This Entrepreneur ‘Fixer’ Wants to Help Grow Greater Moncton Businesses
MONCTON – Having worked with many entrepreneurs as an employee at Idea Action, Mylène Després saw the need to help them with tasks like creating a budget to translating a social media post into French. So, she launched La Station to do just that.
“My target market is, a lot of them are ‘solo-preneurs’ and very lean teams. They’re used to doing it all themselves,” she said.
“I’m not there for entrepreneurs to be dependent on my services, but really, so that they’re better equipped to go forward. Whether we like it or not, hiring someone can be strenuous on a business. So I’m basically there to help alleviate some of that.”
The company officially launched in May but has been in operation since March. La Station currently works with eight clients, including culinary experience curation company Barolo & Co. Creative Group and Really Local Harvest, on a retainer or per-project basis.
It offers bilingual and affordable administrative and operational services to entrepreneurs seeking to expand their businesses. Among others, La Station can help with the development of ideas, content and websites, as well as basic translation services, event logistics, hiring coordination and research.
“I saw the need to help entrepreneurs who basically don’t know how to do something or just don’t have the time to do it,” she said.
Després said starting La Station was a “natural” move for her because she has always been interested in helping and connecting people.
“I’m kind of like the ‘entrepreneur fixer,’ if you will. I just want to help in any capacity I could and connect people,” she said. “Because I find that once people connect, that way community grows. To grow our economy, we need to grow our community and by collaborating, co-working and connecting, we will grow our economy.”
Originally from Cocagne, Després has lived in five provinces but chose to settle in the Moncton area to be closer to her family. She’s hoping to help build her home province through her work with La Station.
“I’m sick of that narrative that all New Brunswick is, is a dying province. And it’s a place where everybody just wants to leave,” she said. “New Brunswick is very much alive. Let’s change that narrative.”
“There’s so many of us that are succeeding here and thriving here and creating our own jobs and working with companies from all around the world but from Moncton. From New Brunswick,” she added.
Després studied cultural anthropology and worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years before working at AIDS Moncton and Idea Action. The latter is where she helped organize the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge and met many business people who needed help with various tasks.
Specifically, she wants to help for-profit and non-profit organizations that impact the community positively.
She received funding support from the Community Business Development Corporation and a startup loan from 3+ Corporation, the economic development agency for the Greater Moncton Area.
Després hopes she will be able to expand her business and has chosen a name that reflects that.
“The house that my wife and I live in is supposedly an old train station. If you look at the branding, it’s the map of New Brunswick’s railroad territories from 1915, which would be the year that apparently my house was built,” she said. “I chose the name with growth in mind. I have plans for expansion.”