In this on‑camera interview, host Evan Carmichael introduces his new "Ent City" series, which spotlights Toronto’s entrepreneurial community. He meets Sandy, a business advisor at Enterprise Toronto, a city‑funded resource centre that offers free guidance on starting and growing a business. Sandy explains Enterprise Toronto’s mission, its open‑door services for entrepreneurs of any age, and highlights three flagship programs: Starter Company (micro‑grant and mentorship), Summer Company (grant‑up‑to‑$3,000 for student self‑employment), and a partnership with Futurepreneur Canada (youth‑focused loans extended up to age 39). A success story is shared about a chiropractor who, with Enterprise Toronto’s help, opened a combined massage‑therapy and chiropractic clinic, hiring six staff within a year. Sandy identifies common startup blind spots such as required municipal licences, food‑handler certifications, and health permits, urging founders to educate themselves early. When asked about self‑doubt—the "little man"—she recommends surrounding oneself with like‑minded peers for support. Finally, she offers concrete advice for applicants to Enterprise Toronto’s funding programs: treat the application like an interview, showcase viability (existing or guaranteed clients), personal financial commitment, press coverage, and clear marketing plans to demonstrate seriousness and commitment. The video ends with a call to comment, subscribe, and stay believing.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe in entrepreneurs, and I believe that I live in the greatest city in the world to be an entrepreneur—Toronto, Canada. Ent City. So to show some love, support my local city, I'm going to be starting a new series called Ent City where I'm profiling, showcasing, getting some advice, wisdom, support from local entrepreneurs. I'm standing here at the corner of Yonge and Sheppard. For me, it's where it all begins. I'm going to be walking to local businesses to get their advice. And I'm starting off with an organization called Enterprise Toronto. They are a group that is funded by the City of Toronto that their mission is to support local entrepreneurs in the city, and I couldn't think of a better way to start. So I'm gonna go meet their program manager, uh, Sandy, go walk to the location, and you guys can join in on the fun. Here we go!
Hi, I'm Sandy. I'm one of the business advisors here at Enterprise Toronto in the North York office.
So tell me about Enterprise Toronto.
Enterprise Toronto is a resource for entrepreneurs like yourself. We cater to to everybody, young and old. Doesn't matter if you're 18, it doesn't matter if you're 89. We're a walk-in resource centre where you can come in and get information on how to start a business, planning, financials, sales and marketing. So anything you need to know about starting a business, you can find here at Enterprise Toronto.
You could do anything, you personally. Why do you pick helping entrepreneurs?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I find that starting a business takes a lot of tenacious, a lot of patience, and I don't personally possess those skills myself, so this gives me the opportunity to help people who do. So I get the best of both worlds.
How did we first meet?
Here at Enterprise Toronto, I recruited you to do a youth chat at our business forum.
Right. So every year Enterprise Toronto does this awesome event downtown and they have all these experts come in and Sandy tapped me to come and give advice. I got swarmed. I remember it was only supposed to be for like an hour or something. You're popular. And then people kept like I gotta go, I gotta go to some other event. The people kept giving me cards and it was fun though.
This year we had over 2,000 people attend.
So great that you guys put this stuff on every year. Enterprise Toronto in one word? Helpful. What are you most proud of in your work with Enterprise Toronto?
We run a few programs that I'm really proud of. One is Starter Company. It's a small micro grant and that helps young entrepreneurs start a business or grow their business. We provide training and mentoring. Next is Summer Company to teach students students that instead of going out to say the Gap and getting a job for the summer, why not try self-employment? So they can receive a grant for up to $3,000 to give self-employment a try. And also we are a community partner of Futurepreneur Canada, which is also a loan for youth. We extend the term youth in this program to up to 39 years old, so I really like that. And that's a— I still fit into that category. Yay! Being able to meet with somebody, to see their ideas, see their vision, and see it actually come into reality and track them through their process is really gratifying.
Is there one story that comes to mind that is— you're really proud of? I get to do this job. Yeah, there's—
oh my gosh, there's so many. If I could just, uh, think of one, it was a chiropractor. I give a shout out to Massage Matters, um, and he's a chiropractor who opened up a massage therapy clinic and chiropractic clinic in the Toronto area, and in the span of a short year was able to launch this business. It's a beautiful, beautiful location that they have, and he employs, I think, oh gosh, I think 6 employees. So really, really inspiring to see a young person come in here, get some information, get a business plan together, secure funding, go through the whole process of getting a property, going through the renovations, going through all the logistics of the City of Toronto, and hiring his employees and walking in his front door and seeing him in business and in action and, you know, watching his employees really respect him. And I thought, wow, that's pretty cool.
For the people watching who don't know Enterprise Toronto, it's a free service paid for the taxpayers of Toronto, part of why Toronto is the best city in the world to be an entrepreneur, right? For people who are starting up, what do you think is kind of the biggest problem that they face and what advice do you give them to help kind of overcome that?
I think most people are are not aware of everything they need to be aware of. We have, for instance, people who come in who will, for example, want to open up a restaurant but don't have an idea that to open a restaurant you actually need to have, in addition to having your business registered, a municipal operating license, a food handler certification, Health Toronto or whatever city you're with. All these things they don't realize are, uh, that come into play. So the best thing to do is to come into a resource centre like ours Educate yourself about your industry and planning as well.
Another theme I explore often on the channel is one about the little man. And the little man is the person who tells you your idea is not going to work. And sometimes you could be your own little man, right? They look at themselves in the mirror and say, "Who am I to do this?" You know, they have those moments of doubt. What would you tell someone on how to overcome that and beat the little man?
Yeah, yeah, a very common theme. What I could recommend for that is there's so many networking opportunities. So I would surround yourself with like-minded people who are in the same thought process, and I think it'll definitely elevate.
I love the word elevate too. I love elevate. That could be Enterprise Toronto's word. Elevate. What kind of advice would you give to an entrepreneur who's applying for any of these funding programs?
We received just an incredible amount of applications for a really finite number of spaces, so all of our applicants have really great ideas, so it's really hard to filter through them, but we do look for certain criteria. My biggest piece of advice is think of it as an interview. I can only ascertain what's in your application. We do assess on things like viability, so if you have existing clients or if you have clients that are guaranteed, let us know that. Put that in your application. If you've invested a certain amount of personal funds, let us know that you've done that. If you've had some press exposure, if you've had some articles written about you, put those links in your application. It really will highlight a prompt to further look into the application. Talk about marketing. Let us know that you're serious. So we look at viability, we look at the level of seriousness, and we look at the level of commitment. So again, the more information that you can put into an application, that increases your chances, because I can only assess the situation with the information that we see.
Sandy, thank you so much for the time. Pleasure. And looking forward to seeing this go live. So if you guys are watching this, You have a comment, you have a question, you can leave in the comment section below. Thank you guys so much for watching and we'll see you soon. Continue to believe. Sign up for the newsletter for more Believe.
