Financial Post

A group of friends who met as clients of a Mississauga, Ont., children's treatment centre are using the Internet to run a virtual company selling products that aid people with disabilities.

"We toyed with the idea of inventing new products but ... after two years of brainstorming, we realized the Internet would be perfect for us," says Diana D'Agostino, 29, the treasurer.

Mr. Kuchmeister is a former principal of a school associated with Erinoak. He became frustrated at the difficulty his former pupils with disabilities have in finding jobs. He convinced Erinoak's board of directors to support a pilot project looking at the feasibility of helping these young adults develop their own self-employment opportunities.

He says he isn't sure if COARE will ever reach the point where the business can provide a living wage to six adults, "but it may in part.

"At the very least, it will give them skills they can use" and experience they would otherwise never have had, he says.