At age 18, Shamoon Poonawala was excited about moving to Canada from Pakistan. "I've travelled in many countries and have been one of those individuals who could go anywhere with confidence and make friends," he says. But his enthusiasm was quickly stifled. "I found it very difficult initially to fit in," Mr. Poonawala recalls about arriving in Toronto with his family in 1997. "Coolness is very crucial to youth here. I had to change the way I dressed. It took me a while to make friends."
For the first year, he lived with his family in his uncle's one bedroom apartment; there were nine people living in the unit, all whom were over the age of 16. "It wasn't very comfortable," he admits. His first job was at a fast food chain where he earned about the same wage as his parents who were forced to abandon their professions for minimum wage jobs. His father, an engineer, took a job as a janitor.
Mr. Poonawala wanted to make something of himself. Through his travels he can converse in six languages, so he also wanted to practise in a profession where he could help other newcomers to Canada cope with social and professional barriers. Initially he attended university with hopes of a career in law but was forced to drop out because his family had no money and he was denied a student loan. He then settled for a paralegal diploma from Herzing College.
Following graduation, he started a business plan for a paralegal service but had to revise it when Ontario introduced new paralegal legislation. "I had to go back and do all the research to be sure I was eligible for licensing," he says.
With financing and mentoring from CYBF he finally launched Magnate Paralegal Services in the troubled Malvern community. "I could have gone downtown [in Toronto]," he says. "But I decided to set up the office in the Malvern region because I thought it would be best to reach the people who I knew needed help."
His mentor, Brian Tapner who works in risk management, served as "the sound of reason."
"As a young entrepreneur, one of the problems I found was recognizing who I should have as a client," says Mr. Poonawala, who had to rein in his altruistic nature to achieve business success. "It wasn't about money but about business sense. Brian pointed out there are good clients and bad clients, and bad clients would be the ones who will eat up a lot of time. For our business, it's very crucial the client is able to trust you and you can trust the client."
Open more than one year, Magnate Paralegal Services employs three people and is growing in its client base. Mr. Poonawala also serves as vice-president of the Paralegal Society of Canada and volunteers actively in his Malvern neighbourhood. "I wanted to raise the ideology that a person in Malvern can make a difference," he says.
Like Mr. Poonawala's parents, Liliana Olmedo Garcia wasn't able to practice her profession when she made the move to Vancouver from Mexico three years ago. She moved on her own at the urging of a friend, leaving behind family, friends and a budding career as a veterinarian.
She didn't realize that resuming work in her field would be a challenge; she faced an 18-month wait just to write the provincial certification exam at a cost of $4,000.
She was also unable to find any type of related work, even as an assistant, so she took a job in a retail clothing store. "I wasn't working in my background, which was a little bit difficult but it was good because I had the opportunity to chat with many people, learn more about the culture and talk to people about animals," she says.
Ms. Olmedo Garcia heard about CYBF through a friend and began thinking about how she could parlay her professional background into a business opportunity.
Within a year, she launched Animals Overcranked Daycare Centre Ltd., which is akin to a consultancy on animal behaviour focused mainly on dogs.
She is modelling her business after fellow Mexican, Cesar Millan, a world-renown behavioural specialist for dogs, and is in the throes of planning a physical location complete with a recreational park and training facility for dogs.
When asked if she has any advice for newcomers to Canada, she is succinctly assertive. "Don't ever, ever, ever give up. It might be especially difficult for the first year but don't stop, there are a lot of opportunities." (Source)