Amina Suhrwardy
GETTING LAID OFF from her job at McMaster University in December was the push Amina Suhrwardy needed to delve into her business full-time.
For a few years she had been offering workshops on how to make the organic skin and body care products she’d created, but didn’t formally launch her startup until this past spring.
“Prior to that I just had so much to learn,” says Suhrwardy, 30.
Not only about aromatherapy, something she’d recently started studying, but about the business world.
First, she enrolled in the provincial program Starter Company through the Hamilton Small Business Enterprise Centre, an arm of the city’s economic development division. She received training, mentorship and a $5,000 grant that she used to order supplies.
A couple of months after that, she got involved with the YWCA’s microlending program.
“What appealed to me most was the business coaching,” she says. “We met every week.”
In those meetings, Suhrwardy was happy to receive critical feedback, ideas, suggestions and knowledge derived from others’ experience and expertise.
“When you’re running a business on your own, it’s pretty easy to feel overwhelmed. Having something like that as well as somebody to talk to at the end of the week about what happened – it’s important for staying on track.”
She was offered a start-up grant through the Y’s program but decided not to take the funding. Still, she says, it’s comforting to know it’s available.
“It’s nice that something is there if I need it. If I wanted $200 for, maybe, some extra training I could just do that. Or if I got a large order and they were going to pay on delivery but I needed some money to buy a lot of supplies, I could take out $500 or $300 and pay them back in a month.”
While some entrepreneurs are driven by wanting to be their own boss, something else drew her in.
“For me, it was more so looking for a more dynamic or challenging environment,” she says. “When you run your own business, that’s exactly what you’re getting.”
Advice for others
“I think they should just (enroll in the program).”
Key benefit of program
“Just having somebody to talk to.”
IT HAD BEEN A DECADE since Karen Marie Dickson was last in the workforce, and getting back in was proving to be a challenge.
That’s why the former prosecutor decided to look at opening her own practice as a way to find employment again. But it wasn’t that easy. First, she didn’t have the business knowledge. The 47-year-old had previously served as Crown counsel, where the administrative part of the job was handled for her.
Second, money was a problem. Having to come out of the field of law because of a disability (it took 10 years for her to get back on track) meant there was no steady, consistent income.
“Starting my own business will definitely lift me out of poverty,” she says.
After moving to Hamilton in March from Mississauga, Dickson found the YWCA’s women’s entrepreneurship program, which provided her with some of the tools she’ll need for running the mental health legal practice she intends to open.
From writing a business plan to learning about insurance advertising and promotion, Dickson broadened her skill set while preparing to hang out her shingle.
“It’s great to be in an environment of women that are coming up with ideas,” she says. “Women have always faced traditional barriers to get into business and this program helps you overcome those barriers.”
Cash is still proving to be an issue, however. While microloans of up to $5,000 are available to her through the YWCA’s program, Dickson says between licensing and insurance fees and material needs like a computer and filing cabinets, she requires around $10,000.
Traditional financing is not an option, because she doesn’t have the assets needed to secure a loan.
“That’s why the microlending program is perfect for some people,” she says. “They recognize you don’t need the assets.”
She has looked into grant programs and once she is able to get what she needs, she expects her practice will be up and running quickly.
Advice for others
“Put your business idea to paper and then come to the program ready to put a framework on your business idea … That’s what the program does — it fills in how you actually go about starting your business. You have an idea, it might be a wonderful idea, but it’s all in the execution.”
Key benefit of the program
“Coming up with the business plan … seeing it come to life.”