Title: Those who enterprise, prosper!

One lesson of the recent economic meltdown was that when all the mightier players collapsed miserably, many of the lighter players were also jolted however they not only stood their ground with grace but were able to bounce back soon and in style. The lighter players in this reference are the small and medium enterprises.

Human Endeavour is a not-for-profit organization working for the social and economic uplift of the South Asian community in York Region. Its New Horizon project was designed to help South Asian newcomers and their families in improving their economic condition through self-reliance by exploring small, home based business opportunities. Human Endeavour believed that small businesses, with lighter overhead burdens and more steam of innovation in their belly, were less affected by the gravitational forces of economic crunch. Research substantiates that small business, besides supporting the entrepreneurs, gradually start generating jobs around them.

Human Endeavour through New Horizons project has been holding trade festivals for the last three years. The events showcase stalls from small and home based business owners and organizations working to serve the immigrant community. In these trade festivals, Human Endeavour recognizes both the entrepreneurs with inspiring stories of courage in taking charge and establishing their small businesses and those organizations that help the newcomers in exploring entrepreneurial opportunities by providing information, advice and guidance.  

This year Human Endeavour focused on individuals and the awards were given to three women entrepreneurs who started on a small scale but became successful entrepreneurs and shared the benefits of their success with the community.

 The first award was given to Ms. Maninder Kaur who used to work in a company dealing in sanitizing services of plastic containers. During the economic crunch her employer decided to close down the company. On finding this out, the brave entrepreneur decided to buy the business and it took her two weeks from her first thought to the acquisition of the company. It was even more challenging move for her because she was a single mom at the time of the purchase. Then in the economic crisis, banks were very reluctant to offer investments.

Her insight, organization, hard work and selection of the right team and strategy helped her to turn a fragile business into a profitable venture within few months. She is now thinking to expand her business. Besides the business success, she is no more single mom as she got married three months ago. She actively volunteers with Punjabi Community Health Services; and believes that it is possible to balance attention-to-work and affection-to-family. She is also convinced that more and more women can and must become entrepreneurs.

 The second award was given to Ms. Indrani Nagenthiram from the Tamil community who combined passion, compassion and cause in her enterprise. After coming to Canada she worked with the Canadian Institute for the Blind (CNIB) for 10 years. In 2001, due to restructuring of the CNIB, her position was abolished. She faced the daunting task of career change; but she turned the disadvantageous conditions to her advantage and after some hard thinking, decided to benefit from an opportunity offered by the employment insurance sponsored entrepreneur program at the Centennial College.

As part of this program, she set up ‘Helping Hand for Senior’, a social enterprise from the basement of her house. She wanted to help the vulnerable seniors and vouched to help them in a way that it also became her career. The demand for her services for seniors rose by leaps and bounds; and, knowing that all seniors or their caregivers were not in position to pay even nominal charges, she set up VILLA KARUNA Senior Care, which is a non-profit entity, run by a Board of Directors.  

The third award was given to Ms. Sujun Chen from the Chinese community. Although Sujun is not South Asian but has been working with them and a significant number of South Asians, particularly, the seniors have benefited from her volunteer as well as expert services.

When she arrived in Canada after her retirement in China, she did not know English or anyone here. Starting off as a caregiver after completing a caregiver program offered for new immigrants, she worked for a family, attended their children, and picked up working English by engaging in children’s home work at her job. Shortly after her first job, she completed Personal Support Worker course and volunteered at nursing homes where she discovered her passion to help people, especially the seniors.

She overcame a serious health challenge with her perseverance and belief and expanded the domain of her services for others by becoming a yoga instructor. She opened Hot Yoga Studio which assisted people in mental wellbeing and physical fitness alike. It also helps them in staying healthy through holistic exercise regime and treatments. She recently opened her second studio and the third one is being planned.

These stories are even more pertinent because all the three award recipients are women next door who were facing an ordinary set of conditions. The only extraordinary thing about them was their initiative, courage and perseverance. The award plaque very aptly bore ‘those who enterprise, prosper’!

DIgnitaries and Award winners

 
Left to Right:   Ms. Indrani Nagenthiram, Ms. Sujun Chen, Ms. Maninder Kaur

Arshed Bhatti, the author, voluntarily assists Human Endeavour in community outreach.