I am an entrepreneur. It’s all I know.
My father was an entrepreneur, and I had the idea to start my first business, a mini-golf course, when I was just 12. Funnily enough, I cancelled the project when I realized the business model wouldn’t work. I always had a lot of ideas and I knew that I wanted to create and build a company as soon as I found the right idea.
Fast-forward several years. I enrolled in the entrepreneurial management program at Royal Roads University, where I met Mark Williams, my future business partner. I enlisted another friend I’d met at college, Jason Billingsley, and immediately after graduating we founded a web-development company, Elastic Path, with a $15,000 loan and startup support from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF).
Our timing for the launch of Elastic Path couldn’t have been worse – we launched just as the dot-com bubble burst and as many other high-tech companies were shutting down. In hindsight, the fiscal responsibility, can-do attitude and creativity it instilled in us made it the best time to start a business.
In those first few years, we recognized an underserved niche in the e-commerce software market and, as a result, evolved the focus of Elastic Path.
I feel very fortunate to have had the support of a lot of great people that helped us through the trials and tribulations as we’ve grown the company. For this reason, I have made it my personal mission to champion youth entrepreneurship in Canada by helping to raise awareness of the issues faced by young entrepreneurs and working to find solutions to improve the supports available to this aspiring group.
At the end of last year, I travelled to Parliament Hill to officially launch Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Canada with the Hon. Rob Moore, minister of state, small business and tourism, along with CYBF and other entrepreneurs from across Canada. Together, we discussed the challenges and opportunities facing young entrepreneurs and assisted in developing a national youth entrepreneurship strategy.
I believe that the core of Canada’s economic and social success is dictated by the strength of its entrepreneurial culture. Entrepreneurs drive innovation, growth and a better quality of life. Thus, it is important to get involved with and celebrate GEW. It’s a great opportunity to encourage young Canadians to embrace entrepreneurship as a career option and channel their passion, interests and creativity into a viable career.
There are a lot of challenges to being an entrepreneur but the one thing that sets entrepreneurs apart is the optimism that they will be able to meet any problem with a solution. Initiatives like GEW breed this optimism, unite young entrepreneurs and build the confidence to put their ideas in motion.
CYBF is the official host of GEW. I encourage Canadians to get involved in this global initiative, which takes place every November, and help other young entrepreneurs.
Harry Chemko is the co-founder and CEO of Elastic Path Software Inc., a leading enterprise e-commerce solutions provider for the software, media, telco, online services and digital reseller markets. www.elasticpath.com. For information on Global Entrepreneurship Week, visit www.gewcanada.com; for information on the CYBF, visit www.cybf.ca.