High school students learn about entrepreneurship
March 24, 2025, 12:24 pm
Nicole Taylor
On Thursday, members of Moosomin’s business community met with the grade 10 financial literacy class at McNaughton High School to talk about entrepreneurship and what it looks like in local communities.
Victor Santos Cardoza shared with the students his own journey as a young entrepreneur. Victor is a McNaughton High School graduate, former youth councillor, and newly elected town councillor. At 20 years of age, he was the youngest person ever elected to Moosomin town council. Santos Cardoza is currently a carpenter, working in Moosomin towards entrepreneurship by pursuing his Red Seal certification.
“Despite creating opportunity and a livelihood, entrepreneurship is a real opportunity to create a career for yourself that directly aligns with your passions, and doing something that you have always dreamed of achieving,” said Santos Cardoza. “It creates purpose for yourself. A measure of success where goals and expectations are set for yourself, by yourself.”
Santos Cardoza says entrepreneurship impacts not only your personal self-development, but the economy and society as a whole. “You are contributing to development of ideas, and solutions to problems your community is facing, and providing a service to meet the needs of your community,” said Santos Cardoza.
Experience as an entrepreneur
Heather Truman, town councillor and owner and operator of Sew Creative in Moosomin, also shared a bit about what it is like to be an entrepreneur. “Owning a business gives you the freedom to pursue your own ideas and visions.
You get to create something from the ground up, something that reflects your values and interests. This can be incredibly fulfilling and motivating,” said Truman.
The latest provincial budget includes a Youth Entrepreneurship program that will be delivered through local Chambers of Commerce, offering $5,000 bursaries to young entrepreneurs.
The Moosomin Chamber of Commerce will be part of the program.
Getting into businesS
Tia Cederstrand, owner of Third Avenue on Main, says entrepreneurship allows you to make a tangible impact on your community and even the world. Tia was unable to attend in person but wrote a letter of advice for the students.
“Starting a business comes with challenges, but these challenges are opportunities to grow. You’ll learn valuable skills such as problem solving, leadership, and financial management,” said Ceterstrand. “These skills are not only crucial for business success, but highly valuable in any career path you choose. Research the market to understand the needs and preferences of your potential customers. Create a business plan that outlines your goals, strategies and finial projections. Seek advice from mentors, join entrepreneurial groups such as the Community Builders Alliance, and become involved in the community,” said Cederstrand. “Never stop learning. Remember every successful business started with a single idea and a lot of hard work.
Owning your own business is a journey, filled with challenges and rewards. It requires, dedication, creativity, and a willingness to take risks.”
CBA is there to help
Tyler Thorn, CEO of Celebration Ford and President of the Community Builders Alliance, explained what the CBA is and how they help young entrepreneurs get started. “The CBA is a group of local business people and entrepreneurs. There are 40 of us. Our goal is to make Moosomin a better place to live, work, play, and invest. We focus on four pillars of a strong community: Education, health care, arts and recreation, and business and economic development,” he said.
“One of our focuses is to retain, retract, attract and expand businesses. In order to do that, you typically need two ingredients: people and money,” said Thorn. “In my experience I would say it is often more difficult to find the person that wants to own and operate a business than it is to find the money to start. It all starts with the people. The jewelry store is a great example.
They hired Tia, trained and mentored her, and taught her what it takes to own and operate that business. When the previous owners retired, Tia came to the CBA for help to buy the business. We got to know her a bit, did research on the business, and we were impressed with her passion. She is very entrepreneurial and committed to her goal of owning the store. CBA put a group together that would invest in that business,” said Thorn.
“We are not a charity, we invest, and in the case of the jewelry store, we were able to help an entrepreneur get started, we were able to help a long-time business owner into retirement and not have a liquidation sale, and we were able to keep a store open on Main Street instead of an empty building.
That was more important to us than the financial returns—seeing those things happen in our downtown business community.
“My advice is to make the most of the opportunity you have in this school, and learn as much as you can. Take business classes, and if there is a business that you someday hope to take over, go see the business owner, and tell them you want a job because you want to own that business one day. I guarantee they will be impressed,” said Thorn.
Entrepreneurship in ag
Jeff Warkentin, Chief Operating Officer at Hebert Grain Ventures, shared a bit about the importance of entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry.
“At Hebert Group our main enterprise is the farm, but we also have Maverick Ag, where we do consulting for farmers. We started a program for young farmers called FarmCoach, so they can come to us and we’ll help mentor them and help them to grow their business,” he said. “We are also part of a venture fund where we invest in ag innovation and new technology in ag. There are a lot of opportunities in agriculture. We also work with other young farmers. The cost to start farming is high right now, so we work with them to get started. We’ve done joint ventures to help them get their feet off the ground. We give them access to our knowledge and machinery, and they get to take care of their own land.”
Community Futures
Leanne Porter with Sunrise Community Futures, which offers loans, advice and support, explained how the organization helps entrepreneurs get started.
“Integrity, work ethic, and accountability is something we take into account more than the other financial institutions,” said Porter, who works at the Community Futures Moosomin office.
“We will help you with your business plan and cash flow, and marketing strategies. There are a lot of questions new business owners have, and it can seem overwhelming. That is why we are here. It may seem scary, but there are lots of resources here to help you jump those hurdles, and there are people that are willing to support you. That is the great part about a small community, if you come back, there are people to support you. We want to see economic development, people staying around the community and doing well for themselves,” said Porter.
Work and reward
Jason Schenn, CEO and General manager of Borderland Co-op, addressed the financial literacy students. “There are always going to be leaders that emerge, and those that follow, and that is okay. The world requires all kinds of different people to make it go round,” said Schenn.
“The world is your school, everything that you do is an opportunity to learn, so soak it up. It is all knowledge you can use at another point in your life, and that’s what I did. I used every move, every opportunity as a chance to recreate myself and be better than I was before. Eventually that led me to my current position.
“I went from pump jockey to CEO. It is all about applying yourself,” said Schenn. “Not everyone may have an interest in being a general manager or CEO, sometimes you have interest in other fields. I encourage you to follow those dreams. Whatever you want to be, go for it. I definitely encourage you to see the world, but do not count out coming back to smaller communities to have that opportunity to grow. To be successful, you have to be dedicated to learning. Be self aware, accountable, adaptable, step out of your comfort zone, and show up for yourself. Remember that the dictionary is the only place where reward comes before work,” said Schenn.
