Over 4,000 Ontario Students Want To Shovel Your Driveway For You This Winter On The Cheap

Two entrepreneurs from Ryerson University want you to hire a student to clear your driveway when it snows.

Marko Semcesen and Alex Ryzer are students themselves and the creators of the Toronto startup "LocalStudent," which connects students with homeowners who need jobs doing around the yard.

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People love helping students. Marko Semcesen

Speaking to Narcity via video call, Semcesen explained that Ryzer brought the idea to him while the two were in university together.

They wanted to provide a flexible, well-paying job option for students who have busy schedules and expensive textbooks, and they realized that people will go out of their way if they know they're helping a student.

"We want people to feel like they're supporting somebody who's going through school and kind of bettering themselves as people," Semcesen said.

Ryzer and Semcesen host the booking service on their website and take a cut of the money from each job, which could be shovelling snow, clearing leaves, or mowing lawns.

They've linked about 500 customers with around 250 students who have completed over 1,400 jobs since they launched last year.

And over 4,000 students applied to sign up for jobs in December 2020 alone.

The pair have already expanded to Calgary and Ottawa, with plans to bring the business elsewhere around the country. 

"The most important thing for me is seeing that the students are earning good money for good work," Semcesen said. "It's truly a great feeling."