any of us came from somewhere else. Some of us arrived 100 years ago, some of us 100 days ago. Now we are here, working, living, and learning together. We may have arrived in different ways and may have come for different reasons. We may be going
going down different paths but one thing is the same: here is home.
Jingsong Liu and May Guo breathe new life into a Victoria institution
Gabriel and Marli Lopez step up style with the fine leather of Mexico
Vivian Zheng
and Arthur Tang transfer their talents to a new enterprise
Nahid Kholgi and Saeed Homapour build a family business
Susan Johnston finds a Canadian voice writing north of the 49th parallel
YouInc guest contributor Arlene Dickinson
praises the ingenuity
of newcomer entrepreneurs
in Canada
from the editor
Welcome to our special interactive Spring
Issue! Our worker bees have built
something fun and creative to celebrate
Vancouver Island’s fearless newcomer
entrepreneurs. We’ve embedded videos
and slideshows and hyperlinked almost
everything so that you can click click click
your way around the magazine and the world
wide web. If it glows, it clicks! You can also subscribe to Here! Magazine and send us a message right from the page!
Entrepreneurs are bold by nature—newcomer entrepreneurs take it to another level! Not only do they face the typical challenges of launching a new enterprise, but they also face other daunting barriers such as language and culture differences, lack of access to credit and financing, no established local professional networks, and yes, sometimes, discrimination. As guest contributor, the tenacious Arlene Dickinson reminds us: “Newcomers rise to these and other challenges by tapping into their innate resourcefulness and ingenuity. Time and time again I’ve seen entrepreneurs pivot quickly, to modify their strategy and actions to account for an unexpected development.”
We are happy to showcase our city’s newest entrepreneurs and their businesses, along with profiles of prominent immigrants who make it their life’s work to help those who have come after them. I have been humbled by all of their stories and am honoured to be able to share their voices with you here.
Enjoy and share widely!