Portal is within a broader platform called Magnet. What is Magnet?

A: Magnet is a not-for-profit, digital social innovation platform at Ryerson University. Our mission is to accelerate inclusive economic growth for all in Canada by advancing careers, businesses and communities.

We believe digital social innovation is one answer to our increasingly fragmented world, so we leverage our Magnet network to digitally connect people, businesses and organizations to opportunity through our intelligent matching technology.

Magnet projects and initiatives span and connect our national, multi-sectoral ecosystem of partners, connecting thousands of Canadians to economic opportunity with activities nested under three key pillars:

Career: Our intelligent matching technology connects job seekers to career opportunities that reflect individual goals and skills

Business: We support business growth by matching businesses to opportunities in exporting, talent acquisition and procurement.

Community: We leverage our tools, data mining technology and platforms to empower community evidence-based decision making.

Q: Who funds this initiative?

A: Magnet projects are funded by both provincial and federal levels of government. We are supported by a deep national network of partners, including over 250 economic development organizations, over 250 community partners, over 500,000 employers, and over one million job seekers that we reach through our partnership with Orbis Communications, extending our reach to students in over 100 post-secondary schools across Canada.

Q: What are the benefits of creating an account on the Magnet Export Business Portal?

A: At Magnet, we understand that business owners have many competing priorities to manage, making their time a finite resource. While they might be aware and interested in tapping into the myriad of supports, programs and resources available to help their business grow, navigating all the resources and identifying what is right for their business is time-consuming, and often frustrating. That’s where the Magnet Export Business Portal can help! By creating a business profile on our portal, business owners will receive timely notifications right to their email inbox about government programs, trade missions, events and more that are customized to their business profile. Through our data-matching technology, we match them to the opportunities that they are eligible for, saving them time and making it easier to connect to the offerings from service providers, including the Government of Ontario, Global Affairs Canada, Export Development Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada.

As an added benefit to businesses, the Export Business Portal is integrated into the existing Magnet talent platform, so from a single sign-on, businesses can post jobs and tap into the talent database to fill their labour needs.

Q: SAMSSA recently announced its partnership with the Magnet Export Business Portal. Why was SAMSSA chosen as a partner organization?

A: The success of the Magnet platform rests on its innovative partnership model, whereby the technology can be co-branded with organizations that share in our goal of supporting Canadian business growth. At the Export Forum organized by the Northern Ontario Exports Program in June 2018, we were introduced to SAMSSA, an organization eager to support businesses in the mining sector to grow and thrive. At the time, SAMSSA was in the midst of strategic planning and the Magnet Export Business Portal was a value-added resource SAMSSA could offer its members. As an organization with a strong commitment to supporting its members and under the leadership of Dick DeStefano, who showed immense enthusiasm and interest in introducing a digital platform to SAMSSA members – it was a natural fit.

For more information on our projects and initiatives, visit Current Initiatives on our website: magnet.today