Portal best response to community-defined needs

Dawn Wiseman

Arshad Ahmad knows that sometimes the best way to bring an idea to life is to let other people take the lead.

“About four years ago,” he explained, “I was thinking about how to spend my research time productively.” Having launched one of the university’s first Internet classes, he realized the power of online teaching for reaching beyond an institution’s walls.

“The enrolment for Personal Finance grew by leaps and bounds because it met a basic need for students. Everyone needs to manage their money, so my first thought was to offer the course to visible minority youth.”

Ahmad applied for funding from Human Resources Skills Development Canada. While it was confirmed within a reasonable timeframe, it took a year and half to materialize. In the meantime, he began collaborating with Clarence Bayne and Dave McKenzie of the Entrepreneurship Institute for the Development of Minority Communities (EIDMC).

EIDMC had a well-established relationship with a number of communities, particularly the Cree of northern Quebec and the Montreal black community. Bayne and McKenzie were eager to join Ahmad to “build some trust with youth.”

Together they undertook a needs assessment of more than 600 youth in multiple communities (Cree, Inuit, Indian, Haitian, Jamaican, etc.). What it revealed was a turning point in the project.

“Young people have a lot to say,” Ahmad said with a grin, “and they want to make a difference in their communities. By listening to them, we were empowering them. And what they told us was, ‘What you want to do is not what we want.’ So we took a deep breath and abandoned the idea of courses.”

The project (which by this time also involved eConcordia, the Black Studies Center, McGill and the business community) changed its focus to entrepreneurship. Ahmad said many of the young people they spoke to wanted to start local businesses.

“We met with youth in Waskaganish who wanted to open a Tim Hortons, but had no idea where to start. Others wanted to sell traditional crafts online. They wanted to know where to get start-up dollars, how to network, and where to find training programs.”

The project team decided to leverage the power of community through development of a virtual space by creating the web portal called Entrepreneurship in Aboriginal and Black Communities (www.EABC.ca).

Young people can join the online community to profile themselves and their businesses, network with other entrepreneurs, consult with experts, find training programs in entrepreneurship and small business management, get help with developing a business plan, find sources of financing and much more. Membership is free.

With funding for dissemination cut last spring, project partners are trying to get word about the portal out to a broader community. “We’re also looking for more funding to cover ongoing costs like hosting,” said Ahmad.

Despite the challenges, he’s thoroughly delighted with the outcome of four years of work. By involving community members in the research, and turning the project around to meet their needs, “we made friends, we built trust. We furthered our relationship with the community. They really value Concordia’s commitment.”