CFIR · What we fund
CFIR funds the scholarships that make business education free, the seed grants that help new ventures grow, and the applied research we share openly with Canada’s entrepreneurial community.
CFIR · Education
The knowledge an entrepreneur gets before the capital — practical entrepreneurship education, funded by CFIR and delivered through YEDI, our designated institution.
These are the scholarships we fund — each covers its programme in full. Everything about applying lives with the institution that runs the programmes.
Diploma
For entrepreneurs, small-business owners and their teams — covers the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management diploma in full: the modern tools and skills to build and run a business.
Approved Vocational Program under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005
Details ↗
Certificate
For startup founders — covers the Incubator certificate in full: from a raw idea to a business plan and an investor pitch, ending at the Venture Fair.
Selective · cohort-based · any sector
Details ↗
Certificate
For executive directors and founders of not-for-profits — covers the Not-for-Profit certificate in full: how an organisation runs, funds and grows, and how it pitches to funders.
Cohort of organisations · pitch at the Venture Fair
Details ↗
CFIR · Seed grants
Graduates of the Incubator certificate — and them alone — can apply for a seed grant after they finish, capital to build what they planned. The Venture Fair is where the cohort presents; the application goes to YEDI’s venture fund afterwards, and those who meet YEDI’s criteria receive a grant, in varying amounts, on YEDI’s decision — and the company stays the entrepreneur’s.
From the programmes
How a seed grant happens
01
Apply To the Incubator programme↗ at YEDI.02
Study On a full scholarship.03
Pitch At the Venture Fair, where the cohort presents.04
Graduate With the Incubator certificate.05
Grow Graduates apply to YEDI; those who meet YEDI’s criteria receive a seed grant, and the company stays theirs.CFIR · Research
Funded by CFIR and published open-access for the Canadian entrepreneurial community.
CFIR funds applied research into entrepreneurship and publishes it open-access — free for anyone to read.
Virtual Economics
2026
A survey of 68 Canadian startups building on artificial intelligence, alongside national research-spending data from 2010 to 2024.
About this research
Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education
May 2026
A study of 140 graduates of U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities, examining which factors track how their companies go on to perform.
About this research
Journal of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
August 2025
How the concentration of venture capital across the provinces co-moves with firm survival and patent activity.
About this research