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Weekly UpdatesWhen Phyllis Lodoen looks out the south and west windows of her corner office overlooking the scenic and majestic South Saskatchewan River in downtown Saskatoon, she doesn't see the cleared and bare lots in their pre-development stages before her. Rather, the executive director of Ideas Inc., a business incubator located in Saskatoon's downtown area known as River Landing, sees the future. And the future she envisions is a stark contrast to the relatively barren and depopulated scene presently situated on the neighbouring lots.
The vision she has, and readily shares with anyone she can, is of a spawning live/work/residential project to the south that will bring more people to Saskatoon's downtown. She also sees a Rivergreen Ecovillage that will be a mixed residential/commercial community which targets the highest levels of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and will similarly spur downtown traffic. Despite both of these projects being conceptual, and in fact from a physical standpoint are currently little more than blueprint drawings, among the first stops on a tour of Ideas Inc. are the southern and western window sills in Lodoen's office. There, Lodoen can hardly contain her pride and excitement over the developments that will take place in the coming months.
Her enthusiasm stems from the fact that Saskatoon's south downtown, long a topic for debate, discussion--and frankly, disappointment--for its lack of tangible development ideas, now has a concrete plan. Key to this plan is Ideas Inc., which not only houses and supports 12 young and/or start up businesses (along with two anchor tenants) but it will serve as an anchor itself for the neighbouring developments, such as the aforementioned live/work/residential complexes.
While the residential/commercial facets to the south and west are a year or two away from completion and indeed visionary, Ideas Inc. on the other hand, is as concrete as the foundation upon which it stands. Located next door to the Farmers Market in the newly renovated, former City Electrical Building, the businesses contained within are the cornerstone for a unique-to-Saskatchewan project that has organizers and supporters pleasantly surprised with its state of affairs. Well ahead of its target, Ideas Inc. is bursting at the seams, having leased all of its available space.
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A consortium of a number of start-up businesses, Ideas Inc. is a one-of-a-kind institution that helps new businesses beat the daunting odds most start ups face. Indeed while national statistics show that only about three out of 10 businesses survive to see their fifth anniversary; companies that are launched or expanded in a business incubator have an 87 per cent success rate. It's these kinds of statistics that excite Lodoen. Furthermore, she has the unwavering support of Saskatoon's business community.
Community Support
"This is such a wonderful model," Lodoen says. "We're a little bit unique in our organizational structure in that Ideas Inc. was conceived of and planned, and is now operated by Saskatoon's business community. So we have most of our major business organizations on the board of directors, which really makes for a comprehensive network of business resources that we can call on to help our clients through their challenges."
A non-profit organization, Saskatoon's Ideas Inc. was the brainchild of the Riversdale Business Improvement District at a time when Lodoen served as its executive director. This concept was then adopted by the entire Saskatoon business community and as such, Ideas Inc. now benefits from the mentorship of an illustrious list of Saskatoon entrepreneurial organizations. Their board of directors includes representatives from Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA), the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, the North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA), the three business improvement districts which includes the Riversdale, Downtown and Broadway BIDs, Whitecap Dakota First Nation, the Saskatoon Real Estate Board Commercial Division, and the Saskatchewan Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (SYPE). "What a fabulous network," Lodoen stresses.
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"I got involved as part of the commercial council of the Saskatoon Association of Commercial Realtors," says Ken Suchan, of Colliers McClocklin/Ken Suchan Realty, who not only sits on the board, but is also one of the sponsors of Ideas Inc. "They wanted to go more of a business route than the university or the educational route. Initially I volunteered to go on it, but didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I had no experience with incubators, nor did I know how they could function."
"Well, it turned out to be a pretty good board and as I became more aware and knowledgeable about it, I started getting more involved," Suchan continues. "The actions as a board initially were finding tenants and raising sponsorship funds. That's when I thought, 'Hey, this is a worthwhile project, I'm going to put some of my money where my mouth is.' So I agreed to sponsor it just because I wanted to see them succeed."
