Are you passionate about your ideas? Can you be self-disciplined to pursue a goal? Do you think creatively and find new solutions to old problems? Have people described you as a go-getter?
If you answer yes to these questions, you have the personality that suits owning a small business!
Self-employment is an attractive option for residents in the Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake region. The number of people declaring themselves as self-employed is double that of all other areas of the province (Stats Canada 2011 data). From Yahk to Crawford Bay, opportunities for full-time employment can be quite limited as much of our regional economy relies on seasonal or part-time employment. It definitely pays to take a creative approach and consider building your own business in either a home-based businesses or the more traditional store-front operation.
At Kootenay Employment Services, we have been delivering entrepreneurial training to eligible residents for over ten years. In the last five years, through the Employment Program of BC, funded by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, 12 clients per year (60 new businesses in total) participated in our program. The program offers 10 weeks of business planning support, plus an additional 38 weeks of mentoring support to eligible clients. The program accepts new applicants every 5 weeks throughout the year.
Over the past two years our LEAP! program, funded through the Ministry of Jobs, Trade and Technology, has helped launch 12 new businesses. LEAP! provide expert instructors and mentors 2 evenings a week at KES to eligible clients. The program runs once a year and we are hoping to offer the program again in 2018.
KES has been instrumental in helping create the Creston and District Investment CO-OP. The Investment CO-OP consists of Creston & District residents who have pooled their money together to support local business start-ups and expansions. Local businesses can apply to the Investment CO-OP at any time for financial support. A simple two-page application makes it easy to apply. Eligible businesses receive 1-5 year term loans ranging from $10K to $100K. The Investment CO-OP also provides borrowers with business development support, access to technical advisors and mentors. The first recipient of CO-OP funding was a Crawford Bay business.
KES also supports small business by helping find qualified staff through our Job Development service, providing wage subsidies (from provincial and federal programs) to help offset training costs for new staff, and providing work clothes or transportation money to help new employees get started.
For more information, call KES at (250) 428-5655 or drop by our office at 119 – 11 Avenue North in Creston.