 “How to Start a Business” Seminar offered by Hemant Kumar, Economic Development Officer, at the Brundage Point River Centre Enterprise Saint John is a member of the River Valley Chamber of Commerce and an advocate for inspiring and supporting people, ideas and investment, serving the Town of Grand Bay-Westfield as well as Quispamsis, Rothesay, St. Martins and Saint John. This organization believes that by working together, we are stronger, better able to ‘grow the pie’ rather than fight over the pieces. Staffed by a team of approachable, client-focused economic and workforce development professionals, ESJ is passionate about advancing our community. Some of the services provided to support and inspire entrepreneurship include: One-on-one business counseling – Their Economic Development Officers are available to help you achieve your business goals. Whether you are a young aspiring entrepreneur, someone looking to take their business to the next level or a senior exploring post-retirement business opportunities, call them!, they really want to help. Training and development – Check out their Facebook site for upcoming training and development seminars. Most are free and cover such topics as marketing, accounting, social networking and general business skills. Networking – Enterprise Saint John helps emerging entrepreneurs connect with others in the community. This is a great way to learn first hand from others who may have faced similar challenges. Follow their Emerging Entrepreneurs Facebook page. Business Competitions – Every year ESJ facilitates a Business Plan and a Business Pitch competition which is open to anyone between the ages of 18 – 35. Business Immigrant Mentorship Program – This program helps newcomers from different cultural backgrounds integrate into the business community. Experienced professionals from the local business community are matched with immigrant entrepreneurs. “This program offers immigrant entrepreneurs a very critical service: the ability to meet with, learn from and network with established local business/professional people,” says Anita Punamiya, the program coordinator. Community Overview Presentations – Want to know what’s going on economically in our community? ESJ also offers interested groups, associations or organizations with updates of investment, labour stats and other interesting news about our community. Available upon request. Investment Attraction – Most investment leads take many months and sometimes years to develop. At any given time, ESJ is working with a hand-full of large-scale investment attraction clients. Combined, they have the potential to create over 800 jobs. Workforce
Development – A team of
experienced Workforce Development officers help employers in our
community retain and attract workers, providing training for HR
professionals, labour market data and represent firms from our
community on recruitment missions to places like Toronto, Ottawa or
Boston.
Meet one of ESJ’s inspired entrepreneurs… The business development team at Enterprise Saint John first began working with Nawal Doucette in 2004. As a trained yoga instructor and accomplished belly dancer, her dream was to turn her passion in to a viable career path. Now, she is living her dream, balancing teaching yoga and belly dancing at community centres and at the Human Performance Centre, and raising her young daughter. Nawal’s passion and clear vision also resulted in her winning top prize in our 2011 Business Pitch Competition. Her future plans are to expand, and there is no doubt that she will accomplish all that she sets out to do.
if you have any questions or concerns on this article or with regards to the Chamber, please contact the Executive through 657-6369 or email meowmix@nb.aibn.com and your comments will be redirected for response to the appropriate person. |
