Tutoring kit offers real life examples

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Far too often we learn important lessons at the school of hard knocks where the tuition can run steep for the fledgling entrepreneur. Learning through trial and error can be costly.

A video information kit called, The Spirit Lives: Aboriginal Entrepreneurs in Canada, solves this difficulty by offering an interesting assortment of tips, as well as some helpful material that could supplement either a post-secondary or secondary education program.

The kit consists of two full-length VHS tapes and a user's guide which is actually more like a work book. Its strength lies in the interviews with Aboriginal entrepreneurs.

Their success stories vary from those of larger operations to the one-man-show type business, but in all instances the people featured speak frankly about both their successes and failures.

The examples present the challenges, hardships and hard work involved in making a business fly, intertwined with the hopes and visions. The kit is encouraging and will also help guide people around the pitfalls of launching a new business.

Although it does not examine the pitfalls in detail, the kit does pose various questions covering a wide range of issues related to entrepreneurial ventures. By considering these questions, future entrepreneurs should be more aware of where risk-taking crosses the line into the danger zone.

The kit was produced by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education in association with Kwakiutl District Council and Wawatay Communications Society, Inc.

Contact: Canadian Foundation for Economic Education at 2 St. Clair Street West, Suite 501; Toronto, ON; M4V 1L5. Or call (416) 968-2236.