Business incubator program explored
Entrepreneurial talent in capital not being harnessed, advocate says
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, April 18, 2016
IQALUIT
The entrepreneurial talent of Iqalummiut is not being harnessed, says one business advocate. She wants to change that.
Lili Weemen is on a campaign with Startup Iqaluit, the local branch of a national organization that promotes entrepreneurship, to lobby the city to start a business incubator program.
She says many would-be business owners in the city are currently working in the "informal sector."
"I feel that we could capture that crowd," said Weemen. "There are thousands of them. We want to reach out to this group of entrepreneurs."
She hosted a booth at the Nunavut Mining Symposium hawking the idea to passersby. She wants the city to use the Internet to connect the territory together and harness the entrepreneurial drive in Nunavut where physical roads don't work.
"I don't think we can do it by ourselves," said Weemen, suggesting the City of Iqaluit develop a business incubation program. "Some people in the past have been working for several years here trying to get an incubator. That hasn't had much success but it looks like there is a revival of that. We're trying to be part of that."
Coun. Kuthula Matshazi, chair of the economic development committee, said the city is exploring two options for such a program.
"What (a business incubator) means is the city should play a facilitatory role," said Matshazi. "That is our vision."
One option is for the incubator to have a full physical space for entrepreneurs to use to help build their business. The second option is having the city provide services such as bookkeeping and marketing to assist entrepreneurs in starting their business and learning the basics.
"If you look at providing a structure, that would be nice, but the problem is you know how difficult it is to get space here," said Matshazi.
"The other option of providing specialized services is still a viable option, because if you are able to incubate your business, teach them how to do their books... then they're going to have a better understanding of how business works and more likely to have their business flourish."
It will come down to a cost-benefit analysis, he said.
His committee forwarded a recommendation to explore the idea to city council. It would still be some time off before a full analysis of options is done, should council be interested.
Weemen thinks it's important for the city to take the lead on the project.
