Ottawa Business Guide

Ottawa's main industries are government and high tech, but business thrives in every sector. This guide will point you towards local business groups, tools for small business owners, and interesting links and information about local shops and services.

Featured Listings

Peter's New Jobs
PNJ will save you hours of job search time and effort. We monitor 7,000 company career pages, job boards and public sector sites in Ottawa and Toronto. In the last year, PNJ has found over 75,000 new job postings. Updated daily, we locate new postings and send them out to our subscribers
in daily emails.
Shoebox Be Gone
We make bookkeeping easy! Contact us to book your free consultation. We’re also equipped to deal with all your personal, small business and corporate tax matters. help@shoeboxbegone.com
DPPI
DPPI has been serving the Ottawa-Gatineau area since
1995 providing bilingual support to both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows systems to small businesses and individuals. We offer Apple Authorized Service and Consulting as well as Google Apps for Business sales and support including email services. We can help your business with outsourced managed IT services as well as Cloud solutions for servers and data backup.
Pulse First Aid
Pulse First Aid offers a wide variety of training courses and products to Ottawa residents and businesses. We offer first aid and CPR courses available on an ongoing basis which are available for individual registration. We can also hold private on-site training courses on request. Please visit www.findthepulse.com for more information.
Potvin Financial Services
Potvin Financial Services has been serving Ottawa residents for 30 years. Our team offers people solutions to manage their money & live their dreams. Whether you’re saving for a special purchase, future responsibilities or retirement, we are here to help you manage it all every step of the way. Call us at 613-224-6561.
Ottawa Job of the Day
Kiss that boring cubicle job goodbye!

Airline Miles Credit Cards
Lean how to fly First class more often, save on gas purchases, and get free hotel rooms.
Bad Credit Loans
Let us help you find a home loan or personal loan and build your credit.
Add your event to this section & make it stand out from the rest. $15/month.
Click here to add your Featured Listing...

OttawaStart Business Headlines

Resources for consumers

HST
A resource page from the Ontario Government with information about the new Harmonized Sales Tax.
Better Business Bureau of Eastern Ontario
For 75 years, the BBB in Canada has defined and promoted the standards of excellence that set the best businesses apart from the rest. This fully-searchable web site will help you evaluate local businesses, and lodge a complaint if you experience poor service.
Consumers' Choice Awards
These awards publicly identify businesses who have been voted by consumers as being their choice for excellence.
Do Not Call List
This service, run by the CRTC, allows Canadians to register their phone numbers on a national "Do Not Call" list. Telemarketers will not be allowed to phone the numbers on the list, subject to a few exceptions. More details here...
Do Not Contact Service
Tired of having your evenings interrupted by telemarketers? Canada has a "do not call" service, run by the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA). Consumers can register to have their names removed from marketing lists held by members of the CMA. CMA members, who account for about 80 percent of direct response sales in Canada, want to present offers only to those consumers interested in their products and services.
iOptOut
Create & manage your personal Do-Not-Call list. A free public service offered by University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist.

Resources for business owners

AFTER 7
Committed to providing unique, interactive entertaining socials for local professionals and sophisticated downtowners in Ottawa.
BusinessAnts.com
A free bartering site, with a goal "to help small business owners get their businesses off the ground on a shoe string - by exchanging skills, services, and goods with each other."
Canada Business Service Centres
Resources and services for entrepreneurs, from the Government of Canada.
City of Ottawa: Business
Everything you need to know for running your business in the City of Ottawa -- with topics as diverse as graffiti removal, sign permits, bids and tenders, building permits, and more.
Canadian Association of Public Speaking - Ottawa (public speaking)
Entrepreneurship Centre
The Entrepreneurship Centre is an initiative of OCRI, dedicated to helping Ottawa entrepreneurs make educated decisions about starting and growing their businesses. The Centre aims to promote Ottawa's economy, through the development of products and services that encourage entrepreneurship and support business growth.
Ottawa Barter
Ottawa Community Loan Fund
The Ottawa Community Loan Fund provides short-term loans of up to $15,000 to small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, talented individuals with international training and community groups.
Ottawa Freelance
Become your own boss, work your own hours — that's the appeal of freelancing. This site provides resources to make freelancing easier. There are job boards, a message forum, and more. It's operated by local freelancer Harrison Baker.
Our Work Our Lives
Networking site for freelancers, contractors and home-based entrepreneurs
PrescottRusellBusiness.com
Public Sector Marketing 2.0
A blog by Mike Kujawski, who describes himself as "passionate marketing & social media strategist interested primarily in helping public sector and non-profit organizations excel."
Ottawa Business Services
The Ottawa Public Library supports small businesses and entrepreneurs by connecting them with essential information about all aspects of starting and operating a business.
The Ottawa Network

Local Business Media

Boards and Associations

Junior Chamber International Ottawa
This group's goal is to create better leaders and better societies, bringing the best youth business talent between 18-40 years old.
Nepean Chamber of Commerce
OCRI
The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) is Ottawa's leading member-based economic development corporation for fostering the advancement of the region's globally competitive knowledge-based institutions and industries.
Ottawa Chamber of Commerce
Regroupement des gens d'affaires
Le Regroupement des gens d'affaires de la Capitale nationale Inc. constitue la première force économique francophone. Le RGA regroupe plus de 500 gens d'affaires, entrepreneur(e)s et dirigeant(e)s qui désirent faire des affaires en français, dans l'Est ontarien et l'Outaouais.
Sales Professionals of Ottawa
Holds bi-weekly breakfast meetings and networking events
Women's Business Network of Ottawa
Comprised of businesswoman with diverse backgrounds in senior management, commissioned sales and who are entrepreneurs who own their own business.