Sask. startup school building local success stories

The federal government is looking to give entrepreneurs the help they need to launch the next Saskatchewan success story. Keenan Sorokan reports.

Edgar Payen and his wife Mariel Villanueva always dreamed of settling down and starting something for themselves after years of travelling around the world in search of work.

Payen has a background in hotel management and Villanueva is a pastry chef. The couple from Mexico wanted a better lifestyle and landed in Saskatoon a little more than two years ago hoping to create a business of their own.

But where do you start to turn that dream become the businesses you’ve always envisioned?

“Anyone can cook; anyone can do the same stuff. But going above and beyond with branding, with the right connections -- that’s the difficult part,” Payen said.

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Payen reached out to the Saskatoon Region Economic Development Association’s (SREDA) SK Startup Institute to find the best path forward. The institute offers a number of personalized guidance from experienced advisors with access to essential tools and information all tailored to entrepreneurs. SREDA CEO Erin Lawson says the organization helped 1,373 entrepreneurs in 2025.

“Behind these numbers are people building businesses that diversify our economy, drive employment, and bring new energy and investment into communities across the province,” she said.

That initial conversation eventually helped Payen and Villanueva form The Sure O’s Co., a churro shop they feel brings a much-needed Mexican cuisine to Saskatoon.

“That accelerated everything. And we were able to start in, I would say, five months,” Payen said. “Otherwise, it would have taken us a year.”

On Friday, just steps away from The Sure O’s shop at Gather Local Market, the federal government announced $910,000 in funding over two years devoted to the SK Startup Institute for things like one-on-one advising, workshops and training.

“Many of the ideas coming out of programs like this are tackling the big challenges of our time,” Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River Member of Parliament Buckley Belanger said.

A little more than two years after gaining permanent residency and calling Saskatoon home, Payen isn’t slowing down his plans for his business. The Sure O’s second location recently opened at the Mall at Lawson Heights, and he’s planning to open a third location out of province. While the work is hard and the growth is measured, he’s not stopping there.

He plans to become the biggest churro franchise in Canada, and then the world.

“We’re 100 per cent sure that what we’re doing is changing things, and it’s working,” Payen said. “We can see it in the community we’ve built and how responsive they’ve been with us.”