Rural Ontario Municipal Association: Why Area 81 is the Bridge
- Chris Herbert
- Sep 30
- 5 min read
ROMA's Vision for Rural Ontario
The Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Strategic Plan 2024–2027 sets a clear path forward:
Build municipal capacity — finance, workforce, and innovation.
Advance rural wellbeing — through stronger infrastructure, housing, health, and broadband.
Strengthen communications and convening — so rural Ontario speaks with one voice
In 2025, ROMA’s Board reinforced this agenda:
Endorsing a rebrand of rural Ontario as resilient, influential, and essential
Launching a Rural Infrastructure Strategy and reviewing funding pressures from communities like Tweed
Rolling out a province-wide health survey across all 444 municipalities
Meeting with the Province; Minister Lisa Thompson announced the $20M Rural Ontario Development Program
ROMA is setting the tone at the provincial table. But here’s the challenge: policy ambition alone doesn’t create ventures, jobs, or community vitality. Entrepreneurs do.
What We’ve Learned From Entrepreneurs
AREA 81 exists because rural entrepreneurship is different — and too often overlooked. Through our own research and practice, we’ve documented the realities ROMA’s policies must connect to:
Rural Entrepreneurship is Ready for a Shift — hidden costs, fragmented support, and structural barriers make rural founders’ journeys different from their urban peers. That’s why AREA 81 emphasizes building with, not for, communities — discovery interviews, real-time feedback, and co-created solutions.
Introducing Belief Capital — the missing ingredient isn’t always cash. It’s consistent feedback, repeated pitching opportunities, mentorship, and community validation. Founders thrive when belief comes first, capital second.
Belief Begins with Buying Local — every local purchase is an act of belief. Dollars spent on local entrepreneurs recirculate, strengthen municipal BR+E strategies, and build community resilience. Buying local is not just commerce; it’s infrastructure in action.
Angel Investing in Canada is Broken — especially in rural Canada. Current models demand “traction first,” lack domain understanding (agriculture, trades, cultural ventures), and—even when publicly funded—fail to provide patient, early-stage support. Entrepreneurs need right-sized, fair, and belief-backed pathways instead.
The Whitepaper Evidence
In July 2025, AREA 81 released the Rural Entrepreneurship Whitepaper, a research-based account of the barriers and opportunities rural founders face. Six major pain points emerged:
Funding disparities — Canadian startups get half the capital of U.S. peers; rural ventures get even less
Talent challenges — weak networks and limited institutional support constrain recruitment
Economic volatility — inflation, supply shocks, and downturns hit harder outside cities
Digital gaps — infrastructure, affordability, and skills remain barriers
Weak support systems — mentorship deserts and siloed government programs
Declining entrepreneurship — fewer new entrepreneurs, and commercialization struggles when they do emerge
The Journey Forward points to solutions: stronger regional ecosystems, youth pathways, digital literacy, urban-rural connections, and a culture of resilience
Bridging Policy and Reality
Put side by side, the fit is clear:
ROMA calls for municipal capacity. AREA 81 builds venture capacity — equipping entrepreneurs with skills, programs, and networks that feed municipal revenues and resilience.
ROMA advocates rural wellbeing. AREA 81 entrepreneurs deliver wellbeing: food security, local healthcare, housing supply, cultural vitality.
ROMA invests in communications and convening. AREA 81 supplies the stories — podcasts, showcases, founder spotlights — that make “resilient, essential rural Ontario” real.
This isn’t duplication. It’s complementarity. ROMA sets the policy stage; AREA 81 fills it with real actors.
The Parallel: Energy for AI, Belief for Entrepreneurs
Canada’s AI and data centre future cannot be built without nuclear power — clean, reliable energy to sustain massive digital demand. As the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII) is advocating, the right grid conditions are non-negotiable.
In the same way, rural prosperity cannot be built without entrepreneurial power — belief capital, capacity building, and local networks that sustain ventures.
Nuclear and AI provide the hard infrastructure.
ROMA provides the policy advocacy.
AREA 81 provides the human infrastructure that converts vision into reality.
Both are non-negotiable if rural Ontario is to remain resilient, sovereign, and essential.
Looking Ahead: DCcorp
This parallel is the inspiration for DCcorp, a new AREA 81 venture development project. Just as NII and Bruce Power are leading the conversation on nuclear and AI infrastructure, DCcorp will ensure rural entrepreneurs are part of the story — creating ventures, supply chains, and services around the data and energy economy.
Closing
ROMA has framed rural Ontario as resilient and essential. Nuclear and AI will bring transformative infrastructure. Entrepreneurs will continue to create jobs, services, and community vitality.
AREA 81 — and soon DCcorp — are the bridges ensuring these pieces connect.
ROMA sets the policy vision.
NII and Bruce Power build the energy infrastructure to power AI and data.
AREA 81 strengthens the human infrastructure — entrepreneurs, ventures, and belief capital.
DCcorp will extend this bridge into the digital energy economy, ensuring rural communities aren’t just hosts to global investments but active participants shaping and benefiting from them.
Together, these elements will define the next chapter of rural Ontario’s prosperity.
Further Reading
Get Updates. Get Involved.
We’re looking for founding collaborators:
Businesses & Institutions: SMEs, corporates, and public-sector leaders under reporting pressure.
Entrepreneurs & Operators: People who can help shape early prototypes.
Partners & Funders: Connectors, supporters, and accelerators of SDG innovation.
Here's how you can get updates and get involved.
You can start by subscribing to our mailing list for AREA 81 updates and we'll keep you in the loop. But, if you want to get more involved you can check out our Facebook page, you can book some time with Chris Herbert or contact us and tells us how you'd like to contribute. Lot's of options! Pick the one that works best for you. You can also dig in now by giving our Opportunity Brief a read below! Download it, print it, mark it up and share it around.
About the Author
Chris Herbert is a seasoned entrepreneur, strategist, and content creator with a proven track record of empowering businesses to achieve growth and success.
As sales and marketing professional and cofounder of Mi6 Agency, he has been instrumental in helping entrepreneurs startups and ventures achieve significant milestones, including taking a startup to market that was acquired, preparing and promoting a venture for acquisition on behalf of a venture capitalist, and driving a company's growth from $15M to $40M, leading to its successful acquisition.
A former cofounder of Silicon Halton, Chris built a thriving tech community of 1500 members and hundreds of events, before selling his interest in 2024 to focus on the launch of Mi6's One2One service and rural entreprenership accelerator AREA 81, a rural entrepreneurship accelerator program offered by Mi6 Agency.
As a Level 3 Leanstack Coach, Chris applies methodologies like Running Lean to help entrepreneurs scale effectively. His insights on entrepreneurship, marketing, and SDGs are featured on Mi6agency.com, along with his 7Q Series on startup funding.
Why Chris Herbert and Mi6? Because our expertise transforms ventures into success stories.
Comments