Patrick Ledwell, left, emcee for the sixth annual CBDC West Prince Ventures Young Entrepreneurs forum seeks to hear more about forum participant, Sam Cameron’s cheesecake business. Cameron, second right, attended the forum to learn more about starting a small business and ended up getting lots of plugs for her cheesecakes. Looking on are Jevon MacDonald, who has achieved multi-million dollar success as a technology developer, and small business panelist Erica Wagner, owner of The Landing Oyster House and Pub.
When one of the panelists asked Sam Cameron what small business she runs, the Grade 12 student informed her she makes cheesecakes.
Panelists subsequently encouraged her to stick with her enterprise and guest speaker Jevon MacDonald, who builds and sells multi-million dollar information technology companies, made reference to Cameron’s cheesecake business in his presentation.
“I think small is the way to start, especially today; slowly grow your business until it’s where you want it to be,” panelist Erica Wagner advised Cameron during a break in the program.
Wagner can identify. She owns and operates the Landing Oyster House and Pub in Tyne Valley. She first came to know the business as a 12 year-old, washing dishes there. She worked in, and helped manage, restaurants while taking business courses at university and when the opportunity arose, she bought The Landing.
Other area business owners addressing the forum’s 80 participants were Larry Stewart, owner of Stewart Enterprises, a heavy equipment company started by his father, and Tamara Currie, who owns Island Spaw and Kennels in O’Leary.
Currie, who established a client base before opening her own business, advised participants against giving in to the “no” voices. “If anything, the people who put-down your ideas, let that be an incentive to you to say, ‘I’m going to do this and you’re going to see it happen.’”
“With the age you’re at now,” Wagner advised the 17 year-old cheesecake-maker, “there’s no risk and the rewards can help put you through school or even buy really good school clothes.”
Cameron, who loves to bake but doesn’t think cheesecakes will become more than a sideline, admitted she appreciates the exposure and the opportunity the forum provided.
Maxine Rennie is executive director of CBDC West Prince Ventures Ltd., the forum’s sponsor.
“It’s planting the seed,” Rennie said of the forum’s purpose. She said participants from past forums have been in to talk business. “They’re starting to think that way, so they’re coming back and inquiring.”
Other guest speakers at the free forum, moderated by Island comic and author Patrick Ledwell, were motivational speaker Stuart Knight, Kevin Murphy from the Murphy Group of Restaurants and musical entrepreneurs Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys.
