It took more than a few years for Meredith Powell to get her career on track after graduating from the University of British Columbia in the late 1990s.
“I was very impressed with my schooling in many ways, but I also left realizing I had no business skills,” the Vancouverite recalled, adding that she spent her days as a teen dreaming of launching her own fashion-oriented businesses.
“Schooling actually delayed my entry into full-fledged entrepreneurship.”
She learned to write computer code in 1999 at an “Internet school,” as it was called back then, and began building websites for small businesses before finding work in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Had I done that at a younger age, I mean, I would have started my businesses much [earlier], but it took me until my mid-20s until I actually started my first business.”
Ultimately, the co-founder of The Next Big Thing (TNBT) charitable foundation doesn’t want the same scenario to play out among other young entrepreneurs debating whether to seek post-secondary education or launch a company in their teens.
The first 10 young people accepted into the TNBT’s fellowship, which launched in September, all had to be between the ages of 17 and 22, and had to have a strong startup concept.
Throughout the six-month curriculum, the young fellows have been stationed at Hootsuite’s Mount Pleasant offices (CEO Ryan Holmes is TNBT’s other co-founder), where they’ve been learning the fundamentals of creating a lean business model and developing digital literacy skills. That means seminars and speakers instructing them on search engine optimization, social media and digital marketing.
An April 2014 study from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation found 36% of entrepreneurs aged 18–39 believed entrepreneurship skills were not taught early enough.
Another 31% said there were few opportunities to gain practical experience while in school, while 29% reported not having access to mentors with sufficient time, knowledge and skills.
TNTB fellow Daniel Dubois, founder of ShareShed, told Business in Vancouver the program has connected him with mentors willing to foster his professional development.
The 23-year-old is creating an online platform allowing members to share or borrow items, skills and events posted on ShareShed.ca.
“I’ve learned more in one semester with TNBT than my combined four years of university business classes combined,” Dubois said. “My perspectives have changed from making assumptions and reading about what it’s like to run a great organization, to meeting with CEOs and understanding what it’s like in the real world.”
Other efforts to get young people involved in entrepreneurship without the need of intense business schooling have been gaining ground in B.C.
Build a Profitable Social Venture (BPSV), a Vancouver-based program that charges $500 for its month-long course, began its second round of classes January 21.
Like TNBT, the program is attracting young entrepreneurs (the median age of its applicants is 27) who are learning the practical skills needed to get a venture off the ground.
Powell is also scheduled as a guest speaker during one of the classes.
“What we found is that most people taking the course are starting to do things on their own [and] are typically in their mid-to-late 20s,” BPSV co-founder Kevin Starke said.
“They’ve either gone to school or they’ve just done their own work the last couple works and they’ve learned or seen what the daily grind can be like.”
Powell said she’s been both surprised and impressed by how swiftly these “digital natives” have been able to develop their business plans and even prepare to take on investments.
“This is the first generation of young people who grew up with digital,” she said. “They have an understanding of the digital world that is already different than, let’s say, my generation.”
