North End agency plants SEEDs of business

After working for a company as a window washer for five years, Colin Desrochers knew he wanted to become his own boss but had no idea where to start.

Desrochers did some research and discovered the Build-a-Business program at SEED Winnipeg, a North End agency that aims to improve the inner city by helping people start businesses and save money.

Through its Build-a-Business program, SEED (which stands for Supporting Employment and Economic Development) aims to help 12 to 15 people living on low incomes start a new business each year.

For Desrochers, a St. Boniface resident with a wife and three children, it was a risk to give up a steady job and take a chance on his own. But a year after starting the program, he has no regrets.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” he said.

The first two months consist of a business management training program, which is completed in 24 sessions over eight weeks and is offered four times throughout the year.

Ivy Lopez Sarmiento, one of the program’s business counsellors, said the training is designed to turn the client’s idea for a business into a plan that can succeed.

The training covers everything from knowing the local market and understanding the competition to tools for reaching potential customers and ideas for effective time management.

“Hopefully, at the end of the training they have a draft business plan that is ready to move forward,” Sarmiento said.

Once the training is complete, clients meet one-on-one with their business counsellor to finalize their plan and to establish detailed goals for their new enterprise.

“That’s the part I benefited the most from,” said Desrochers. “I was able to get more focused and direct answers on my own business.

“The counsellors help you understand if what you’re thinking of doing makes sense or not.”

In Desrochers’s case, it took four months from the first training session until Above All Window Washing was open for business. After starting with only three clients, he has built his customer base to 25 commercial and about a dozen residential clients.

“I’m right on par with the goals I set,” he said, adding that in the next year he plans to add an employee, get a new company vehicle and be making as much money as he was at his old job.

Once the business is up and running, the entrepreneur still meets monthly with their business counsellor for as long as two years.

Carinna Rosales, SEED Winnipeg’s director of business development services, said Desrochers’s success is not unusual. Every one of the 17 businesses that were launched between 2005 and 2006 are still thriving, she said.

SEED clients are also able to take advantage of the agency’s relationship with Assiniboine Credit Union that can provide up to $10,000 in financing for their business.

“Our clients’ repayment rate is better than the overall average,” Rosales said.

SEED’s Youth Build-a-Business program is in its fifth year of providing similar opportunities for at-risk Winnipeggers aged 16 to 30.

With the help of government agencies, people in that program also receive a six-month living allowance and can participate in a savings program that matches each dollar saved with $3 in credits.

Sarmiento said the program is considered successful if the young person starts a business, finds meaningful employment or returns to school.

“I feel that the job is fairly rewarding,” she said. “It’s amazing when you see the growth in the individual personally and professionally.”