The Common Thread Between Lemonade and Green Bins

NOTE: The following feature story was written by Michelle Lucas for the Nova Scotia "Come to life" initiative. "Come to life" is a public-private sector initiative that markets Nova Scotia as an excellent place in which to live, work, invest, play and visit.

In the summer of 2006, two young girls from Weymouth, Digby Co., sat at a stand selling lemonade on a hot day. They hoped they would raise enough money to buy a trampoline.

But this was not your typical lemonade stand.

The two six-year-olds had borrowed $50 in capital from the Black Business Initiative (BBI) under the youth-focused Business is Jammin' program. They surpassed their goal and earned enough to buy a swimming pool for their backyard. They paid back their loan and started on the path of being successful entrepreneurs.

The Black Business Initiative believes this strategy is the key to continuing a vibrant, black business community in the future.

"Working with the youth and seeing them develop over the years and become the future business leaders in our community; we'd be very pleased to see that happen," says Gordon Doe, director of Business Development.

Nova Scotia's entrepreneurial spirit has always been strong. However, like in many other places in Canada and the United States, there are some unique challenges facing Nova Scotia's black communities in metro and rural areas.

In recognition of these challenges, the Black Business Initiative was created to enhance the presence of the black community in a variety of high-tech, manufacturing, tourism and cultural business sectors.

"The big picture is really changing the entrepreneurial culture in the black community," says S.I. Rustum Southwell, CEO of the Black Business Initiative. "We decide to have a dynamic and vibrant black business presence in Nova Scotia and then we look at the opportunities."

The provincewide initiative is focused on fostering the growth of businesses owned by members of the Nova Scotia black community. It is committed to providing members of the community training, business skills development and funding needed to operate a successful business.

Priority is placed on developing business skills and providing information in addition to loans and equity lending.

"We start with more business skills and information than necessarily financing," says Doe. "Get those two right and then the finances make more sense."

This outlook on black business was needed in Nova Scotia. While all levels of government had recognized the challenges facing the black communities, many previous programs that focused on grants and loans had not been successful. However, the Black Business Initiative has many areas that set it apart from the other programs.

The staff is committed to the mandate to positively influence the Nova Scotia business culture by promoting and helping develop Nova Scotia-owned black businesses.

"We do what we say we will do," Southwell says. "When the BBI commits to doing something it does it with passion and excellence."

Another difference is the work to create a sustainable business environment for the black community, apart from government funding.

"We had to find ways to raise capital," says Southwell. "That's actually where we think the difference is going to be made."

One program used to address this is the community economic development investment fund. The four-year-old fund allows individual Nova Scotians to contribute, and is used to invest in primarily black-owned businesses.

"I think it's great what we have done so far," Doe says. "The portfolio now stands at about $350,000 and we have invested in Nova Scotian businesses which are doing very well."

There are many successful businesses that have used the initiative's services such as IT Interactive, a leading web-search advertising and software-development company. Bin Doctor, a company that specializes in cleaning green bins and providing other environment-related services, has worked closely with the organization from the beginning and is now a multi-million dollar company.

"The black business people that we meet with are hard-working, sometimes even more hard-working than many other agencies. Many of them are very entrepreneurial. Many of them have business savvy," Southwell says.

The Black Business Initiative believes that providing information is one of the most important functions of the organization.

"Information is key," Doe says. "People with the right information make the right decisions and most likely get the right results."

There is a common belief that the organization provides people with the ladder, and they choose to climb it and determine how high they want to climb.

The organization also recognizes the importance of training and skills development in creating a successful business. The initiative provides business skills training in many areas including marketing, financial management, business plan development, human resources development and effective business communications.

"We identify courses that clients require and we collaborate with third party service providers - consultants and business people - to come and deliver those courses," says Doe.

In addition to these and the many other services the organization provides, the initiative promotes its partner organizations on television, through a partnership with Global, and in its popular publication Black to Business.

Still, there are some challenges the initiative continues to face.

"One of the challenges that transcended onto BBI is the sense that somehow the requirement to get money was going to be easier," Southwell says. "We don't think it's any harder, but most people didn't think they would have to go through the same process of proving the business case."

There is also the tendency for black entrepreneurs to want to focus on culturally specific businesses. However, because the markets for these businesses can become quickly saturated, the initiative emphasizes the "blue ocean theory", which says that there is always a market out there if you have the right product at the right time.

The initiative also sees the need to get youth to consider entrepreneurship at an early age. Through school presentations, summer camps, assisting with business and marketing ideas and creating links and partnerships with the business community, the Business is Jammin' program helps black youth discover entrepreneurship as a viable career option.

"We started brainstorming about how a youth strategy would look. You had 'C.E.E.D.' and Junior Achievers and all those. So how can you start something that would compliment all that? Basically for the type of design we said let's not reinvent the wheel, let's get all these best practices under one roof." Does says.

"Business is Jammin' works with entrepreneurs from six to 30, and then BBI can work with the others who are young at heart," Southwell says.

This example of creative thinking is what helps the initiative ensure black business in Nova Scotia continues to thrive.

"The creative work becomes part of your regular system." Southwell says. "It's not only quantitative – 200 businesses, five, six hundred jobs - like everyone else. It's the impact that you are making by having youth exposed to that kind of environment."

While Southwell believes the organization could exist in other parts of the country, he says only Nova Scotia had the right circumstances and drive to make sure the initiative was such a success. As an immigrant from St. Kitts, he recognizes both the business and personal opportunities in the province.

"It's really accessible to a lot of big markets. Whether you are going to Europe, or even Africa and the Caribbean. The proximity to New York and the New England states," he says. "Also the fact that there are so many universities in the province. You should have your pick of well-educated workforce who want to stay around."

On the personal side, Southwell says he and his family have adopted the lifestyle. "My family loves the pace. We love travelling. I love New York. But I can't take the traffic. There is no way I want to spend my life sitting in traffic," he says.

As a graduate of Saint Marys University, Doe also see the benefits of living and working in Nova Scotia.

"I think for a younger generation, we find the province provides you more opportunities to spend more time with the kids," he says. "You can also develop yourself. If you want to take more courses you can take an evening class because work closes at 5:30.

"With life, everybody's running. But here, you can see people walking. I think that is important. It's a good thing."