“I fell in love with business. The whole idea that a business is helping people and solving problems are two things I’m really passionate about,” says Pomrenke.
After graduating, he opened his own business specializing in eavestrough cleaning, window washing, and Christmas light installation, as well as pursuing contract work with the Medicine Hat College (MHC) in the Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC).
He led the research and development course in the EDC that teaches people how to take their business idea and build it into a solid business model. The eight-week course is open to MHC alumni and community members, and Pomrenke has taught the course for the past three years.
“It was fun being able to take what I learned and apply it to this course to figure out the best way to communicate and teach it to entrepreneurs. Helping people is a huge motivation for me — I’ll always support someone if I have the knowledge and resources to do so,” says Pomrenke.
This experience brought a natural shift to him accepting a job position with Community Futures Entre-Corp as business advisor. With his previous position as events coordinator with APEX Alberta, and with APEX Alberta and Community Futures Entre-Corp working out of the same office, Pomrenke was thrilled to accept the new position that would keep him working around the same team of people.
As business analyst, Pomrenke will work with new business owners to build a strong foundation for their new business plan. Pomrenke can relate to entrepreneurs since he was one himself after graduation. He knows how driven they are with their vision and how it can become isolating at times.
“I felt that with my business. People are so busy with the day-to-day work, time runs out to work on the business. Working on the business is what helps entrepreneurs find success and growth. It’s how they scale their business and are able to adapt to the changing challenges that arise. Encouraging and supporting them to work on their business is really great.”
“Small businesses are the foundation of a community. Having grass roots growth keeps people here, and potentially brings people to the community.”
