Career Options Magazine

The personal qualities that Guy Laliberté used to found his company—risk-taking, drive and creativity—are the same qualities needed by young job seekers today to counter the ebbs and flows of the job market. In the last decade, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has endorsed entrepreneurship as the best means for youth to adapt to a changing and highly competitive job market in both rural and urban areas around the world.

So what is entrepreneurship?

A term generally related to starting a company, entrepreneurship encompasses a lot more than the act of business creation. entrepreneurship is a set of attitudes and skills, as well as a need to take charge of one’s own future by creating meaning through a sustained effort that brings change to the world and meets a given need in society. Even when working for someone else, individuals who put their creativity and devotion to use help the company to grow and give themselves a chance to fulfill their potential.

Canada’s National Youth Entrepreneur Social Attitude and Innovation Study (January 2008) showed that close to 50% of youth between the ages of 16 and 24 would like to start their own business. Many, however, said they did not want to risk venturing into such projects because they feared that the time and money they put in would not lead to success. Jobs that could bring them immediate financial security prevailed over their interest in starting a business.

Although statistically Canadian youth tend to favour working for others as their primary means of employment and financial security, the reality is that there are no guarantees they will remain in the same job or achieve financial security over the long term. Entrepreneurs must work hard to establish themselves but generally have the capacity to enjoy long and financially stable careers, while contributing to the social and economic growth of their communities.

So how can more Canadian youth pursue their interest in entrepreneurship? We think that the solution lies in two areas: motivation and access/awareness. To cultivate a culture and practice of youth entrepreneurship in Canada, we have to motivate young people to become entrepreneurs and provide access to and awareness of the opportunities and supports that exist. But whose role is it to do these things? We believe that government, colleges and universities, education boards and the private sector all have an important role to play in shaping the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs.

Getting Motivated

If you are yet to experience the vigor of entrepreneurship, here are some initiatives that can motivate you, help you discover your entrepreneurial spirit and connect you with like-minded peers.

With ten programs for 2010, Impact Entrepreneurship Group (www.impact.org) is Canada’s largest non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit among youth and to becoming a starting point and catalyst for youth interested in entrepreneurship. Impact consists of university and college chapters across Canada, and teaches and fosters entrepreneurship through hands-on experience.

Youth Canada (www.youthcanada.ca), now an initiative of Impact, is Canada’s top online resource on entrepreneurship for students. ACE (www.acecanada.ca) is a national organization at over 50 college and university campuses across Canada that is teaching young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities by delivering experience-based programming that challenges university and college students to address economic, social and environmental issues through entrepreneurial ventures.

Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada (YSEC) (www.ysec.org) looks to ignite a movement of young people toward social enterprises that align people, planet and profit.

In Quebec, the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, a provincial government-led strategy to promote entrepreneurship, employs over 100 youth working in local employment centres, to help promote and support entrepreneurial initiatives. Find your local Carrefour-jeunesse employment and Entrepreneurship Awareness and Promotion Officer, or test your entrepreneurial potential by visiting www.cjereseau.org.

Getting Support

If you’re excited about entrepreneurship, you’re three-quarters of the way there! Where can you find financing, mentorship, workspace and other supports to turn your idea into a business? One-stop shops called “incubators” exist in many cities across Canada. Incubators help entrepreneurs with things like business plans, accounting, marketing, business training and legal services until they have the revenue and organizational structure to run on their own. The Canadian Business Incubators Association (www.cabi.ca) has a comprehensive list of incubators for industries ranging from IT to fashion—check to see if there is one near you and what services they provide. Some colleges and universities also have incubators on campus: examples include Ryerson University’s Entrepreneur Institute, University of Waterloo’s VeloCity, University of Manitoba’s Eureka Project and University of Victoria’s Innovation and Development Corporation.

While some incubators can assist you with funding, access to capital can be one of the most challenging aspects of starting a business for young entrepreneurs. Depending on the business model, different types and sources of funding exist. They can range from small business loans from a bank, to grants from foundations or governments, to angel or venture capital investments. Incubators can help you determine which source is right for your business. Let’s touch on some of the types of funding types and sources available.

An example of a venture capital funding source is Lemonade Ventures (www.lemonadeventures.com), an early-stage capital and consulting firm. Lemonade Ventures assists young entrepreneurs by providing funding, mentoring and business consulting resources.

Business Development Bank of Canada’s (www.bdc.ca) business startup financing is an example of a small business startup loan provided by a Crown corporation. BDC provides young entrepreneurs with startup tools, financing and consulting services.

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (www.ccab.com/links_youth.html) is an independent, non-partisan organization that provides programs and resources to create economic opportunities for Aboriginal people across Canada.

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (www.cybf.ca) also provides loans of up to $15,000 to aspiring young entrepreneurs who are likely to succeed in creating a business and for whom financial assistance is critical.

If you’re interested in an enterprise that seeks to address a social problem, you could also consider the Laidlaw Foundation (www.laidlawfdn.org). The Foundation invests in innovative ideas and advocates for change in support of young people becoming healthy, creative and fully engaged citizens.

Contests are also a great way of getting funding and visibility for business ideas. The Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest (www.concours-entrepreneur.org), for example, supports and highlights new businesses and entrepreneurial projects in schools with prizes of up to $10,000.

Getting Entrepreneurial

Given that youth do show an interest in starting a business and that support is available, there is a need to rethink and rebuild Canada’s entrepreneurial base—and youth have a role to play. Government, colleges and universities, education boards and the private sector can all help to shape and encourage Canada’s next generation of entrepreneurs. Even at the elementary and high school levels, we have to create more practice-based learning environments so that youth can explore their skills and build their entrepreneurial potential. There are organizations interested in making the link between all these different actors. For example, the Public Policy Forum (www.ppforum.ca) is committed to engaging youth to generate approaches to building a supportive and cutting-edge entrepreneurial ecosystem for Canada.

Youth can do their part by spreading the word about entrepreneurship—they can chat about it, Tweet about it, write on Facebook about it, and talk to friends and parents about it.

So, are you up for the entrepreneurial challenge? Test your entrepreneurial profile by visiting: http://www.bdc.ca/EN/advice_centre/tools/entrepreneurial_self_assessment/Pages/entrepreneurial_self_assessment.aspx CO

By Vinod Rajasekaran & Despina Sourias

Vinod Rajasekaran, Research Associate, Public Policy Forum (www.ppforum.ca).

Despina Sourias, Regional Entrepreneurship Awareness and Promotion Officer (Montréal), Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (www.cje-ndg.com)