The city is considering bringing back a youth entrepreneurship program that aims to help young people develop business skills.
Joan Barber, manager of business retention and expansion, presented a report on the Gen Y CEO program to city council Monday. The program was created last summer to encourage youth “to think entrepreneurial.”
Thanks to funding from the city, two youth were able to open a pop-up gourmet ice cream shop for six weeks in the summer of 2014. Street Scoops set up at different locations around the city every week. On its best day, it sold $600 worth of homemade ice cream.
Barber said economic development wants to bring the program back this summer, building on the success of last year.
“It really improved their communication skills, they learned how to sell to people and how to interact with the public,” she said.
In 2012, the city received a $5,000 grant to use for youth entrepreneurship. The money was to assist NABI with its Youth Entrepreneur Boot Camp in 2013. But the program was cancelled.
Administration then decided to create its own youth entrepreneurship program (Gen Y CEO) with focus on the city’s downtown. The summer-run businesses were hoped to bring more tourism to the city.
Barber said they sent out news on the program through schools, youth clubs and social media and received five applications in return.
“We weren’t going to evaluate the students on the quality of their business plan. We wanted to evaluate them on the quality of their idea,” she said.
All of the applicants were invited to present to a panel of judges, including Coun. Gilles Prefontaine. But only Dean Ciampanelli and Austin Cunningham won over the judges. They created Street Scoops, a pop-up ice cream stand.
Barber said the two entrepreneurs met in the weeks leading up to their grand opening to discuss their business and marketing plan, and to find out what supplies and monies they needed.
Street Scoops set up every Saturday at the log cabin on the corner of St. Albert Trail and Sturgeon Road. It also sold during the Dragons’ Den filming on Perron St. on July 13, at a wedding and in front of St. Albert Place.
“They were able to capitalize on the traffic that was parking there behind the farmers’ market,” said Barber.
The youth sold several types of ice cream, including a maple bacon flavour “which was kind of a hit and miss but it generated some interest.”
Barber said Ciampanelli and Cunningham needed more assistance and money than she anticipated. She also realized that more meetings ahead of the business’ opening would be beneficial. Both youth found the program to be “a great success.”
In 2015, she hopes to expand the program, now assisting six to eight students. These students would also participate in more workshops on topics such as customer service. “After that they would go out and perform whatever their job would be,” she said.
Barber said the program looks to help create a livelier downtown. In the future, she suggested that some profits generated from the program also be used for its continuation.
