Entrepreneurship
Enterprising People and Entrepreneurs
Paul Brent,Toronto Star, "Best Friend in Business", May 10, 2007
Like many entrepreneurs, Roxanne Pettipas got into business for herself by accident. In her case, it was because her miniature dachshund, Buddy, tended to choke when they were out for their walks. The former art teacher had toured Toronto pet stores, and found her dog wouldn't wear any of the harnesses that were on the market.
Pettipas decided to invent her own, and fashioned a harness from leather that shifted pressure from Buddy's neck to his chest. The canine contraption she dubbed Buddy Belt proved a hit with curious dog owners who had approached Pettipas and Buddy on their walks. After much trial and error, and an impromptu course in pattern making from a seamstress friend, Pettipas had a prototype she could take to pet supply trade shows.
The first success for her company, Class Art Productions Inc., came with a loyal breeder who would send each puppy to its new owners with the Buddy Belt. Then owners of high-end pet stores who had seen the harnesses at trade shows began retailing them. "The first time we got a $2,000 order, we were like, `Oh my God, we have got to make these things,'" Pettipas said. "At that time I was cutting them by hand."
Her five-year-old company took a slow and deliberate approach to growth. It ran "minimal" advertising in high-end pet magazines and relied heavily on its website to land business. Knock-offs of the all-leather harness have been slow to appear, perhaps because Class Art has worked hard to stake out the top end of the market. The company has a patent for its Buddy Belt design, which uses a special O-ring to ensure "a custom fit," and has moved quickly to expand its offerings of that one core product.
Pettipas credits that offensive with keeping others at bay. "The best advice we got ... was to really focus on branding, make a name for ourselves, and make the original Buddy Belt and that's it," she said. "Now we have nine sizes and 10 colours, plus there are retiring colours and the limited editions."
Size 1 fits a one-pound "tea cup" dog, while size 9 works for dogs weighing up to 45 kilograms. Pettipas designed a size 2 snakeskin Buddy Belt for Paris Hilton's chihuahua Tinker Bell a few years ago, and her company has custom-made size 10 harnesses for Great Danes. Prices range from about $50 to $130, and matching leashes and key chains made from leftover leather are available (as are wrist cuffs, coasters and placemats).
Many small companies don't learn until too late the dangers of expanding into non-core products or services, said Roger Pierce, a partner of Toronto business consultancy BizLaunch.ca, who advised Class Act in its early growth stages. Pettipas "stays true to her morals," and won't sell to big box retailers, Pierce said.
"She wants to keep selling to boutique retailers. It was these little boutiques that gave her her chance, buying the product," he said. With the Buddy Belt established as a must-have for the doggie-set, Pettipas is now focused on expansion. She has taken over an additional floor at her funky location at Queen St. W. and Bathurst St., just about doubling the office and factory space that accommodates up to 10 part-time and full-time workers.
Pettipas said she always imagined her business expanding in that particular building. "It was earlier than I expected but I had to make a decision. It's big for me, I'm losing some sleep," she admitted. She is also stressed because she pumped up her inventory this winter (her slowest sales period) in anticipation of higher sales for her peak spring-summer sales season.
Class Act has been lucky. It arrived just as the pet market exploded with empty nesters willing to spend big bucks on their dogs. "If they know they are getting the best for their dogs, it is crazy what people spend," Pettipas said. "We picked a very good time to be part of this pet industry. It wasn't planned." Class Act expects to sell about 20,000 harnesses to some 200 high-end North American retailers this year, and has just begun shipping to Japan and European dog capitals such as Paris. Based on Class Act's expertise, Los Angeles is the "purse dog" capital of the world.
Despite her recent expansion, Pettipas's advice for fellow entrepreneurs is to approach growth with caution."We are really careful taking it one step at a time, and not going overboard on spending. We find a lot of our furniture in the garbage or second-hand," she said. "You don't want to spend money on unnecessary items."Pettipas stressed that research is important, as is taking care when purchasing materials. "I am still sourcing materials constantly to see if I can get better deals without compromising quality," she said. Financial control is the most important consideration, she found. "You really, really want to make sure you know what money you have in the bank and what you have each day. You know there are times that you have to spend a little to make a little."
