A new kind of business incubator opened this month in Toronto's Black Creek neighbour. Doubling as both a mentorship program and public storefront, the new incubator fast tracks young entrepreneurs through the often arduous and intimidating journey of getting a product to market.
Ascend, a project of Toronto's
Youth Enterprise Network (YEN), is geared to entrepreneurs and customers in the Black Creek community—the neighbouhoods along Jane Street between Finch and Steeles. It's located at 2350 Finch Avenue West (at the corner of Finch and Weston Road).
The initiative "helps fill an important gap in the community," says Morris Beckford, executive director of
Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services (the umbrella organization of which YEN is a part). The program helps young entrepreneurs who have the ideas and the drive to succeed, but lack the resources and startup capital they need to get their ideas to market.
In a climate of increasing youth unemployment, Beckford puts it bluntly: Ascend is here "to give youth the opportunity to make money."
Successful applicants receive six months of training to develop and manufacture their product, followed by six months of free retail space to sell their product in the Ascend storefront. Ascend's hyper-local, hands-on approach to business incubation not only allows entrepreneurs immediate access to customers than more traditional incubator models, it also allows for support tailored specifically to each participants' needs.
"The support we offer is all very practical, it's based on what [the participants] need, based on their specific situation," says Beckford. "If we need to set them up with existing entrepreneurs doing a similar business, we would. If they need, say, information on how to deal with taxes, we would help them with that. It's really about helping them any way we can."
Ascend's first batch of products include include jewelry, art work, magazines and music.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Morris Beckford, Executive Director, Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services