For adults · Launch League blog
How to support youth entrepreneurship in your Ontario community
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
Start with one bounded commitment: judge one round, mentor one student over video, sponsor one award, hire one teenager, buy from one teen business, or host one workshop. Work through a program that screens volunteers and keeps contact with young people in open, observable settings, and say yes to more only after the first one goes well.
The one-afternoon start
Don't promise a young person a year of mentoring. Promise one afternoon: one round of judging, one workshop, one honest review of a business idea. Bounded help gets delivered; open-ended promises are the ones busy adults break, and a broken promise teaches a teenager the wrong lesson about adults in business.
How to support youth entrepreneurship in your community: start small and bounded
I sit on a chamber of commerce board and I'm a Rotarian, and the question I hear most from business owners is some version of: I'd like to help young people, but I don't have time to run a program. Good. You shouldn't. The programs exist. What they are short of is adults who will read an entry, show up for an hour, or put their name on an award.
The one-afternoon start is how I'd begin. Pick one bounded thing, do it well, and see whether you want more. Most people who judge once come back. The few who don't have still given a teenager something many never get: a real businessperson taking their idea seriously in writing.
Six practical ways to give back to local youth
Ordered roughly from least time to most.
- Buy from teen businesses. Order the lawn care, the baked goods, the website. Pay on time and give one honest piece of feedback.
- Judge. Read a handful of entries against a published rubric and write feedback each student keeps. A few hours, once.
- Sponsor an award. Put your business's name on a category and fund a prize a student actually receives.
- Host a workshop or career talk at a school, with a teacher in the room: how you price a job, how you hire, what a slow month looks like.
- Mentor. A conversation or two over video about how you got where you are, arranged through a program and with a parent's knowledge.
- Hire. A part-time job or a co-op placement teaches more about business than any course, ours included.
Mentor young entrepreneurs in Ontario
In Ontario there are several ways in that already have structure around them. Launch League's competition needs judges for a few hours in April, reading entries and writing feedback every entrant receives. The advisor network matches reviewed businesspeople with young founders. Junior Achievement's Company Program uses volunteer business mentors for student teams over a term. Ontario's Summer Company includes mentoring from local business leaders, and local program providers look for them.
If you hire, ask a local high school about hosting a co-op student. It is mentoring with a structure, insurance and a teacher behind it.
Judge the competitionJoin the advisor networkEvery way to get involvedOntario co-op, explained
Sponsor a youth business program in Canada
Sponsoring a Launch League award names a real competition category, and the named award's prize is paid to the student who wins it. Sponsorship is what keeps the competition free to enter. The sponsors page sets out the levels, the communities they reach, and what the money pays for beyond the prize.
Chambers of commerce, Rotary clubs, Community Futures offices, libraries and municipalities can also bring free programming to their own members and towns. The communities page explains how that partnership works and what Launch League honestly has to offer.
Sponsor an awardFor chambers, Rotary clubs and municipalities
Safe mentoring basics in Ontario
Anyone working or volunteering in a position of trust over people under 18 may be asked for a vulnerable sector check, run by your local police service under the Police Record Checks Reform Act. Volunteers can get some record checks free from police, but still pay any police fee for a vulnerable sector check; the organization may give you a letter confirming the check it needs. Launch League may ask for one before anyone works directly with participants under 18.
Follow the Rule of Two, as the Coaching Association of Canada puts it: interactions and communications with young people happen in open, observable and justifiable settings, with two accountable adults present. Meet in public or over video with a parent nearby, copy a parent on messages, never drive a student alone, and route everything through the program.
A checklist for your first month
One afternoon, then decide.
- Pick one way to help from the list above, and only one.
- Sign up through a program, not directly with a student or family.
- Complete whatever screening the program asks for, before any contact.
- Do it, and write down what you would change.
- Ask one other business owner to do it with you next time.
Questions
Quick answers
- Do I need business experience to mentor a young entrepreneur?
- You need experience of work, not necessarily of owning a business. Tradespeople, managers, bookkeepers and retirees have exactly what teenagers lack: knowing what a real working week looks like. Programs match you to what you know.
- How much time does judging a youth competition take?
- For Launch League, a few hours once, reading a handful of entries against a published rubric and writing feedback. Other competitions vary, so ask for the exact time before you agree.
- Can a business sponsor just one award?
- Yes. Launch League's awards are sponsored one category at a time, so a business can put its name on a single award rather than fund a whole program.
- Is volunteering with a youth program tax deductible?
- Don't assume so. Launch League is a company, not a charity, and sponsorship is not a donation. Ask your accountant about your own situation.
- What if I can only help online?
- Judging is done remotely, and mentoring conversations happen over video. Online help is still subject to the same safeguarding rules: through the program, with a parent's knowledge.
Plan your next step
Want a written plan for your year?
Read next
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Sources: Government of Ontario: Police record checks · Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015 · Coaching Association of Canada: Responsible Coaching Movement and the Rule of Two · Government of Ontario: Summer Company for students · JA Central Ontario: JA Company Program advisor volunteer role. Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.