Summer Company program boosts young Windsor-Essex entrepreneurs

As the summer draws to an end, some young Windsor-Essex residents are reflecting not just abouttheir good timesthis season but about their personal business ventures.

The Summer Company program run by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre of Invest WindsorEssexis aimed at helping local students explore their small business ideas.

"Networking with people, like-minded young people... That's one of the main things that I found in Summer Company," enthused19-year-old Sarim Ishtiaq, one of this year's beneficiaries.

To qualify for the program, applicants must be between the ages of 15 and 29, enrolled in secondary or post-secondary education, and have a full-time independent business plan.

Successful applicants receive entrepreneurial training and mentorship and upto $3,000 in grants.

The program had 15 recipients this summer, with business ideas ranging from crochet crafts to vehicle detailing.

Ishtiaq devoted his time and grant money to developing an app called Kterings inc. (a play on the word "catering").

"You could call it DoorDash for homemade food," Ishtiaq explained.

The app is meant to connect hungry customers with home cooks selling their dishes as meals on delivery.

Ishtiaqsaid he's so far made arrangements with about adozen cooks offering such South Asian dishes as biryani (mixed rice), aloo paratha (flatbread with potato filling), and halwa puri (fried bread and sweet paste).

Although Ishtiaq saidhis efforts this summer resulted in only 25 completed sales, he's pleased with the app's progress to date and has great ambitions for it. "My goal for the end of the year is 100 (sales) per month," he said.

"We want to go globally... This is something I want to focus on and I want to grow. I've committed to it."

Meanwhile, program beneficiary Afiya Islam, 18, said her party equipmentrental company Party Crashers Rental landed just one customer this summer.

"Do you know the round hoops that people put the balloons on? Basically, it's like a backdrop," said Islam, 18. "[The customer] rented that out."

Despite Party Crashers Rental doing such sparse business, Islam said she remains grateful for the opportunity provided by the Summer Company program, and she feels she has gained valuable experience even if that meant learning from mistakes.

"I've always wanted to start a business, but I never knew how," Islam said. "I definitely learned that running a business is a lot of hard work and requires a lot of marketing."

"[It's also] knowing what equipment and what products to purchase," she continued. "Sometimes, I purchased some products, and they didn't work or I had to alter [them]a little bit to make it more ideal for me."

Nathaniel Prange, 15, applied to the program with a business idea in an admittedly niche market: strategic card and board games.

Under his brand called Wounded Axolotl Games, Prange is creating a prison-themed game he's titled Block 11.

"You play as the leader of a gang in a prison, and your goal is to kind of rule the prison by escaping, bribing a guard, or growing your gang to its biggest size," Prange explained.

Gameplay combines cards with board pieces.

Prangesaid progress on the project has jumped in recent months, thanks to the help of the Summer Company program.The grant money allowed him to commission artwork, and print materials for aprototype edition.

He's hoping to begin crowdfundingfor full production soonand have the game ready for sale by the end of 2025.

According to Prange, the audience for unique modern board games is thriving.

"It's a really great community," he said.

"There's something with board gaming that you don't really get with computer gaming. It's a more social experience."

The Summer Company program issues grants on an annual basis. Applications for next year's round of beneficiaries will be accepted starting January.