Program helps Sarnia-area students start summer businesses

With experience under his belt working for a landscaping company, JJ Fogarty went into business for himself this summer.

The engineering student at London’s Western University and graduate of St. Patrick’s Catholic high school in Sarnia, launched JJ’s Landscaping with help from the Summer Company Program at the Sarnia Lambton Economic Partnership.

It’s one of four student-led businesses that are part of a summer program funded by the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and offered in the Sarnia area for 24 years.

High school and post-secondary school students receive a $3,000 grant, along with training and mentoring to create a summer business.

Fogarty, who runs track at Western, received a Stefanko Award for academic and athletic excellence in Lambton in 2022.

He launched JJ’s Landscaping May 1 and has been busy with garden cleanups, pruning, weeding, hedge trimming and landscaping installations.

“I worked for a landscaping company for a couple of years,” he said. “I decided to branch off on my own.”

Fogarty said the company is keeping him busy. “I’ve got jobs lined up pretty well all the way until the end of August.”

His business can be contacted at [email protected].

Working with the economic partnership program has been a good experience, he said.

“It’s great having the coaches.”

Fogarty said he’s wasn’t sure what he would need to start up his own summer company but the program’s coaches took him through the steps.

“Obviously, the start-up grant is great,” he said.

It helped him buy tools and pay for gas to travel to job sites.

“I feel a lot of people might be scared to branch off and start their own business,” he said. “It can go sideways.”

The grant provides “a confidence booster – a little bit of reassurance that you might as well go ahead and try,” Fogarty said.

He said the landscaping jobs will help pay for his second year of university, and the experience has him considering a duel degree program Western engineering offers with the Ivey School of Business.

“The Summer Company Program provides a unique learning experience for young entrepreneurs, providing them with exposure to entrepreneurial and professional skills along with mentorship, which can be leveraged for years to come,” Dan Taylor, CEO of the partnership, said in a news release .

This year’s other summer companies are:

Lakeside Trails was started by Ian Wallace ([email protected]), a student at Franco Jeunesse, renting bicycles, as well as sports and recreational equipment, and providing dog-walking services in the Point Edward area.

Jake Maclean ([email protected]), a student at Great Lakes secondary school, started Lambton Lawns providing grass cutting, trimming, mulching and general landscaping services in the Corunna area.

Riverside Lawncare (519-918-8354) was started by Kaden Burnham, also a student at Great Lakes secondary school. It provides grass cutting, lawn care and yard work services in the Sombra and Port Lambton areas.

[email protected]