A new 200-acre business park is taking shape in the District of Lake Country. The development will create space for new types of businesses, attract investment, support local jobs, and provide housing options close to where people work. With support from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC), the project is helping one of BC’s fastest-growing communities prepare for the future.
Fostering Entrepreneurship at Post-Secondary Institutions in 2024
Public post-secondary institutions are an important part of a region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) has supported the 6 public post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in the Southern Interior of BC since 2008 with funding of over $7.3 million. That funding has helped support trades programming, co-op education, a medical school, bursaries and scholarship for students from around the region to build their skills and help them get employed locally.
More recently, ETSI-BC funding is provided to encourage entrepreneurship, support work-integrated learning initiatives and promote research partnerships and technology transfer.
For the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, ETSI-BC has approved funding of $105,000 to support each of the 6 public post-secondary institutions in our region to deliver projects which will help students to become better employees or entrepreneurs. These projects were funded as part of ETSI-BC’s Strategic Pillar of Developing Human Capital. Below are the details of the projects supported in FY2024:
| Institution | Project | ETSI-BC Funding | Project Summary |
| College of the Rockies & Selkirk College | Kootenay Youth Entrepreneurship | $32,500 | Provide business creation and development resources for students, staff and local entrepreneurs, in partnership with KAST, the local tech accelerator. |
| Nicola Valley Institute of Technology | Co-op Employment Preparation | $12,500 | Help students to develop pre-employability skills and participate in a 4-month work placement with employers, who will receive a wage subsidy through the co-op program. |
| Okanagan College | Work-Integrated Learning Preparation Workshops | $20,000 | The Okanagan College Careers Hub will develop a series of online workshops for Co-op students and employers that will prepare both students and employers for Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Co-op education opportunities. |
| Thompson Rivers University | Tourism Innovation Lab | $20,000 | Students will develop an innovative tourism venture based on their research and with the support of industry mentorship. |
| UBC Okanagan | e@UBC Support | $20,000 | Students, staff and recent graduates will benefit from training and mentorship support as they explore start-up ideas and build connections within the Okanagan innovation ecosystem. |
“We’re thrilled to support these projects and convene the region’s public post-secondary institutions around these themes. Our mission at ETSI-BC is to support economic development projects that will have long-lasting and measurable impacts throughout the Southern Interior region,” says ETSI-BC CEO Laurel Douglas. “These post-secondary initiatives will help strengthen economic development ecosystem by helping grow the local skilled talent pool and supporting innovative new ventures in our region.”
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October 8, 2026 – The Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) received an impressive response to its 2026 Fall Funding Intake from communities and organizations across the region. The intake closed on October 8, 2026, with 43 applications requesting nearly $1.9 million in funding for projects with a combined project value of over $3.8 million.
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Sicamous Tourism Strategy Builds a Path for Sustainable Growth
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Forestry Strategy Positions ?aq’am First Nation for New Opportunities
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ETSI-BC Welcomes Krista Mallory as Regional Project and Strategic Initiatives Manager
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Wayfinding in Barriere for Economic Resilience and Growth
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