Local Video
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| A business in the oven |
By: DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, April 10, 2009 8:48 pm
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Danny Dobrow knows baking. Two years ago, the ninth-grader at the Northfield School of Arts and Technology started making brownies and cookies with his mom in their home kitchen. Now, the aspiring chef can make five different kinds of bread, croissants and cinnamon rolls, all from scratch.
But while he could explain the difference between French and sourdough bread or tell you why presentation is important in a meal, Dobrow didn’t know a whole lot about running his own business. That is, until he applied for the Northfield Youth Micro-Grant Program.
Dobrow is one of five Northfield students participating in the initiative, the result of a partnership between the Northfield Union of Youth and Healthy Community Initiative. The program provides micro-grants of up to $1,000 to area youth who would like to start their own business venture, and pairs them with an area professional to help applicants get their business off the ground.
The brainchild of St. Olaf College student Wade Hauser, the micro-grant program is modeled after St. Olaf’s own Finstad Entrepreneurial Grant program. According to Union of Youth executive director Josh Hinnenkamp and HCI co-coordinator Zach Pruitt, the micro-grants give students a chance to learn marketable skills, form lasting relationships with adult members of the community and create a potentially profitable business.
Although Dobrow hasn’t received a micro-grant yet, he is in the process of creating a refined business model with his mentor, professional cake-maker and small-business owner Gwen Daniels. With Daniels, Dobrow has been exploring cake-making techniques, as well as writing up marketing plans, identifying his customer base and constructing a budget.
For Dobrow, who would like to sell his homemade bread at the farmers’ market and eventually open his own restaurant or bakery, the experience has been an eye-opener.
“There are questions that I’ve never even thought about,” Dobrow said. “There’s still a lot that I need to learn how to do.”
Once his business model is complete, Dobrow will submit it to the micro-grant committee for review and approval. He hopes to use the funding to pay for cooking equipment and ingredients.
Entrepreneurial opportunities like the micro-grant program, Pruitt said, are especially valuable for students in such a poor economic climate.
“We consistently hear that there are fewer job opportunities for youth in Northfield,” Pruitt said. The program, Pruitt and Hinnenkamp said, allows students to put their interests to work, and learn a lot about the logistics of owning a business.
“It’s just been really fun to get to know Danny,” Daniels said. “With his talent and his passion and his people skills, he’s just made to go places.”
THE MICRO-GRANT APPLICATION PROCESS
• Each student applying for a Northfield Youth Micro-grant must go through a two-stage application process. In the first stage of the process, a student creates a rough draft of his or her business plan and submits it for approval.
If a student’s plan selected, he or she is paired with a mentor — a local professional who works in a relevant field. Together, the two create a more elaborate plan and re-submit it to the micro-grant committee, a mix of Northfield business leaders and area youth.
Once the business is up and running, students have to submit reports detailing their expenses, losses, and revenue every two months, and donate 3 percent of their revenue to a Northfield charity.
For more information about the rolling application process, or to apply, contact Josh Hinnenkamp at 507-663-0715 or visit www.unionofyouth.org/microgrant.
— David Henke can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100.
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