FIRST NA NATIONS NS STUDENT NT ENT NTREPRENE NEURSHIP CLU - - PDF document

FIRST NA NATIONS NS STUDENT NT ENT NTREPRENE NEURSHIP CLU CLUBS BS (FNS NSEC) PRESENT NTATIO ION N DOCU CUMENT AUG UGUS UST 2012

i TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1. The SEC Project ........................................................................................

1 1.1 Project objectives ................................................................................ 1 1.2 The expected return on project objectives ............................................. 1

• 2. Context

..................................................................................................... 2

• 3. Funding

................................................................................................... 2

• 4. The Stakeholders and Project Clients .........................................................

3

• 1. The stakeholders..............................................................................

3

• 2. The clients

....................................................................................... 3

• 5. The Creation of a SEC ...............................................................................

3

• 1. Steps to create a SEC

....................................................................... 3

• 2. The commitment

.............................................................................. 3

• 6. The Responsibilities of the FNSEC Coordinator.............................................

5

• 1. The responsibilities of the SEC ..........................................................

5

• 2. The responsibilities of the SEC resource person

.................................. 6

1

• 1. The SEC Project

The main objective of this new project launched in September 2011 is to help the youths discover and develop their entrepreneurial spirit. The First Nations Student Entrepreneurship Clubs (FNSEC) are for all First Nation students of Secondary 5 and post- secondary grade, as well as students enrolled in vocational and professional training. The SEC is a collective of students who join together on a voluntary basis, and who wish to play a more engaged role in their school and their community. The SEC creates its own activities and projects and develops them through an entrepreneurial process which stems from an idea and evolves into a final project or activity. This approach seeks the learning of the entrepreneurial role and the realities of creating a business. This project is therefore a stepping stone between the education world and the job market. The group is directly supervised by a resource person that is chosen and engaged within the educational institution. This resource also encourages the SEC to follow its goals. Each SEC is lead by a coordinator who ensures the project moves forward, provides the necessary support, and follows up with students. The SEC elects its own executive committee, plans and delegates tasks, and achieves its mandate.

1.1 Project Objectives

The project objectives are simple. First, it seeks to encourage young Aboriginals to develop concrete and tangible activities. Second, it allows them to grow as a person in terms of self-esteem and sense of belonging. Third, the objective is to encourage students to continue with their studies and prevent school drop-out, in order to build a better quality succession for our communities.

1.2 The Expected Return on Project Objectives

• That Student Entrepreneurship Clubs remain active year after year;
• That students become an engaged succession towards community economic

development;

• That First Nation students become entrepreneurial leaders in Quebec;
• That First Nation education be viewed in a positive manner by young students in
• rder for them to continue onward to other teaching institutions to perfect and

consolidate their schooling;

• That the cultural identity and diversity of First Nations be visible in the Quebec

society.

2

• 2. CONTEXT

The Students Entrepreneurship Clubs (SEC) are linked to the First Nations of Quebec Business Network (FNQBN) and to the Association des clubs d’entrepreneurs étudiants du Québec (ACEEQ). The FNQBN contribute to the development and success of First Nation business people through the creation of a business network where entrepreneurs and company leaders can share information and experience, and help each other. Parallel to the FNQBN, the First Nation SEC seeks to create a network of contacts for students and young entrepreneurs. By integrating them to the ACEE network of Quebec, and to the RAPNQ, young student entrepreneurs will have access to a wealth of information available across the network and use the tools that are made available to members of the

• network. The First Nation SEC is a project developed in collaboration with the ACEEQ, the

First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Economic Development Commission (FNQLEDC) and the First Nation Education Council (FNEC). The First Nations SEC is based on the ACEEQ model, which exists since 1991, and is adapted to First Nation community realities and to

• ur students. The ACEEQ is a program which has proven its worth time and time again in

Quebec, and continues to guide and generate young entrepreneurs over the years. With most of the efforts geared towards entrepreneurial support, the SEC is an essential project to maintain the entrepreneurial drive in our First Nations. Certain studies show that the desire to become an entrepreneur in First Nation communities is very high. This truly reflects the image of First Nation populations that are young and filled with ambition and

• hope. The fact that First Nations often reside on reserve and keep a close link with their

families assures that local and community entrepreneurship is very strong.

