AMHERST – An inspiring event took place last week at the Community Credit Union Business Innovation Centre in Amherst.
The large gathering present thoroughly enjoyed the Cumberland Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, sponsored by the Cumberland Business Connector along with the Community Credit Union and CBDC Cumberland.
The event was aimed at supporting those of our youth who have ambitions to start up their own businesses in our county. Entrants to the contest were required to ‘pitch’ their business proposals to a panel of judges at the event - Dragon’s Den style.
Over $10,000 in total cash prizes were to be won, in the junior category - 17 years old or younger, and the youth” category - 29 years old or younger.
As it turned out, there were seven finalists; five junior and two youth, who earned well-deserved cash prizes ranging from $500 to $2,000 that night.
You can see why the winners in the photo all had smiling faces.
Their business proposals ranged from producing and selling holistic health products all the way to distributing farm gates and livestock handling systems.
The evening was made all the more productive and enjoyable thanks to a well-chosen panel of judges and a fine emceeing job by Lacey Fisher.
Thanks also go to Jonathan McClelland, CEO of the Cumberland Business Connector, along with Carys Wood, executive director of the CBDC, and Darrell Kuhn, CEO of Community Credit Union of Cumberland Colchester Ltd., who played major organizing roles.
One thing that occurred to me after the event was that the majority of contestants come from outside of Amherst, our major population centre.
I put it down to the nature of country life where family wage-earners tend to be mainly “self-employed” in a range of occupations, just a short step away from an entrepreneurial style of existence.
I can imagine that a lot of kitchen table conversations touch on opportunities to diversify and earn extra income; and that cannot help but rub off on younger family members out to emulate their parents in one way or another.
It’s also instructive to understand the definition of an entrepreneur as being - “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.”
The higher degree of risk a budding entrepreneur faces can be a critical success factor in forcing the bar to be set high in terms of personal effort and soundness of the business plan.
Looking forward to our county’s future efforts to increase economic wealth and the strong likelihood that it will mainly come from exploitation of our natural resources, we are probably fortunate to be developing business talent that comes with the skills acquired “in the field” that match up with those needs.
- Written by Alan Walter
