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economist sun stoufiville tribune saturday july 101999 7 community marketing business ideas made easier through the youth entrepreneurship program support andxash already helped 29 enterprising youth get their business concepts off the ground by kathleen griffin staff writer hether youre making pickles advising teens on the dangers of drugs or scouting company documents for tax savings if you have a marketable skill you could be ruruimg your own business and meres help support and funding just around the corner the youth entrepreneurship program offers young people 19 to 29 seven weeks of practical business theory and marketing support and advice in securing bank loans andleases the best part the youth get 200 a week so they can eat while trying to get the business off the ground v i was able to do things formy business i never could have afforded said auroras april beaton referring to business cards and pamphlets sheuses to promote her new company beaton is a motivational speaker her cus tomers are schools youth groups and churches she warns children about teenage preg nancy drugs arid dropping out of school with more than seven years experience working in toronto for various organizations including childrens aid beaton had been thinking about starting a company for a while actually it was sort of a fluke i had been tmnking about it and then i saw an ad about the yep program in a business magazine so i made a call catherine turner is yep director motiva tor and allaround support person she takes the calls interviews people arid determines if proposed businesses are viable she remains a silent advisor long after the program has been completed i look for three thmgs the skills and experience of the person their passion and their finances she said but mostly i look for their passion if they have the drive and the desire they can almost always find a way to succeed the program has federal support through the human resources development canada department and yep impressed prime minister jean chretien during an april forum on his youth entrepreneurs task force in ottawa kim munshaw of holland marsh spent six years making preserves arid pickles for a local farmers market she grows her produce and makes gift baskets of her creations for friends and fami ly at christmas they kept telling her she should start a business a call to turner made it relatively simple she said the weeks of theory was very helpful i learned all kinds of stuff i never would have sfphnvsjobuwittevben kim munshaw displays some of the products she displayed at the markham civic centre on thursday as part of a federally funded young entrepreneur program munshaw is one of 29 young people in york region who have taken advantage of the sevenweek business course thought of gst registration business reg istration a lot of little things they pointed me in the right direction munshaw expects to be in small specialty stores across the region by fall under her own company name kims cupboard mohsin ali was laid off from an account ing firm 18 months ago the 26yearold markham man had trou ble finding another job and saw an ad about the yep i had the skills but i needed the business tools he said catherine has been great i use her as a role rribdel ali is a commodity tax specialist he helps companies large arid small nonprofit orga- nizations and disabled groups find tax sav ings they didnt know existed the government allows a lot of provi- sions for refunds these groups should be redaimirig he said accountants charge 100 or 150 an hour i charge by contingency if i find sav- ings then they pay and there hasnt been one time that i havent found something support from the yep has helped ali many times he used staff expertise to help recover fees from companies who wouldnt pay turner has helped keep him motivated and energetic he says ifsamazing how well im doing i defi nitely can make a living at this ali said since the first program ran in october 29 businesses are up arid running in york f region turner said many many people have told us they never would have been able to do it without the support and the money turner said its almost enough for mem to know they can be selfreliant for more information yep has three offices in york region markham 9489622 newmarket 8985138 keswick 4768088 y ec6n6istsun theerabanner stouffvilleiribune the liberal icustomer discou carpi gets you exclusive discounts ali mcdonalds grand toy sunoco baskin robbins hakim optical london cleaners home hardware sears whole home global pet foods dynamic golf dairy queen compucentre and over 60 other york region m call now to be among the first 1000 members and get your free canadas wonderland pass ec0n0mstsun 9052942200 forafafff information package 9w