TheSpec - No time for holidays this summer
No time for holidays this summer
Meredith MacLeod
August 3, 2011
Ali Ushaksaraei is spending his summer
cleaning Maseratis. Nicole Martin is teaching
drama and dance to children. Matt Wilusz has
brought in about $60,000 building fences and
porches.
They are among the 21 Hamilton students
running their own businesses under a
provincially funded program called Summer
Company.
Car Detailing. Ali Ushaksaraei, a fourth-year commerce student at McMaster,
has operated his company AutoBath this summer. Gary Yokoyama/The Hamilton
The program is open to full- and part-time
Spectator Source: The Hamilton Spectator
students ages 15 to 29. To qualify, young
people must present a business plan and undergo an interview. If they are accepted, they receive
$1,500 for startup costs from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
Throughout the summer, the budding entrepreneurs meet with mentors who have experience in running
a business. They go over budgets, balance sheets and marketing, bookkeeping and sales. The students
are expected to keep journals and must dedicate at least 35 hours a week to their venture.
If they have completed all the requirements, rookie owners get another $1,500 at the close of the summer.
“The idea is to give students entrepreneurial experience,” said Margaret Gaskell, a small business
consultant with the Halton Small Business Centre, which is managing 16 summer companies.
“It’s a chance for students to get a real taste of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur.”
Wilusz, a 22-year-old Hamilton resident who finished a biochemistry degree this year and will
begin McMaster’s co-op MBA program in September, has taken just five days off all summer.
He and his mentor set a revenue goal of $10,000 for MJ Improvements for the summer. He passed
$60,000 at the end of July. He attributes that to getting an early jump on lining up work.
http://www.thespec.com/print/article/572671 (1 of 3) [03/08/2011 2:34:10 PM]
TheSpec - No time for holidays this summer
“I think this has got me ready for every aspect of doing business,” Wilusz said. He’ll be in school
next summer but is already thinking about hiring a crew to keep his company going.
Ushaksaraei, owner of Autobath, found a niche in washing and detailing high-end vehicles,
including Lamborghinis, Mercedes and Ferraris. He goes right to the car owner’s home or workplace.
After researching his competition, the fourth-year commerce student at McMaster felt he was in the
right business.
“People are overcharged for what they get. I knew I could charge a better price and do better work.”
He charges $135 to wash, detail and wax an SUV.
He started out knocking on doors in rich neighbourhoods and every time he finished a car, he took photos
to show potential clients. He bought a large sign he puts out so neighbours and passersby see his
company name.
“One happy customer would tell two people and one of those people would call me. It just went from there.”
Martin has run weekly performance camps in Flamborough called Talent Search Summer Camp in
which youngsters ages six to 12 produce a music video and present a live performance. The campers have
a chance to win a scholarship to a local talent agency.
“I really respect entrepreneurs now and what they have to do to start up a business. It’s a lot more
work than a part-time job at the mall. I work all the time at home, early days and long hours.”
Martin, a drama and speech communication student at the University of Waterloo, has taught more than
70 students over the summer and feels she has a very solid base for running the camp again next summer.
“I’m doing it 100 per cent for sure. This has been the best summer job ever.”
Inquiries and applications for the program are definitely up over the past couple of years, says
Sandra Nuhn, manager of small business and strategic partnerships for Halton. That is partly due to a
tough economy.
The jobless rate for young people remains stubbornly high, with 15.9 per cent of those 15 to 24 unable
to find work in June. That’s more than twice the overall national average of 7.4 per cent and well above
the pre-recession figure of 11 per cent for that age group.
Natalie Eldershaw of Burlington has found it hard to find a summer job, so she jumped at the chance to
turn her knack for screen printing into a business called Prints and Needles. She sells online as well as
at markets and arts festivals.
“It’s great because you can start up a business without taking on all the overhead costs yourself,” said
the Sheridan textile design student. “I would have been really hesitant without that grant … It forces you
http://www.thespec.com/print/article/572671 (2 of 3) [03/08/2011 2:34:10 PM]
TheSpec - No time for holidays this summer
to jump in and think more grandly.”
The Hamilton program received 50 submissions this year, says Kristin Huigenbos, co-ordinator of
the Hamilton Small Business Enterprise Centre. The program takes away some of the risk of working
for oneself, while offering the chance to make some serious cash.
“It’s nothing for our landscaping, painting or contractors to make $50,000 to $70,000 in the summer,”
she said.
Huigenbos says 87 per cent of the program’s students over the past five years continue to run their
own businesses at least part time. The program has grown from five companies in Hamilton in 2005 to
21 this year.
Khaled Hashem of Burlington, a third-year industrial engineering student at University of Toronto, says
the combination of mentoring advice and the financial help convinced him to “jump right in” and launch
his lawn care business.
He used his $1,500 to buy seed, fertilizer and equipment and to print post cards to leave at people’s doors.
“The best thing is referrals. I try to do a really good job at everything we do so that friends or
neighbours will ask,” said Hashem, 20. “I usually don’t leave a house without a customer giving me
their brother’s or their friend’s number.”
“The whole program has been amazing. I would recommend it to any student starting a company.”
Paul Homer of Ancaster is a mentor with the Hamilton program. He’s now retired but used to work for
the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, helping small businesses get off the ground and
setting up regional small business centres.
“I wish they had a program like this when I was a kid,” Homer said of Summer Company.
He says about 85 per cent of the companies make money over the summer and some have turned
into thriving small businesses.
“There is a guy in Brantford who’s now the biggest roofer in the city. He’s got eight trucks on the road.”
[email protected]
905-526-3408
This article is for personal use only courtesy of TheSpec.com - a division of Metroland Media Group Ltd.
http://www.thespec.com/print/article/572671 (3 of 3) [03/08/2011 2:34:10 PM]