Making business dreams come true
Windsor’s Enactus team of students sweeps Central Canada Regional awards
Cafe March 21 owner Henry Kim’s dream of opening his own coffee shop has turned into a dream business.
In 18 months, his Pelissier Street cafe has seen business nearly quadruple. Kim said the turning point came when he accidentally became aware of the Windsor chapter of Enactus. “Enactus is a great program for supporting local businesses,” said the 24-year-old Kim, who moved to Windsor from South Korea in 2011. “They’re awesome.
“Their help with marketing was very helpful,” he added. “With their resources and knowledge of advertising, a lot more people came. “I got my name out there.” Enactus is an international, student-run, non-profit organization that seeks to improve lives through entrepreneurship.
The Windsor chapter, which is supported by the University of Windsor, was founded in 2006. It is composed of about 120 students from different academic backgrounds. In partnership with local community and business leaders, the group aims to help develop sustainable businesses through educational programs, financial support and training.
Kim was a member of the group’s award-winning CookStart program. The 12-week program, which is largely aimed at new Canadians, offers participants training in both the financial and culinary side of the food and restaurant industry.
“One of my customers (who) belonged to Enactus asked if I was interested in getting help with some marketing,” said Kim, who had been open eight months at the time.
“They helped a lot with social media. They helped me learn how to push my posts, what people were interested in and what their opinions were.
“It’s pretty impressive they can do this while being full-time students.”
Shivan Patel, vice-president of Enactus Windsor, said Kim’s story is a real-life example of what the group’s work is all about.
The chapter’s membership proposes all project ideas after analyzing the community for areas that need support.
“All of us are passionate about this group,” Patel said.
“We get to use the skills we learn in school to teach people. At the same time, we get real-world experience while helping to impact the world in the ways we are.”
The group’s track record of success is remarkable.
For the second straight year, the Windsor team swept all four categories at Enactus’s Central Canada Regional competition held in Mississauga earlier this month. Windsor triumphed in eco-living, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and youth empowerment.
There were 30 teams competing from Ontario and Quebec for the right to move on to the national competition in Vancouver in May.
The group developed a cheap water-filtering system using clay and sawdust for use in Morocco, a country lacking safe drinking water, to win the environmental category. They helped a local Moroccan artisan start a business to market the filters.
“The Royal Bank has supplied us with $30,000 over three years to do this,” Patel said. “There’s great support in the community.”
The winning financial literacy project saved the City of Windsor substantial sums by helping 12 individuals leave social assistance to start their own business.
The local chapter’s youth empowerment project, deployed in 10 high schools, five grade schools and an at-risk youth program, was also a winner.
The program teaches financial literacy and gives teams of students a chance to start up a micro businesses for the semester. The top teams at the end of the semester are invited to the Youth X gathering to make a pitch for further funding to expand their business.
“The WFCU has been a great partner in that project,” said Patel, a business student specializing in finance. “A student started a business making bracelets out of hockey skate laces. Another student was helping local businesses with their social media.”
The final winning project was in entrepreneurship. It helped mainly new Canadians start food businesses through CookStart.
“One lady started an Indian catering company called Rasoi,” Patel said. “We wanted to check how she was doing. She apologized for not returning calls quicker because she was so busy.”