By Jennifer Macphee -- Not everyone has the guts to risk everything and strike out on their own.Not everyone has the guts to risk everything and strike out on their own. This month, we’re featuring six entrepreneurs under 40 that have done just that. They each saw a need in their community and filled it. But it’s not just money or the freedom of being their own boss that drives these determined young go-getters. They all take pride in hiring local people, passing along skills to employees, and offering a valuable service – whether that means constructing ice roads, being there to help visitors catch their first fish, or simply creating a friendly place for folks to get together for a beer or a meal. Each of these men and women brings something unique to their community. We’re impressed.

Heather Bourassa
Fort Good Hope, NWT
Business: Arctic Circle Enterprises
Age: 26

Why she stands out: Co-owner of Arctic Circle, a multi-million-dollar construction and road maintenance business, with her brother Robert, 30. Arctic Circle has taken on projects ranging from building houses to ice road construction to making snow. Current contracts include dispensing gas in Fort Good Hope on behalf of the NWT government and surfacing a new 1,000-foot runway extension at the Fort Good Hope airport. DARREN, can you stretch this paragraph out to match the two right columns.

Biggest accomplishment: Paying off much of their huge debt necessary to finance pricey equipment.

Proudest moment: Winning the 2003 Business Development Canada Young Entrepreneur award for the Northwest Territories. “We went to Halifax to receive that, which was pretty cool,” Bourassa says.

Best quote about the Bourassa duo: “Heather and Robert epitomize a new generation of young Canadian entrepreneurs, who, in creating jobs for themselves and members of their community, are giving a great deal back to the regions that host their business,” said BDC President Michael Vennat back in 2003. “I salute their drive and determination”.

Challenges: The recession and southern companies. “It is a constant struggle to keep bigger, southern companies from minimizing our involvement in projects we should be benefiting from.”

Coolest things about her: She has a private pilot’s licence and a tractor-trailer licence so she knows her way around some very hefty machinery. She’s also chairperson of her local justice committee.

On her family: Bourassa’s father owned a similar construction business and invested in Arctic Circle when he retired. “We would not have been able to come this far if our father had never given us this opportunity,” she says. ”We also had the support of the rest of our family and the community as a whole.”

Keith Jacobsen
Whitehorse, Yukon
Businesses: Coasters Bar and Grill, Capital Hotel and Brewpub
Age: 27

Why he stands out: Jacobsen is a former stockbroker and the current proprietor of Coasters, Coasters Bar and Grill and the Capital Brewpub in Whitehorse. The young entrepreneur recently accomplished the seemingly insurmountable feat of gutting the Capital Hotel – a notoriously dark, dingy watering hole – and transforming it into a brighter space designed to resemble a classy gold rush-era saloon. Customers searching for margaritas and martinis should look elsewhere: The new Capital is all about beer, spirits and wine. And within a year, the Capital’s brew taps will flow with the Yukon’s finest domestic beers along with imports from as far away as Vancouver. “That’s not very far, but it’s good for Whitehorse,” quips Jacobsen, who also plans to turn the Capital’s old hotel rooms into offices that actually meet current environmental standards.

His recipe for success: “Ingenuity and creativity combined with surrounding myself with people who are better than me.” Favourite Beer: “Right now, it’s probably Yukon Gold from Yukon Brewing – absolutely delicious.”

On why he didn’t graduate from high school: “I got excellent marks in the classes I did attend but I always had a real difficult time in high school waking up in time for first class… So that didn’t work out very well.”

Little known fact: He’s never spent more than two months outside the territory.

Lee Drummond
Haines Junction, Yukon
Business: Paddle Wheel Adventures
Age: 29

Why he stands out: While still in high school, Drummond put together a business plan for Paddle Wheel Adventures. By the time he graduated, Drummond and his mother, Valerie, were offering canoe and mountain bike rentals and hiking tours in the small mountain community. He’s since expanded operations to include rafting tours and fishing trips, and now books white water rafting, sightseeing and horseback riding for other operators. A true family business, Drummond still employs his mom as a hiking guide during summers, and his wife, Tiffany. “I can’t imagine running it without her,” he says.

Best thing about his job. Helping somebody catch his or her first fish. “We have such spectacular scenery here,” he says, “and when someone comes here from somewhere else and I get to be the one to show them something neat or interesting, that’s really fun for me.”

