KenEuler, Kenbe connections.If you want to track down North Bay's newest young entrepreneur entrepreneur (än'trəprənûr`) [Fr.,=one who undertakes], person who assumes the organization, management, and risks of a business enterprise. you might have to pull him out of his high school math class. Ken Euler runs Kenbe Connections, a computer repair and home network installation company specializing in custom-built PC systems. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A graduate of the city's My Summer Company, the 17-year-old Grade 12 Chippewa Secondary School student heard about the program during school announcements and went down to city hall to sign up with a business idea to customize computers. With city staff mentoring him on accounting, advertising and marketing, he dedicated about 20 hours to craft a business plan and launched the company in June. He launched the business with $1,250 in program startup money and set up some cubicle space in the rear of his father's civil engineering office in east-end North Bay. "The business is a mix between computer sales and repairing," says Euler. He installs mother boards, processors, adds memory and video cards, as well as sells or installs accessories, including printers, scanners, keyboards, sound cards, MP3 players A digital music player that supports the MP3 format, which was the audio format that started a revolution in online music downloads and distribution. All portable music players, the iPod being the most popular, support MP3 along with one or more other audio formats. , networking, firewalls, CD-Rom and DVD Drives DVD drives come in a variety of speeds and options. The original drive (1x) transferred data at 1.35MB per second. By doubling the spindle speed (RPMs) for 2x drives, the transfer rate increased to 2.7MB/sec and has been increasing ever since. . Through a connection with a Markham-based computer wholesaler and distributor, he buys computers worth $2,100 and sells them for $2,800, pocketing about $400 after sales taxes sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. . "Mostly I get repair jobs, which takes about a half hour each and I make about $35 or $40." The business was doing so well he decided to continue into his final year of high school. "We kept on making more money. It takes more than two months to get a client base going and by the end of August we kept getting more jobs so we just figured to keep on going." His client base started with family and friends before branching off into advertising flyers stuffed into homeowner mailboxes, "but mostly it was by word of mouth." "Every couple of days I'm getting a new quote. I have lots of work with about 20 or 30 (jobs) and it just keeps getting bigger every day," he says, with a cell phone strapped strapped adj. Informal In financial need: We are strapped for cash right now. strapped Adjective strapped for Slang to his hip. On the Web: www.kenbe.com By IAN ROSS Ian Ross is the name of:
Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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