Black History Month time to inspire future generations of entrepreneurs
By Monte Stewart - Business Edge
Friday, February 22, 2008
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Escaped slaves from Kentucky, the Blackburns started Toronto's first horse-drawn cab company in 1837, while helping other freed and fugitive American slaves restart their lives and trades in the safety of Upper Canada.
Their lives are the topic of the critically acclaimed Canadian bestseller I've Got a Home in Glory Land by archeologist and historian Karolyn Smardz Frost.
Many other stories of courage and success are being told throughout February as Canada celebrates Black History Month.
Rustum Southwell is CEO of the Halifax-based Black Business Initiative (BBI), which has helped create 200 black businesses and more than 500 jobs in Nova Scotia since it was founded 12 years ago.
He says black business operators still struggle in Canada because of a lack of business skills, business culture, information networks, role models and capital.
"Given the opportunity, a business person with a business case and a business concept - regardless of the colour of their skin - will be able to be a success once the right resources are available to them," says Southwell.
Southwell has contacted the Black Business and Professional Association in Toronto and other groups in other cities, including Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, about starting up a national black business group or network that would help break down some of these barriers.
The formation of more groups such as the BBI, which lend money and provide counselling and advocacy, and a "natural business environment" have helped give more blacks the confidence to go into business, he says.
He notes several companies, such as the Royal Bank of Canada and Calgary-based energy firm EnCana Corp., are encouraging black entrepreneurship by being inclusive.
Their diversity programs, he says, remove barriers and give more blacks - and young people of all backgrounds - the confidence to start up their own firms.
Kevin Pennant, owner of Pennant Media Group, a Toronto-based public relations firm, believes additional efforts to support black entrepreneurs are starting to pay off.
"I'm seeing a definite shift as I celebrate 16 years of doing this," says Pennant. He promotes black business leadership by speaking on occasion at Black Business and Professional Association of Toronto events.
His company represents film-makers, actors including Canadian actress Tonya Lee Williams, authors, magazine publishers, clothing lines, educational organizations and other black business leaders.
His firm also has an internship program that tutors blacks and students of many heritages.
Pennant says the black community's contribution to Canadian business is "bigger than we know" - as shown by the book Who's Who in Black Canada.
Compiled and published by Toronto-area writer Dawn Williams, it profiles more than 700 black Canadians who have succeeded in business and other disciplines.
Greater awareness of black business leaders' contributions will inspire youngsters to take a chance, says Pennant, and also face adversity.
"Any door that was slammed in my face or opportunity that was missed, I used to empower me - every single time," says Pennant. "I never let it deplete me."
Marco Abdi, owner of La Brezza Ristorante in Calgary, takes the same approach.
Abdi worked as a janitor after arriving in Calgary from his native Somalia by way of Italy and the Middle East in 1980. When one city official told him that he could not convert a house into his restaurant, he just said "Merry Christmas" and proceeded to get permission from another city department.
Today, La Brezza ranks among Calgary's most popular eateries. Selected as Calgary's Citizen of the Year in 1994, Abdi also helps develop trade between Canadian companies and the United Arab Emirates.
"Coming from Africa, my father taught me nothing is impossible in life," says Abdi, whose enthusiasm is infectious, attributes his success to the respect that he strives to show everybody else - and the adversity that he has faced.
"Challenge is something that (Africans) expect," says Abdi. "We don't expect everything to be easy. That's why I did well. I've been in business 21 years in Calgary ... Because I'm black, I have more energy any time we talk about my history.
"It makes me feel good because my father and my grandfather, they never had easy lives. I feel good, because I know that I make something different."
He says black business operators should capitalize on their challenges and use them to boost their business.
"You never forget where you come from - because if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going," says Abdi.
Hinda Abdillahi, who hails from the same East African region as Abdi, has also overcome difficulties to form Vancouver-based Hinda's Fine Preserves.
After coming to Canada with her-then infant son in 1990, the certified chef worked in Vancouver restaurants for several years before starting her business with help from the Eastside Movement for Business & Economic Renewal Society (EMBERS), which provides financial assistance and business training as part of a bid to combat poverty in the inner city.
Abdillahi, who makes chutneys, jams and sauces, says the support has helped her continue the cooking career that she loves.
"It's a good thing, what I do, because it comes from my heart," she says. "(The EMBERS support) is excellent for me, because I didn't have money to start - nothing."
In terms of any real or perceived racism in the Canadian business community, BBI's Rustum Southwell says while black entrepreneurs might need to fight stereotypes related to their skin colour, his group's research among black Canadian businesses has shown that racism ranks behind concerns about business culture, access to credit and other issues.
Southwell calls for black entrepreneurs to focus on moving out of their traditional retail and service modes into non-traditional ventures. He points to Mike Duck, founder of Lower Sackville, N.S.-based manufacturing firm A.C. Dispensing Equipment Inc. as a role model who has succeeded in creating a major firm.
Duck's SureShot devices, which he invented in his garage, pour precise amounts of coffee, cream, sugar and other additives. They're used in Tim Hortons restaurants as well as 7-Eleven, Starbucks and McDonald's outlets across North America.
Gary Pieters, a Toronto-based community organizer who helps foster business development, says business-development organizations, other professional associations and young entrepreneurs across the country are helping to increase young blacks' awareness of their community's business achievements while also showing the importance of planning and how to deal with issues such as property acquisition, raising funds and government regulations.
But a lot more support is needed so that young people can get into the spirit of entrepreneurship.
"When you look at black business in Canada, there's definitely a lot of ways to go," says Pieters.
Helping Hands
* Like Toronto cab company entrepreneur Thornton Blackburn, William Hamilton Merritt is another businessman who helped encourage black entrepreneurship in Canada. Merritt built a canal to his lumber mill, setting the stage for the construction of Ontario's Welland Canal, and as an active abolitionist helped many escaped American slaves adjust to life in Canada.
* Sir James Douglas, British Columbia's first governor, is another figure from Canada's black business history. In an earlier role, he served as chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Co., helping to establish trade and build infrastructure across the province while also bringing many blacks from California to B.C. to work on mining projects that set the stage for success around the globe. Born in what is now Guyana and often described as a "Scotch West Indian," Douglas was the son of a Scottish merchant and free black woman.
Source: Business Edge, Feb 22, 2008