On his clientele: “We get people who are a little timid to go into the wilderness by themselves,” he says. “It’s nothing too crazy but we get people out into bear country. We’ve been in front of quite a few bears and we make sure everybody has a safe encounter.”

Secret to his success: “What worked for us is that we started small and grew when we needed to. We tried to think big but start small.”

Biggest accomplishment: Employing local people and being able to work at a job he loves for 12 years.

Paul Gort
Whitehorse, Yukon
Business: Gort Fine Woodworking
Age: 37

Why he stands out: Tired of spending his days toiling away in a cubicle, Gort quit his government job four years ago to study fine furniture making at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. After returning to Whitehorse, he launched Gort Fine Woodworking and began making beautiful wood cabinetry for locals. But that’s just what he does to pay the bills. His true passion lies in designing and crafting one-of-a-kind furniture. Among his latest creations is a quirky yet elegant coffee table made from solid walnut using sophisticated furniture joinery techniques, but resembling the humble shipping pallet. “I’m playing with what people view as disposable everyday objects,” he explains.

What motivates him: “I want to make a living, but I’m more interested in the creative aspects of the work,” he says.” I’m not driven by making money.” On marketing: “Word of mouth is really the only advertisement that I needed to keep going. That’s the nice thing about living in a small place like Whitehorse.” Biggest accomplishment: A solo furniture exhibit last year at Arts Underground in Whitehorse.

Best part about his job: The commute. His self-made workshop is a stone’s throw from his house on the outskirts of Whitehorse.

Mike Lafferty
Behchoko, NWT
Business: Dene Electrical
Age: 35

Why he stands out: Lafferty worked in the electrical repair and maintenance field for a variety of mines for many years. He always had a side business, but dreamed of completely branching out on his own. His dream became a reality when he launched Dene Electrical in 2007 and incorporated the following year. The seasoned journeyman electrician is a true master of fixing, maintaining and installing all things electrical. “My specialty is providing comprehensive electrical services to industrial sites of all sizes and complexities,” he says. “This includes my ability to provide complete care and maintenance of mine site facilities. I also have extensive experience in commercial buildings and residential dwellings.” On working for the man: As an aboriginal person, Lafferty says working for southern mining companies can be tough because of cultural differences. Aboriginal people not only learn differently – traditionally, by watching and learning from elders – but tend to be quieter, which is often misinterpreted as a lack of ambition. Future Plans: Because he believes aboriginal people are more successful when trained by someone from their own culture, Lafferty hopes to inspire young aboriginal men and women to enter the trades, work together and start their own companies. He wants to build Dene Electrical into a company that continuously trains and hires many aboriginal apprentices. The father of four is already using the watch-and-learn approach to train an apprentice from Behchoko. “And we speak our own language,” he says. “That’s a key thing.”

Tara Tootoo Fotheringham
Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Business: Sugar Rush Café
Age: 34

Why she stands out: In 2005, Tootoo Fotheringham put her home and everything she owned on the line to buy the Sugar Rush Café in Rankin Inlet. She transformed it from a basic sandwich and donut shop into a cool, 1950s-style diner with a menu that includes Chinese food and an exclusive blend of coffee dubbed the “Arctic Char.” She’s proud of the café’s welcoming vibe and top-notch customer service. “I didn’t want to use the excuse that because we live in the North you are going to get poor service and attitude,” she explains. The mother of three also operates a bustling catering service (her chefs make the best prime rib in town, she says) and a bed and breakfast for women about to give birth at the regional birthing centre in Rankin Inlet. As if that’s not enough, the café also ran a breakfast program for students on behalf of the hamlet during the past school year. In 2006, she won the Business Development Canada Young Entrepreneur Award for Nunavut.

On giving back: A former career development officer, Tootoo Fotheringham not only helps local people provide for their families but views her business as a training program that gives them the skills and encouragement to move on to bigger and better things.

Her entrepreneurial roots: Tootoo Fotheringham credits her maternal grandmother, Jenny Tootoo, for her go-getting instinct. Along with sewing traditional clothing for her 15 children, Jenny Tootoo earned enough cash selling clothes and other wares to buy her family their first house. Her father, Mike Carruthers, also an entrepreneur, owns Inuvik Funeral Services.