he 17 - Wednesday, October 25, 1989 - North Shore News Small Business Week is an annual event saluting the . | owners and operators of Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses, sponsored by the Federal Business Development Bank in cooperation with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and local chambers and boards of trade. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT e SO YOU want to be an en- trepreneur? By ELIZABETH COLLINGS News Reporter Join the crowd. With privatiza- tion and government cutbacks on the rise, more people on the North Shore are turning to self-employ- ment and home-based businesses. But the logistics of starting a business often have these ‘‘ideas’’ people stumped. Conversely, once a small business is past the infant stage, the owners sometimes need direc- tion on how to expand. The North Shore has a network of resources on tap for small to medium-sized businesses at each stage of their development. The North Shore Enterprise De- velopment Centre is a good first stop for people before they even attempt to put their idea in mo- tion. “We've been called a ‘drop-in incubator for green house businesses,’” said Susan Bell, the centre’s director. “Our service is for people who have an idea and don’t know what to do with it,” Bell added. Held at the centre monthly, the Bright Ideas seminars are essential- mail businesses can ly a feasibility study of concepts people bring in. They give the clients a taste of what is involved with being an entrepreneur. After sending the clients back to the drawing board, the centre pro- vides one free hour of counseli- ing. From there, Bell said it’s ‘‘pay as you piay’’ at a cost of $10 per hour of counselling. Bell said the centre’s largest con- tribution has been in helping peo- ple decide whether to go into business. She said 44 per cent of failed businesses were a result of ideas that weren't viable in the first place. “If people decide not to go into business, we consider it a success because it (failure) means a loss of a lot of money, energy and time.”’ Membership at the centre buys use of the resource room, the library and meetings every two months with guest speakers. If the centre doesn’t have the resource a business needs, Bell will point them in the right direction. One place she refers clients to is the Federal Business Development Bank (FBDB) in North Vancouver. Co-founders of Small Business Week with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, FBDB is a crown See Chambers Page 21 WE GET THE LE isn't it amazing how quickly a new Yellow Pages™ becomes an old friend? That happens because British Columbians use their Yellow Pages a lot. 8 out of 10 refer to the Yellow Pages at least once a month, and almost half use them at least once a week. Not only that, but when they do look, they often have their pencils in hand because they're also getting ready to buy. For you, that means your Yellow Pages ad wiil get alot of attention from the people you most want to see it. For us, it means we need to print a lot of Yellow Pages. But we do that anyway- almost 3 million each year in British Columbia. And we've been dcing it for over 60 years now. Yellow Pages is the most accurate, comprehensive and reliable business directory available. For more information on how effective advertising in the Yellow Pages can be, cal! toll-free, 1-800-242-8647. We get the lead out when making the Yellow Pages so your customers will get the lead out when using them. NEWS photo Nell Lucente SUSAN BELL, director of the North Shore Enterprise Development Centre, confers with B.C. Gold Mining industriai consultant Dominique Francois-Bongarcen in the centre’s resource room. The motto of the centre's Tiger Club is ‘It’s a junglic out there.” B.C’s favourite shoppig cenire.