Passing the torch
On a cool night in April, a who’s who of Hamilton, Ont.’s young professional world gathered in the back of the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Design Annex, a space opened in 2012 on the increasingly hip James Street North stretch of galleries, shops, restaurants and studios.
There were city councillors, McMaster University professors, entrepreneurs, and business contacts in real estate, consulting and all kinds of creative industries.
They were there to celebrate the two-year anniversary of an executive roundtable series that has hosted 24 sessions of senior business people passing on their knowledge to the city’s upand-coming younger generation of entrepreneurs and professionals, discussing everything from marketing and social media to legal advice and property options.
On this occasion, Joe Accardi, the 28-year-old economics graduate from Toronto who started the roundtables, passes the torch to a new chair.
“I used to get deflated by the local community when I would speak of the bright future and renewal,” Mr. Accardi said of the business atmosphere when he moved to Hamilton just a few years ago. “I would be told that ‘ I’ve heard that before’ or ‘We already tried that.’ Now when I speak of what’s happening, there are more in- spirers than deflators: ‘Yeah, it’s happening.’ ”
Within the few years he has been in Hamilton, Mr. Accardi started the roundtable series, began running a proper ty management company and, just last year, opened The Green Smoothie Bar on James Street and a social business space called Platform 302, similar to Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation.
He is a testament to what is possible when a city fosters its business-hungry, creative young people, something Hamilton and several other middle-sized cities have focused on in the past five years.
In the city once known for its big industry, there is now a “spirit of optimism” among its small-business community, says Marvin Ryder, an assistant professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business.
The positive outlook is largely due to a well-timed coincidence of effort from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, the local Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and McMaster’s Innovation Park in fostering the region’s newer generation of entrepreneurs and professionals, he says.
“Everyone’s trying to do a little something, so you have what appears to be a nice groundswell,” Mr. Ryder said.
Hamilton has had its share of attention in the past year as many flock to the city for cheaper real estate and a growing arts community, with the art crawl on James Street North as a symbol of renewal of the downtown. Many of its 10,000 or so graduates from local postsecondary institutions, who once would have left after graduating, are staying.
Heritage buildings are up for rent, and they’re affordable. And many businesses in the technology and arts sectors now require less startup costs than did the manufacturing businesses of the previous generation.
But many point to the success of local networking groups such as Mr. Accardi’s executive roundtables, which have connected various generations of entrepreneurs and inspired growth.
Another group called Hamilton Hive, which began in 2010, was promoted as a best practice in February at the annual conference of the Economic Developers Council of Ontario. It is similar to a regional LinkedIn, but also has a mentoring component and a large annual conference, Hive X.
“There are a lot of new young professional groups emerging from chambers of commerce and boards of trade,” says Nirvana Champion, chairwoman of the Young Professionals Network within EDCO, a committee she founded just two years ago. “It’s an increasing focus.... It is quite important because those are your next leaders, your next entrepreneurs.”
Ms. Champion points to other groups in cities not too far from Hamilton: Niagara Next, Emerging Leaders in London, Ont., and the Young Professionals Association of Greater Sudbury. Examples exist across the country. Fusion Halifax, which started five years ago, went from 10 founding board members to 3,500 members. It hosts a monthly networking event and an annual mentorship program.
Chairwoman Sarah Levy MacLeod, 30, was a mentor a few years ago and says, “Mentorship is a critically important piece specifically when building that next generation of leaders.”
The group has really helped make the business community feel closer, she says. “The job market here tends to be quite closed, there are a lot of advertised positions but there are just as many not advertised. It kind of does become about who you know.”
In Hamilton, 28-year-old Danielle Height, who coowns the smoothie bar with Mr. Accardi, says the strategy is working. “It’s a huge movement. Once you know a few people in the business community, all they want to do is help you; they want to pass you around and help you thrive.”
She also runs a design company with her twin sister Melissa, who is the chairwoman of Hamilton Hive.
It’s a large business community, but somehow, they all seem connected, says Michael Marini of Hamilton’s economic development division. “It’s a city of more than 500,000 but it’s a city of 500 because everyone knows someone through someone.”