Q1. What job did Roxanne Pettipas have before she started Class Art Productions?
Q2. Briefly describe how Roxanne Pettipas came up with the idea of starting her own business.
Q3. Why did Roxanne decide only to run minimal advertising?
Q4. Describe the target market of the Buddy Belt.
Q5. How does the Buddy Belt compete with its competitors who came up
with similar productsafterwards?
Q6. What is Roxanne’s advice about expanding?
Q7. What impact have baby boomers had on Roxanne’s business?
Q8. In your opinion, what is the most important advice Roxanne has for
potential entrepreneurs? Explain.
Q9. Brainstorm a list of other products that you think baby boomers may
be interested in purchasing in the near future.
Entrepreneurship
Enterprising People and Entrepreneurs
Judy Gerstel, Toronto Star, "Hijabs for Canadian Life", January 24, 2008
Abeer Al-Azzawi, a 24-year-old Muslim grad student at Carleton University in Ottawa, doesn't wear a hijab. But she designs, sews, markets and sells them, for around $20, through her website, queendom-hijabs.com. One style is made of fleece for the Canadian winter. Another has a Canadian (or British or American) flag. Her sports hijab is designed to be safe and comfortable to wear while participating in athletics.
Queendom Hijabs began less than a year ago as a Summer Company project, a program of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation. "I always wanted to start my own business," says the engineering graduate, who is now studying international development. "And I like shopping – and I saw there was no hijab label." Malls are full of stores catering to "preppy girls and rocker girls," Al-Azzawi says, "but there was nothing for the hijabi girl." Despite the proliferation of "workout stores like Lululemon," she says, "if a girl was looking for a sports hijab, there was nothing."
In November, an 11-year old Manitoba girl was told she couldn't participate in a judo event while wearing her hijab because of safety issues. Similar concerns and controversy came up last year at athletic events in Ottawa and Montreal. Al-Azzawi says she makes sports hijabs that fit snugly, with no loose ends and no pins needed to fasten them. Her cold-weather hijabs can be worn alone or over a hat. "It's for the real Canadian winter," she says, with fleece inside, nylon outside so it's waterproof. Al-Azzawi also makes knitted and colourful hijabs, like toques.
Al-Azzawi, who emigrated from Iraq with her family when she was 13, had never sewed before starting her business but now sews most of the Queendom hijabs and gets help from her mother and brother for the rest. She's sold about 75 so far through her website. Competition includes such websites as thehijabshop.com, based in Britain.Al-Azzawi says Queendom is the only Canadian label for sports and specialized hijabs. And she's hoping to arrange a product placement on Little Mosque on the Prairie. But when she contacted Canadian retail stores about carrying her line, they weren't interested. "They said, `It's not for our market.' People are really scared of the hijab because of all the negative connotations – that women might be forced to wear them, that women wearing hijabs are associated with Muslim terrorists."
That's too bad, she says, because "the hijab is something really great ... It takes negative attention away from the body and hair and forces the onlooker to look into the woman's eyes and listen to her thoughts." So why doesn't she wear it? "Maybe one day, but right now I'm not ready for it," she says. "It requires such self-restraint, so much discipline and modesty, carrying yourself in a modest way."
Instead, she designs hijabs for "Western girls growing up here, to have an outlet, to make it okay and normal for these girls and not make their religion and culture unusual." Maybe that's why her favourite is the white hijab with a red border and a Canadian flag."It says so many things – that it's accepted, and that you're aware of that."
- Who is Abeer Al-Azzawi and how old is she?
- What product is available online at
- What motivated Abeer to begin her business? (identify two factors)
- What competitive advantage do the hijabs that Abeer sell have over traditional hijabs?
- What obstacles has Abeer faced running her business? (list two factors)
- Take a look at the company’s website at and describe why or why not you would invest in this business.