5
2011
“Let’s talk about your business. Ideally in your mother tongue.” “Our economy speaks all languages.”
An article by sarah
What if Canadian small business enterprise centres were able to promote the above? Considering that these slogans are already in use in Vienna, it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
Several European cities such as Vienna have set up one-stop service centres where business owners can obtain all the information they need to start and run a company through personal consultation and online business tools. This is very similar to some of Ontario’s small business enterprise centres, namely the ones that are co-located with relevant municipal offices. Where Ontario centres fall down compared to some of the European programs is the failure to offer courses and consultations in the languages of immigrants. In Vienna, this was found to be a huge barrier to accessing services. As a result, today bilingual workshops are held daily. Program providers believe that all start ups need the same information, but that different languages are required to reach newcomer communities. Otherwise, they simply do not access services, and their businesses suffer as a result. Do we have the resources? Hard to say, but the program in Vienna operates with a staff of only two persons!
These findings were communicated during an informative webinar entitled Enterprising Cities: Incubating Immigrant Entrepreneurship and hosted by Cities of Migration. The webinar focused on “two city-led programs in Helsinki and Vienna that are boosting the local economy by providing practical tools and services that help new immigrant entrepreneurs turn good ideas into business success.” An initiative of the City of Vienna and the Vienna Business Agency, Mingo Migrant Enterprises offers various supports in the most common native languages of immigrants. The City of Helsinki’s Economic and Planning Centre and Business Development offers EnterpriseHelsinki, “a proactive and practical business-counseling service to help new immigrant entrepreneurs launch their ideas with confidence.”
Click here to connect to the webinar recording and presentation slides.
EnterpriseHelsinki was in Toronto back in March to learn how Canada supports newcomer entrepreneurs. They have visited Industry Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada, Canadian Youth Business Foundation and Enterprise Toronto during their tour.