• 3. FUNDI NG

There is no funding offered by the FNQLEDC towards the creation of a SEC. The FNQLEDC pays for the membership fees in the ACEEQ to enable the First Nations Student Entrepreneurship Clubs to adhere to the ACEEQ network, and also to allow them to use this network and its information, and participate in their activities. The FNQLEDC offers to send the information pertaining to the WHO, WHAT, HOW, AND WHY of the creation of a Student Entrepreneurship Club. However the SEC coordinator steers the SEC executive committee, using tools that will allow him to seek funding, ideas, and the execution of the tasks required for the realization of its activities or its global project.

3

• 4. THE STAKEHOLDERS AND PROJECT CLI ENTS

4.1 The Stakeholders

The three main organisations that will ensure the project success are the FNEC, the FNQLEDC, and the ACEEQ. FNEC: The support of this educational organization is vital, because for a little over 25 years, the FNEC has been working towards reforming and providing a quality education to First Nations while respecting their unique identity and specificities. Because of their knowledge of all educational resources within the territories, the FNEC can provide a direct link between the SEC coordinator and the resource person of the educational institution. FNQLEDC: By creating the first and only First Nations business network, the FNQLEDC, and the FNQBN will allow the SEC to access and use its contact network. For business creation or becoming an entrepreneur, the information and contacts available will be a winning component to ensure success and reach goals. By doing so, the FNQBN network will show an accurate picture of First Nation entrepreneurship and help attract students to the project. ACEEQ: Being a leader in youth entrepreneurship specifically among students, the ACEEQ allowed us to have access to the expertise they had and to apply it to the First Nation model. Its network and resources will be opened to our SEC.

4.2 The Clients

To keep it simple, clients will be Secondary 5 students, Post-secondary students or Professional and vocational training students who can create entrepreneurial project or activities and who are supervised by a resource person.

• 5. THE CREATI ON OF A STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHI P CLUB (SEC)

5.1 Steps to Create a club

• Find a resource person;
• Recruit interested students (minimum of 3 or 4 student);
• Meet the FNSEC coordinator.

5.2 The Commitment

It’s important to understand that the foundation of a SEC requires participants to undertake at least one activity throughout the school year. The activity must be built on the mini-business creation model, whether it is to advertise and reach a maximum of

4 participants, seek his/her financing, set-up the project or the activity step by step, establish a network of contacts, offer a product or a service, etc. The participation of the executive committee shall remain intact, even if a student decides to leave the club. It should also be noted that students will have to give time

• utside of classroom time, and that the resource person shall not, at any time, take on

the responsibility or the leadership of the project.

5

• 6. THE RESPONSI BI LI TI ES OF THE COORDI NATOR

In accordance with the mission that the Students Entrepreneurship Clubs project has given itself for the benefit of Aboriginal youth, he/she commits to:

• Structure and organize the new clubs that will be created;
• Prepare and provide tools to the youths for the achievement of their project;
• Assist the president and the resource person of the SEC when the need arises;
• Perform systematic and regular follow-ups with the SEC;
• Share information made available throughout the FNQBN and the ACEEQ networks;
• Inform clubs about entrepreneurial activities and existing contests for First Nations.

The coordinator retains the right to assess whether the entrepreneurial commitment of a club is genuine or not, and consequently to accept or reject it. The coordinator for the Students Entrepreneurship Clubs is not there to play a role in the project’s financing, but rather to guide the SECs in securing their financing.

6.1 The Responsibilities of the SEC

The members undertake to:

• Develop a vision, a mission, goals and values of the SEC upon its creation;
• Annually elect an executive committee that will take decisions and be responsible for

the good functioning of the SEC, in a democratic way;

• Organize at a minimum one to two entrepreneurial activities per school year;
• Participate, when possible, in the annual symposium of the ACEEQ;
• Supply all necessary information to the coordinator for the monitoring of its activities,

members of the executive committee, etc.;

• Annually ensure the renewal of the SEC with the new members;
• Produce a report on its activities and on its achievements in the communities, etc.

A SEC must promise to adhere to the values of the Clubs’ project, believed to be of prime importance, such as: the cultural identity, the open-mindedness, the transfer of information between SECs, the creativity, the initiative and the respect of everyone. Both parties undertake to respect their commitment to each other.

6

6.2 The Responsibilities of the SEC Resource Person

• Must never manage the SEC by him/herself;
• Act only as an advisor;
• Maintain good communications with the coordinator;
• Maintain good communications and monitoring with the executive committee of the

SEC;

• Encourage the SEC in its activities or its project.