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Entrepreneurship programs offer smart alternatives to the
school of hard knocks
Entrepreneurs typically don’t go to university to
get a degree in small business, but given the high failure
rate, a little education might not be a bad idea.
The school of hard knocks can be brutal. The U.S. Small
Business Administration estimates that more than 50 per cent
of small businesses fail within the first year, and 95 per
cent fail within the first five years.
B.C.’s failure rate is similar, said Canadian Federation
of Independent Business B.C. and Yukon division vice-president
Laura Jones, but training dramatically increases an entrepreneur’s
odds of being among those who succeed.
Entrepreneurs frequently start enterprises without performing
adequate market research, scrutinizing their business plan
or understanding how to market their product, said Jones.
A little training would help them recognize and respond to
those requirements.
Organizations such as the Entrepreneur Assistance Society
of EastVan, Langara College, The United Chinese Community
Enrichment Services Society (SUCCESS), the British Columbia
Institute of Technology and Toward Excellence Consulting
Inc. offer 48-week so-called “self-employment” programs
with assistance from Human Resources and Development Canada.
Aspiring business owners must be on Employment Insurance
to enroll.
The University of British Columbia’s Sauder School
of Business, Langara College, Vancouver Community College
and BCIT offer small-business training to anyone who wants
to learn.
All institutions that teach self-employment programs expect
entrants to have an idea for their business before they enroll.
The path to self-employment
Omega Trading Group president Helen Zhao is a recent self-employment
program success story. She initially intended to grow a bookkeeping
business when she enrolled in SUCCESS’s 48-week program
in early 2003.
During that training, her instructors and a classmates planted
the seed of an idea for another opportunity: importing Chinese
beer. Zhao’s venture has now been so successful that
she won the October 2004 Inspiration Entrepreneur of the
Year award for creating the most impressive business of all
SUCCESS program grads.
Zhao’s Eureka moment came after she considered advice
from her SUCCESS instructors, who told her to identify competitors.
A tea-totaller herself, Zhao spoke with friends and realized
that Vancouver’s large Chinese community could only
buy one beer in the province: Sing Tao. They had no other
choices, she said.
Armed with that research and determined to start importing
beer, she started seeking a supplier. She narrowed the field
to a few varieties and contacted potential suppliers. Guangzhou
Zhujiang Beer Group Co., which makes the beer Zhujiang, was
interested in exporting to Canada.
Zhao flew to the Chinese province of Canton to meet with
Zhujiang officials, taste their beer and discuss export logistics.
Back in Canada, she met Liquor Distribution Branch officials
in April 2004. LDB managers considered Zhao’s pitch
to sell Zhujiang in B.C. and they told her that they were
interested in buying the product. She got that good news
just as the Brewery, Winery and Distillery Workers Union
strike that disrupted Labatt’s and Molson’s beer
production was ending.
Undaunted, Zhao spent about $12,000 ordering a container
filled with about 26,000 bottles of Zhujiang. She sold half
to the LDB, which resold the beer within two weeks. The LDB
immediately ordered 4,800 more bottles and sales have remained
strong, she said.
“I’m not going to start bringing in any more
brands in right away,” Zhao said. “It’s
like a new baby. I’ve got to take care of this one
brand first. It’s not established yet and I’m
the exclusive agent for all of Canada.”
Zhao has now sold four container loads of the beer and pocketed
about a 25-per-cent mark-up, she said.
She has also met provincial liquor authorities in other
provinces.
As of November 2004, her beer was slated to be on Alberta’s
liquor store any day, she said. And she is hoping to have
the beer on shelves in Quebec and Ontario early next year.
Rollergirl.ca owner Lisa Suggitt offers another example of
the benefits of studying before launching a business. She
said that if she hadn’t completed Towards Excellence’s
program, her business selling roller skates would either
be deep in red ink or a part-time hobby.
She ditched her idea to open a storefront retail operation
selling an extensive range of roller skates after teachers
encouraged her to consider where her customers were located,
how difficult it would be for them to order her products
and how much it would cost to lease real estate.
Suggitt opted to create an e-commerce Web site and as of
November 2004, expected 2004 revenue to reach $100,000.
“I couldn’t have made it without the program,” Suggitt
said. “They taught me everything I know about business
as well as being there to help me overcome challenges along
the way. They teach the basics but more importantly they
instill confidence. That’s what you need to get out
and make it in the world. You need to believe in yourself.”
Suggitt considered other self-employment programs but when
she met Toward Excellence’s president, Donna McFadden,
the two immediately clicked, she said.
“
I liked Lisa’s idea to have customers trace their foot
outline and then guarantee that the skates they’ve
ordered will fit,” said Tim Clark, who was a judge
at the 2004 Inspiration Entrepreneur of the Year awards where
Suggitt won an overall prize for the best new venture from
a grad of one of B.C.’s self-employment programs.
Continuing Education
Clark is chief operating officer at the real estate development
company V1500 Holdings Ltd. and has operated four different
small business during the past 18 years. She believes even
experienced small business owners should take continuing
education courses to keep up to speed on different aspects
of running a business.
Clark is enrolled in the the Sauder School of Business’s
managing entrepreneurial growth certificate program and has
completed six seminars so far.
Perry Atwal, the Sauder School’s executive director
of executive education, said two of the program’s most
popular courses are financial statement analysis for the
non-accountant and fundamentals of finance and accounting
for non-financial managers.
Those courses and others such as one that teaches how to
develop a strategic plan target skill shortages, he said.
“In each seminar, students have time to speak individually
with instructors and among themselves,” he said. “Many
of the people there are learning the same kinds of skills
and are there for the same reason so often students gain
a lot from each other.”
Langara’s small business management and ownership certificate
program is another option for entrepreneurs who are not on
EI.
Riel Roussopoulos took the course in that program that teaches
entrepreneurs the basics of starting a business. His background
was event planning, and he freelanced his services but had
never established an independent business.
He founded We Put Up The Lights while he was taking the
Langara the program.
The venture was originally planned as a seasonal business
putting up Christmas lights, but Roussopoulos now expects
to make it a year-round enterprise by expanding to include
sales of various kinds of LED lighting.
“They taught me how to keep financial books,” he
said of Langara’s program. “I didn’t even
know I needed books before I started the program.”
©Business in Vancouver
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