Entrepreneurship hub helps immigrants launch, build businesses in southwestern Manitoba

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Peggy

Newcomers looking to launch businesses in southwestern Manitoba’s biggest city now have access to an entrepreneurship incubation space in the heart of downtown.

The team running the Entrepreneur Hub at Westman Immigrant Services wants to help newcomers stay and settle in Brandon, while growing the region’s economy, says CEO Enver Naidoo.

Fatima Momoh, one of the hub’s clients, moved from Nigeria in 2021 to build a life in Brandon as a skilled worker. A friend recommended connecting with Westman Immigrant Services, and the agency helped make Brandon feel like home, she said.

Now, it’s supporting the next step of her journey — growing Alizaf Care, her personalized home-care business. She came to the hub with an idea and a plan, which the team helped develop.

Now, Momoh is her own boss and can use her decade of experience caring for seniors and others, while still making time for her family.

“They understood what I wanted, took me by the hand, gave me all the support,” Momoh said. “If you have business ideas … you want to learn something new and all that. They’ll be of great service.”

A man and woman stand outside a building. — Hannah Stollery, left, and Enver Naidoo of Westman Immigrant Services stand outside the Entrepreneur Hub on Rosser Avenue in Brandon. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

The hub has officially been fully running for a couple of months at 902 Rosser Ave., but part of the office has been operational for about a year.

It secured more than $1 million in federal funding over three years for the project.

So far, the hub has already connected with more than 100 clients like Momoh. Naidoo says immigrant entrepreneurs need additional support and additional resources because of the unique challenges they face being in a new community.

Hannah Stollery, the community outreach manager for Westman Immigrant Services, says the program generally sees two different types of clients: those who come with capital and those who don’t.

A team of four entrepreneurship co-ordinators connect with people and figure out what help they need, whether developing an idea or growing an already established business, to help both the entrepreneur and the local economy thrive.

“If we aren’t able to help them find a way to move those ideas forward in our communities, it’s going to be a missed opportunity,” she said.

Local mentors

Hub clients have access to 14 local mentors to help them navigate the business world and learn about opportunities like funding.

“They need that support … navigating, starting a business, getting those permits,” said Stollery. “Everything to open those doors.”

Now that it’s fully open, the hub is offering regular training workshops that cover topics like marketing, what it takes to start a business and getting funding, Stollery said. Those networking opportunities let entrepreneurs learn from each other and bounce ideas around, she said.

They also offer a chance to talk about the hurdles of launching and maintaining a business. The hub makes a lot of outside referrals to other resources for education, licensing and regulations, said Stollery.

Westman Immigrant Services will assess the program’s success by looking at the number of businesses that start and how they develop, Naidoo said. It will also look at economic growth within the city, and whether overall worker retention is improving.

The agency is working with Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute to track those goals and learn where services can be improved, Naidoo said.

Getting off the ground

Svetlana Maltseve, who learned about the hub through word of mouth, says it was the spark she needed to start her chocolate and candy business, Trueffeels, in September.

Maltseve moved to Brandon 20 years ago but never tried chasing her dream before, because she “didn’t have any helpers.”

Now, she’s learning to navigate the business world from the hub’s team.

A woman holds a palte of truffles. — Svetlana Maltseve started her chocolate business, Trueffeels, in September after learning about the hub. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

She creates her chocolates out of a local commercial kitchen — a connection she made through the hub — and brings her truffles to share with other entrepreneurs at the space to get their thoughts on her product.

“I love to do this.… I see emotions of people when I bring this happiness to them,” she said. “It’s not just a candy, it’s not just a chocolate. It’s an emotion … wrapped in that chocolate.”

Momoh also attends workshops at the new downtown space, including a recent one focused on social marketing and social media.

Those workshops are like a road map that will hopefully lead to her ultimate goal to one day open her own care home.

“I’m grateful to Westman Immigrant Services,” she said. “Helping immigrants like me coming, settling properly and all that has been very supportive.”

Thanks to that support, “I haven’t really missed home,” she said. “I constantly get that support that I would want.”