The entrepreneurial spirit thrives in Alberta – with a little help from some friends.
A gala evening last week in Calgary showcased some of Western Canada’s top young entrepreneurs who have received business assistance from the non-profit Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF).
The Toronto-based CYBF, which recently opened a centre in Calgary to serve Western Canada, touts itself as a national organization enabling young entrepreneurs to build successful enterprises by providing business assistance not otherwise accessible to them.
Since its inception eight years ago, the foundation has helped more than 2,000 Canadians aged 18 to 30 establish their own small businesses, which in turn has helped to create in excess of 3,000 jobs.
Never missing an opportunity to laud the Alberta Advantage, Premier Ralph Klein, the evening’s keynote speaker, took some credit for the success of Alberta entrepreneurs, praising his government for crafting the conditions in which small business takes root and thrives.
Klein said making hard choices in the early 1990s, such as cutting funding to programs like healthcare and education to help eliminate the debt and thereby create a favourable business climate, has made the province a Canadian economic leader.
“So when you look back it’s easy to see that Albertans chose the right path . . . and that path wasn’t an easy one, but it had its rewards. And today Alberta leads the country in just about every way you can imagine.”
Klein also praised the spirit of Alberta businesspeople. Downplaying the perception that crude oil and natural gas royalties are the only keys to the province’s success, he cited innovations in oilsands production and mining of clean-burning coal as examples of how Albertans show their stuff.
“Albertans appreciate how simple innovation can change lives for the better,” he said. “They see the merit in taking calculated risks and sometimes uncalculated ones.”
Whether or not it is Klein’s fiscal plough that has made Alberta’s economic soil fertile, young entrepreneurs such as Shashi Behl enjoy watching their businesses grow here.
At 34, Behl is unsure if she still qualifies as young. However, eight years ago after leaving a “real job,” the University of Saskatchewan economics graduate decided to strike out on her own by creating Bodyblocker Co., a company that produces a line of sun-protective clothing for children. Two years ago she started a second business, Twisted Goods, which offers unique home decor and accessories.
She credits Alberta, and especially Calgary, as being open to change. “In Alberta you can go to someone and say, ‘I have this idea,’ and they say, ‘Tell me about it,’ while in other places it’s ‘Oh, it’ll never work,’” Behl said. “That’s the big difference, people embrace small business here and are totally supportive of local business.”
The numbers appear to back that up. Figures from Statistics Canada reveal that between 1997 and 2003, the number of Alberta-based small businesses – businesses that employ less than 50 employees – increased by 19 per cent, well above the national average of five per cent.
But even in business-friendly Alberta some companies fail.
According to Bankruptcy Canada, 874 businesses declared bankruptcy in Alberta in the first six months of the year compared to 822 for the same period in 2003, an increase of 6.3 per cent. In Calgary the number of bankruptcies actually fell to 315 in the first six months of 2004 from 339 a year earlier.
Under the CYBF program, young entrepreneurs can obtain up to $15,000 in start-up capital, and the repayment terms of the loan are flexible. In lieu of collateral, recipients must work with a volunteer mentor.
“We look for entrepreneurs who have the right attributes,” said foundation CEO Vivian Woytiuk. “Entrepreneurs have to be everything from the marketing person, the banker and the janitor. If we can give you a bit of financing and throw a mentor at you, transfer knowledge to you, then there’s a chance to succeed.”
EnCana Corp. has taken a lead role in establishing the CYBF in the West because the two organizations share core values of fostering innovation, said CEO Gwyn Morgan. In a speech, Morgan stressed the importance of “investing in our young people who have ideas, who are prepared to take risks, and who make up the future entrepreneurial backbone of our society.”
Recipients of CYBF assistance also thrive in Western Canada’s three other provinces.
West Coast Garnish Girls Inc. is a Vancouver-based business that provides an original product line of candied fruit and drink mixes for the food and beverage industry. The company’s three principals, Danielle Tatarin, Tina Pelletier and Alejandra Parra, got the idea as they worked slinging drinks in a Vancouver bar.
“All three of us are all bartenders, we all worked for other people, and we knew that we wanted to be entrepreneurs, so we took the risk and jumped into it and now we’re doing it full time,” said Pelletier, 25.
The Garnish Girls, all originally from Edmonton, provide such edible adornments as infused butterscotch apples and candied lemon rings across B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
Like many other small business connected to the CYBF, Garnish Girls were turned down for a loan by every bank they approached.
“We couldn’t have done it without (CYBF),” Pelletier said. “I think the idea we had was too unique for the banks, but now we’re making it work. Too bad for the banks, I guess.”
(John Ludwick can be reached at ludwick@businessedge.ca)
