A 16-year-old Aurora student is running his own deck-restoration company this summer on seed money from the Ontario government. Ryker Manherz’s Deck Doctors is one of more than a dozen York Region businesses funded through Ontario’s Summer Company program this year, and he’s showing it off today at a public showcase at Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket.
The same scene is repeating this month in Kingston, Cornwall and Smiths Falls, where local business centres run the identical program under their own names. Summer Company has quietly bankrolled Ontario teenagers since the early 2000s, treating a paint roller or a lawnmower as a legitimate first rung on the entrepreneurship ladder.
Deck Doctors Opens Its Books at Upper Canada Mall
The York Small Business Enterprise Centre is holding its second showcase of the summer today, Friday, July 17, at Upper Canada Mall, running from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The first showcase happened a week earlier at York Region’s administrative building on Yonge Street in Newmarket, where seven Summer Company businesses set up tables, Manherz’s among them.
Manherz offers deck cleaning, staining and minor repairs, along with fence and patio work. Before the two mall and headquarters showcases, he and the other students had already promoted their ventures at last month’s Aurora Street Festival, hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.
Manherz says the toughest part of the job has nothing to do with sanding or staining.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the hardest thing to do is just sales. Me and a couple of my friends go door to door and it’s the hardest thing to do.
He said that in describing how he and friends canvass neighborhoods directly for clients, a skill the program’s classroom sessions can only partly prepare a 16-year-old for.
How Much Money Do Summer Company Students Get?
Ontario’s Summer Company program pays successful applicants up to $3,000 in total, split into two instalments of as much as $1,500 each. The money comes with mandatory business training, at least four meetings with a mentor, and a requirement to prove the cash went toward real startup costs before the second cheque arrives.
- Summer Company – an Ontario government program that gives students aged 15 to 29 up to $3,000, plus training and mentorship, to launch a new business over the summer months.
Grants are taxable, and recipients get a T4A slip that matches the Canada Revenue Agency’s rules for self-employed workers. Winners also keep every dollar of profit their business earns on top of the grant itself.
Eva Lee, a small business consultant with the York Small Business Enterprise Centre, said applications tend to fall into two categories. One is traditional: window and car washing, deck cleaning and landscaping. The other is creative, producing businesses as different as jewellery engraving and cake decorating.
Lee said interest is climbing. “We got a lot of applications this year, which shows that young entrepreneurs are really looking into this as a career option,” she said. Workshops cover marketing, bookkeeping, risk management, building an entrepreneurial mindset and, new this year, how to use artificial intelligence in a small business.
More Than a Dozen Ontario Towns Run the Same Program
York Region’s cohort is one slice of a much bigger map. Local enterprise centres across the province run their own versions of Summer Company every summer, each drawing from the same $3,000 provincial grant pool but choosing their own students.
| Region | 2026 Cohort | Notable Venture |
|---|---|---|
| York Region (Northern Six) | More than a dozen students, seven showcased in Newmarket | Deck Doctors, deck and fence restoration in Aurora |
| Kingston | 12 new ventures | Pinpoint, a student housing search platform |
| Cornwall | 9 new businesses | A record applicant pool, per the local enterprise centre |
| Lanark County and Smiths Falls | 4 students | Checkmate Cognition, chess sessions for dementia patients |
Kingston’s crop launched with a weeklong business bootcamp in May covering market research and financial management. Cornwall’s enterprise centre said applications spiked this year too.
“We saw a record number of applicants for Summer Company this year, which speaks to the incredible entrepreneurial spirit among young people in our region,” said Mireille Lemire, a business advisor at the Cornwall SDG Business Enterprise Centre, whose office launched nine new businesses this summer.
Ontario’s own list of nonprofit delivery partners for the program spans dozens of local business centres, stretching from Windsor to Sault Ste. Marie. The instinct behind it isn’t limited to government grants, either; Gen Z entrepreneurs are leading a broader AI business boom that treats a business license as a normal teenage milestone rather than a novelty.
The Fine Print
Getting the cheque takes more than a good pitch and a business card.
- Apply through a local Small Business Enterprise Centre. York’s 2026 window ran from January 5 to April 24, three weeks ahead of Ontario’s general May 15 deadline.
- Submit a business plan and cash flow projection, then sit for an interview before the enterprise centre signs off.
- Run the business for a minimum of 280 hours if still in high school, or 420 hours for post-secondary students, under the province’s program guidelines.
- Meet a business mentor at least four times over the course of the summer.
- Collect the grant in two instalments, and show receipts proving the first payment covered real startup costs before the second one lands.
Miss any one of those steps and the province can ask for the first instalment back. App and tech businesses face an extra hurdle: they have to be market ready and generating sales before Labour Day, not just a prototype.
Santhosh Rajmohan Turned His Grant Into a Nonprofit
Not every Summer Company venture folds once Labour Day hits. Santhosh Rajmohan, an Aurora entrepreneur, used a 2023 Summer Company grant to launch AET Basketball, a nonprofit basketball association. York Region’s newsroom highlighted his basketball nonprofit built with Summer Company funding again in a 2025 post encouraging new applicants, two years after his own grant ran out.
The program itself predates most of its current applicants by a long stretch. Windsor-Essex’s enterprise centre says it has backed hundreds of student businesses since 2001, and Brantford’s centre has administered its own local version for more than 15 years, calling it one of the most effective tools it has for reaching young entrepreneurs.
Other young business owners are finding the same formula works without a government cheque behind it. A young contractor built a business buying secondhand farm kit to dodge rising equipment costs, proof that resourcefulness matters as much as capital when a young owner is starting from nothing.
Manherz Is Already Planning Next Summer
Manherz says the Summer Company paperwork was worth the hassle. “They give you so many opportunities to grow your business and it is just an amazing program,” he said.
Comparable enterprise centres elsewhere in Ontario typically reopen applications for the following year every January, and York’s own program page already invites this year’s late arrivals to join a waitlist for the next round.
“I’m planning on growing my business into this summer, the next summer, and maybe the summer after that,” Manherz said.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money can a Summer Company business receive?
Successful applicants can receive up to $3,000 total, split into two instalments of as much as $1,500 each. The grant is taxable, and recipients get a T4A slip to file with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Who is eligible for York Region’s Summer Company program?
Students between 15 and 29 years old who live in Aurora, King, Newmarket, Stouffville, East Gwillimbury or Georgina and plan to return to school in the fall can apply. Applicants cannot work another job or attend classes more than 12 hours a week while running the business, and cannot have received a Summer Company grant before.
How many hours does a Summer Company business have to operate?
High school students must log a minimum of 280 hours running their business over the summer, while post-secondary students need 420 hours. Both groups must also meet their assigned mentor at least four times during the program.
When do Summer Company applications reopen?
Most local enterprise centres close their intake in the spring and reopen for the following year’s cohort in January. York’s program page currently invites late applicants to join a waitlist for notice of the next round.
What kinds of businesses don’t qualify for Summer Company?
The program excludes one-off events like concerts or tournaments, ventures that continue an existing family business, and any company where the student applicant wouldn’t personally hold majority ownership. Tech and app-based businesses are accepted only if they can generate real sales before the summer ends.
