MOOSOMIN — Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t always something that young people think of after graduating high school, but councillors Heather Truman and Victor Sants Cardoza want to change that.
On March 20, the pair hosted an information session for Grade 10 students at McNaughton High School with local business owners and managers in various fields to explore the idea of encouraging students to consider getting into business or taking a management position locally, rather than moving away.
Truman and Santos Cardoza spoke about the session at the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting on March 28.
“I undertook the task to make a commitment to try to recruit young people to become entrepreneurs in Moosomin as well as the surrounding communities,” explained Heather Truman.
“We made our first presentation on March 20 to Tegan Matichuk’s and Colin Bassendowski’s 310 Financial Literacy classes. We spoke to approximately 60 students that day. We had several testimonials from local businesses, for example, Tia Cedarstrand, who opened up Third Avenue on Main, and she was funded financially and mentored through the CBA, the Community Builders Alliance.”
The CBA’s president Tyler Thorn was in attendance at the school to explain with the CBA is all about and how they work with businesses in the area.
Also on hand to share his story was Jason Schenn, CEO and General Manager of Borderland Co-op. He explained how his first job with the Co-op pumping gas at age 15 eventually led him to his current position, thanks in part to mentorship and opportunities he monopolized on.
“I think there’s no better time right now in our community for you to become leaders and entrepreneurs,” said Santos Cardoza, a former McNaughton student, now a carpenter who is actively working to gain his Red Seal certification. “I know there’s a lot of existing business owners that are looking to get out of business.”
An important piece of that succession plan that Santos Cardoza mentioned is the opportunity for mentorship from the outgoing business owners to those just beginning their journey.
“ A lot of other businesses, too, are offering mentorships within our community,” he said. “We want to see a lot more leaders in our town. We know we want to have a lot more youth stay in town.”
Santos Cardoza felt that the students were receptive to the ideas 小蓝视频 presented, and the group intends to meet with students in Grade 11 and 12 as well, and are also planning to do a presentation in Rocanville.
A teacher's perspective
Tegan Matichuk explained how through the Energy and Mining course she teaches, guests present ideas to her students on topics related to environmental science, careers, and health.
“It is so vital to have members from our community coming into our school,” she told those gathered at the Chamber meeting. “Hearing those messages that we’re stressing in the classroom from people that are experiencing it and living it are so memorable, and they build those connections. Every time we bring in a new speaker, that’s another connection that can be made between our student body and the community. So I was really thankful.”
Matichuk noted having a panel of speakers meet with the students was a different experience as well, giving the opportunity to hear different voices and experiences in one presentation.
One idea she presented for future presentations was to hold two separate sessions—the first exploring how to start a business and the second on how to access funding.
“Financial Literacy 10 has a big component on goal setting and lifestyle expectations, and not everybody’s going to have the million-dollar house when they graduate high school, and the choices you make now, early on are the ones that are going to build that lifestyle for you as time progresses,” Matichuk said. “So they had thought maybe doing it as two separate ones.”
One positive was the timing for the presentation, 小蓝视频 during school hours.
“They really took note of the fact that ‘where else are we going to hear this?’” Matichuk said.
“It’s a lot harder to have students show up to an after-school event or to an evening event, which will work really well for people in our community, but you have a captive audience when you come into our school because they’re going to be there and they’re going to pay attention. We have really good kids, so I was really thankful that you guys made the presentation, took the time to put that all together, and then very glad you called me back in here to tell you how it went.”
Even to feature self-employment in the school curriculum is a big step.
“Our new graduation requirements for high school started this year, and so financial literacy is now a requirement to get out the door at the end of Grade 12,” Matichuk said. “I think having those components now embedded into curriculum will make a big difference, and having resources around us that can help come in and support that will make that opportunity a little bit more realistic.
“If you didn’t have someone in your own family or someone in your own background that was a self-employed person or an entrepreneur in some way, starting a construction business or running a family farm, things like that, you wouldn’t necessarily know the trials and tribulations,” she continued. “Everybody thinks they know what teachers do because they have to be in school. Everybody thinks they know what someone working at the Co-op does because they go there to get their groceries. But not everybody had that same exposure to self-employment.”
Pathfinding for entrepreneurs
Also on-hand for the March 20 presentation at McNaughton was Leanne Porter, Business Development Officer with Sunrise Community Futures. She was impressed with how engaged the students were, and presented information on various revenue sources to help fund business.
“My job is not just doing loans or helping with business plans, it’s pathfinding,” she explained. There’s other organizations out there, like Young Entrepreneurs or WESK (Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan). There’s lots of different organizations, too, that we can help partner them with. So I think the message was just to let them know, or anyone who’s starting a business, that there are different associations, groups, or organizations, such as ourselves, to help you with getting your business started and hopefully improving the odds of success.
Porter added that it’s “tough slogging for all the entrepreneurs out there.”
Some people are simply ‘just wired that way’ when it comes to 小蓝视频 an entrepreneur, and knowing that there are funding avenues to help along the journey also changes the narrative for a new generation.
As part of the recent provincial budget, the Saskatchewan Young Entrepreneur Bursary was established. The annual grant of $285,000 will see a maximum of 57 bursaries distributed around the province to help support those young entrepreneurs. The program will be administered by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. There is also a 20 per cent increase to the Graduate Retention Program tax credits that encourage those future graduates to build their careers in Saskatchewan.
