Ash Modha, president and partner of the Winnipeg company Mondetta, considers passion vital to entrepreneurship. Modha and his partners set up shop on the beach, selling T-shirts and sweatshirts to the university crowd. The next weekend, Mondetta sponsored a skateboard team demonstration. Modha and his partners progressed from direct retail to agent distribution, starting in western Canada. They developed their uniquely embroidered sweatshirts which, despite an initial skeptical reaction from retailers, met with huge success.
Expansion is a primary concern in the clothing business.
Now we've come to a point where we've sustained the business, we're growing, but we're not doing it in the territories where we started. Mondetta, now with distribution in the United States, Japan, and Italy, has challenged the myth the Canadians are not internationally competitive. If you have a good product, you can sell it anywhere. Modha admitted that the entrepreneur lives in constant fear of going broke or losing out to the competition. Robynne Anderson, founder and principle of Issues ink, started up her home-based company in 1991 in Winnipeg.