Kelowna’s entrepreneurial spirit: why are we entrepreneurs?
posted November 26, 2016 by Kathryn Helmore
Kelowna is kind of a big deal when it comes to being entrepreneurial. Don’t believe us? We were recently recognized as the most entrepreneurial city in Canada. Still don’t believe us? Just walk downtown and look around. Most of the businesses that line our streets are independent.
From coffee shops like The Bean Scene to law offices like Doak Shirreff, we’re not a city populated and dominated by chains or international beasts of industry. We're a city built on the dreams and pillow talk of real people who were born and raised in Kelowna.
I mean come on. We don’t even have a McDonalds or Tim Hortons in our downtown hub. That in itself speaks volumes.
But let’s get technical for a second. Apart from having lots of small businesses, what does entrepreneurship mean and how is it measured? Entrepreneurs are people who have ideas and execute these ideas. When it comes to measuring entrepreneurship, we usually look at two factors: the number of independent establishments in an area and the amount of employment growth in these new establishments.
According to the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, as of 2013, 95% of Central Okanagan businesses have fewer than 20 employees.
So, we really like to brag about our entrepreneurial spirit. I mean just look at this article. If this isn’t a pat on the back I don’t know what is. But why do we brag about this? So we have a bunch of small businesses, what’s the big deal?
According to Harvard, high levels of entrepreneurship are closely correlated with economic growth. In other words, places with an abundance of new start-ups also experience faster income and employment growth. They do better. But why?
"Entrepreneurship is important because it helps a community,” said Dr. Julien Picault, a professor of economics at UBC. “Entrepreneurship can form the backbone of a city’s economy because it creates jobs that pay well and are enjoyable.”
At this point, many of you might be thinking “well duh, of course we’ve got some ideas and of course we’ve got great, local businesses built on these ideas.” These are things most of us, who haven’t been living under a rock, are totally aware of. But what about the big question: why are we an entrepreneurial city? Why do we have ideas and businesses built on these ideas while other cities don’t?
Turns out there is a science to this. Entrepreneurship is a result of a unique potion determined by a myriad of ingredients. We’re going to focus on a couple of Kelowna’s most dominant ingredients.
Ingredient # 1: An Assisted Boomerang
When laying the foundation for an entrepreneurial city, we want boomerangs. And no, we’re not talking about wooden sticks thrown around in the outback, we’re talking about returns. When we throw our money into a dream and make a business, we need to know that this business is going to throw money back at us. We need to know that it’s an investment. How do we do that? Money turns into more money when we have support.
“Ideas need an incubator,” said Dr. Picault. “An entrepreneurial city will support small, innovative businesses from the beginning by marking a clear path to long-term success. This is done via a variety of supportive institutions, community groups and attractive local taxation policies.”
The COEDC actually commits to various studies and policies throughout the year to ensure that local businesses are thriving. They visit and interview up to 300 companies annually, prioritizing companies in emerging sectors.
Accelerate Okanagan is also a significant supporter of entrepreneurs, especially in the tech sector. AO has 160 past and present program clients, has helped over 550 companies and entrepreneurs, created 650 local jobs and secured over $35 million in funding. Talk about support.
“You’ve likely heard the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, the same could be said about an entrepreneur,” said Andrew Greer, Programs Strategist at Accelerate Okanagan. “We exist to offer mentorship, create connections and bring our community together to help tech-enabled businesses thrive.”
Ingredient #2: Be a Little Fish, With Other Little Fish
Imagine being a fish. You’ve got two places to set up a home; a watery space with big fish who have a monopoly on resources or a place with lots of little fish who, because they’re not powerful enough, share resources. We’re gonna venture a guess and say you’d rather be with the little fish.
Entrepreneurs, at least the smart ones, agree. They’re far more likely to succeed in an area with other entrepreneurial businesses. According to Harvard, this isn’t only because they can afford to compete, it’s also because it’s cheaper. Entrepreneurs lower the cost of businesses through the development of independent suppliers and venture capitalists. Plus, they help each other!
“Two words for running a successful business: community and competition,” said Nikki Csek, founder and CEO of Csek Creative, winner of the marketing category in the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Awards.“I can’t think of a single scenario where healthy competition between businesses in a community hasn’t helped. It improves everything, it drives you to offer better products, service and foster a better community. It forces you to be innovative, staying ahead of the curve and keeping your business running.”
With 95% of local businesses hiring under 40 people, Nikki and her peers had plenty of competition. With various boards, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Kelowna Women in Business, The Rotary Club, Toast Masters and the Jaycees, Nikki also has plenty of opportunity to establish mutually beneficial relationships with her fellow business people.
Feed the Entrepreneurial Beast With Great Ideas and Employees
To create a business built around a great idea, you need the idea. In other words, an entrepreneurial city has a population of people who have an idea machine instead of a brain. How do we get these people? We either create them or we steal them from elsewhere.
To create a business savvy entrepreneur and keep them, you need education and opportunity. You need solid high school education that leads to great postsecondary institutions.
“Kelowna is a very attractive city,” said Dr. Picault. “To the entrepreneurial mind, one of it’s best features is the students that pour out of UBC, the Okanagan College and CATO. For a relatively small city, Kelowna is home to a campus of one the top three universities in Canada. That gives it a massive competitive advantage. It means we can hire talent locally.”
In 2012, the COEDC created the ‘Okanagan Young Professionals Collective’. The aim with this collective was to retain and attract young professionals (18 - 40) to Kelowna.
“What we want in Kelowna is a hub of vibrant, ambitious young people,” said Drew Vincent, Officer of the Okanagan Young Professionals Collective. “We need to reach a critical mass whereby we have the people to facilitate our innovations. We do that by giving the people what they want. We’ve fostered great nightlife with bars, craft breweries and a whole host of other activities. Meanwhile, at OYPC we create events that allow these young people to build relationships.”
In other words, we keep and steal hard working innovators by providing a lifestyle that can’t be beat. From sandy beaches in the summer to champagne powdered mountains in the winter, Kelowna has lifestyle covered. We also have a thriving cultural district with a myriad of entertainment options for everyone.
In fact, the 2016 Financial Plan proposed by the municipal government allocates a significant amount of the budget to making Kelowna a nicer place to play.
According to this 2016 financial plan, nine per cent of the budget is going towards parks, beaches and trails, ten per cent for transportation, five per cent for planning and development and six per cent for active living and other cultural services. That's a total of 30% going toward services that make Kelowna a nice plan to live!
While this hardly accounts for all the ingredients that combine to form our unique entrepreneurial potion, it’s the beginning of an explanation. Importantly, it also highlights a few of the factors that we need to maintain if we’re going to remain an entrepreneurial city.