Sabby Duthie is an accomplished entrepreneur with years of experience running a successful company focused on building, designing, and operating retirement residences all across Ontario. In this role, Duthie became increasingly passionate about addressing social isolation within the senior community. She is now channeling this passion into her next venture, Bumbershoot Solutions, a social enterprise that designs, creates, and delivers positive social programming through a virtual platform to seniors and those with special needs.
Duthie shares that ironically, the biggest challenge she faced as she began work on Bumbershoot Solutions was the very same problem she was trying to solve for others. Like so many business owners, Duthie says she was experiencing feelings of loneliness and isolation as she worked to get her business off the ground and was eager to find a community that could support her entrepreneurial journey. “I was really surprised how […] difficult it is for entrepreneurs to get things going. [It] doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past.”
While looking for ways to better serve seniors from different ethnic backgrounds, Duthie came across the Racialized and Indigenous Supports for Entrepreneurs (RAISE) program on the Parkdale Centre for Innovation website. RAISE is a provincially-funded, comprehensive grant initiative that supports Indigenous, Black, and other racialized entrepreneurs in Ontario who are on the road to starting or scaling their businesses. In addition to grant funding, the program provides entrepreneurs with access to business development training, business coaching, and culturally responsive support services through the Parkdale Centre’s Early Stage Entrepreneurship Program. It was exactly what Duthie was looking for noting that, “Even though there was a grant attached to it which was, of course, very helpful, there was also a tremendous amount of support […] and community.”
Duthie found the coaching component of the program to be the most valuable part of her RAISE experience. By working through a business roadmap, with support from Parkdale Centre advisors, Duthie recognized the need to make two important changes to her business’s strategy. The first was a shift in the business’s target customer. Bumbershoot Solutions had initially focused on targeting retirement residences. Duthie says she felt strongly that this would be the right client for her given her experience in the industry, but through conversations and research with Parkdale Centre advisors, she realized that many retirement homes already had activation departments that focused on organizing gatherings and workshops for residents. Subsequently, instead of focusing her marketing efforts entirely on retirement residences, Duthie is now working with community centers to provide seniors living independently with better access to social activities.
The second pivot was a shift in how she delivered her service. Initially, Bumbershoot Solutions events were hosted entirely online. Duthie realized that this model might exclude seniors who weren’t well-versed in technology; however, she didn’t want to shift to an entirely in-person model as that might exclude seniors who were unable to access transportation or who had health concerns that required them to remain at home. So, Duthie created a hybrid model where ticket holders have the option of attending the event in person or online.
With a more inclusive service offering and a clear target customer in place, Duthie’s business now has a stronger foundation on which to grow. Currently, she is leveraging the grant funds she received from the RAISE program to support Bumbershoot Solution’s new strategy. Duthie is working on a website redesign featuring messaging that aligns with her new hybrid event model and speaks directly to her target audience. She is also using the grant funds to create a seamless experience for both online and in-person event attendees with equipment, lighting, and compelling hosts.
As she looks towards the future, Duthie is excited to have a roadmap in place that can help her continue to move her business forward. “It’s not just a product we’re looking to sell,” says Duthie “It’s a social enterprise [that’s] going to have an impact on society. We’ve got lots of work to do, but we’re getting there.”