"I've always been a supporter of entrepreneurship in Saskatchewan," adds fellow board member, Darrell Balkwill, the director of economic development with Whitecap Dakota First Nation, located just south of Saskatoon. "Small business is the lifeblood for our province's economy and this is one way that we can increase the success rate for small business start ups. So when I heard about the idea, I thought it was a great idea and one that we wanted to get involved with from the Whitecap Dakota First Nations."
Thus far there haven't been any members of the Whitecap Dakota First Nation take up residency at Ideas Inc., and that may end up being the case for the short term. But Balkwill and Whitecap Dakota are looking at their involvement more from a big-picture perspective.
"I thought that there was good opportunity there hopefully for Whitecap members, but also in general for aboriginal people in Saskatoon," Balkwill offers. "We've got a large aboriginal population base there, and lots of new business opportunities for people can only bode well for aboriginal people in terms of employment opportunities."
Good timing
Initial response to the business incubator is extremely positive. Lodoen is pleased to report that Ideas Inc. is filled to capacity and this development is far beyond her wildest expectations. "This is way sooner than we thought," she admits. "We knew it was a good idea and we had a good feeling about it becoming successful, but we didn't anticipate how quickly it would take off."
Lodoen concedes a number of factors have contributed to the success Ideas Inc. and by extension, River Landing. The city of Saskatoon made the City Electrical Building available for the project, and by virtue of its age and heritage value, the building qualified as an adaptive re-use project under the Infrastructure Canada funding that was made available for the River Landing re-development. In addition, trips abroad where business incubators were successful were taken by those in positions to do something about them, such as then councillor, now Mayor Don Atchison. But perhaps the most compelling, fortuitous event saw the return of the younger demographic to the province.
"The same time we started this project and we started looking at this river front development, we started seeing young people make their way back to Saskatoon," says Lodoen. "So we're really dealing with a next-generation city and we're seeing the transformation of Saskatoon into the next generation. This will absolutely lead into the urban playground project that we're working on."
"The people that we've been dealing and working with are people who have traveled," she continues. "They've been to other cities; they've been to Manhattan, they've been to Granville Island and they've been to the ByWard Market in Ottawa. They have a really good understanding of what a downtown is and how important downtowns are to cities. They know that it is the centre of activity and they know that a downtown really defines the city."
"But what's really interesting is that we're seeing that next generation--that 25-to 45-year-old group--embrace that whole concept. The positive attitude towards the urban playground project is: whether we're consulting with young entrepreneurs, professionals or tradespeople, there is a real desire to see this part of the city centre developed into something really quite unique and special."
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Programmed for success
Ideas Inc. is a facility, as well as a program. They provide office, retail or business space to their clients, so that they're all operating on site for a relatively reasonable price. What makes them different, however, is a combination of support services that are offered. Quarterly goal setting and monitoring are offered as is on-site counseling, regular business meetings and networking events. Lodoen says she speaks meaningfully with each of her clients on a regular basis. Meyers Norris Penny, one of the major sponsors of Ideas Inc., also provides weekly on-site advisory services free of charge to all Ideas Inc. tenants.
"What a business incubator does is bring the business resources together in one place to provide a wrap-around of entrepreneurial support services," says Lodoen. "It's a full set of services and we adapt those services depending upon what type of business it is and what their needs are."
Another thing that makes Ideas Inc. unique is their affiliation with other business support services and organizations, including Business Mentorship Institute, Community Futures, Canada-Saskatchewan Business Service Centre, the University of Saskatchewan Industry Liaison Office, among others. With first-hand knowledge of the services provided by each of these organizations, Ideas Inc. is making a concerted effort not to duplicate these other entities. Rather, they see their role as filling in gaps where necessary, and to point their tenants in the right direction to an already existing service provider when applicable.
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