Fritzlande Legrand, born in Haiti, always had an innovative streak. Her parents passed on their entrepreneurial passion to her starting at a very young age. Today she heads her own company: Les Pédales Fruitées.
A bit of history
Fritzlande arrived in Canada at 10 years old and did her studies in the country. She specialized in industrial relations, which led her to work on multiple contracts in Montréal before obtaining a permanent position. Three years ago, she decided that a change was needed; she opted to leave the Montréal area in favour of Gatineau, where she secured a human resources position in the federal government.
Her interest in entrepreneurship didn’t waver despite this. Fritzlande was also passionate about food and the ways it can bring people together. Her wish then became to combine her two passions to create her own company. After extensive research, one Saturday at 2 in the morning, an idea started to sprout in her mind.
Eureka
At first, Fritzlande wanted to launch a catering service while simultaneously promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. However, there was still a little something missing from her idea… something interactive! She started to think about her daily routine. Every morning she would drink a smoothie, but how to make this more interactive? She did some research and found companies in Europe that had managed to combine smoothies and bicycles. She thus got in contact with one of them to get more information. The concept wasn’t patented, and the owner of the European company even encouraged her to import the concept in Quebec. That was the birth of Les Pédales Fruitées, a playful and eco-friendly entertainment service! By pedalling for 30 seconds, people could prepare a smoothie. A much-welcomed idea!
Constantly evolving
The blender mechanism works well currently, but Fritzlande still seeks to improve it. She is now seeking an engineer to build personalized bicycles and develop other models.
Rolling forward
Passionate about volunteering, Fritzlande helps homeless people by providing them with food every Saturday morning. It’s her way of giving back. When asked about what the next five years can hopefully bring to Les Pédales Fruitées, Fritzlande answers without hesitation that she would like to stabilize and franchise her company and that other exciting plans will be revealed in due course.
Fritzlande’s advice
You can’t count your hours when you’re an entrepreneur. You have to make choices and learn to adapt. There will be doubts and there will be non-constructive comments, but if you’re confident in your idea, if you’re eager to persevere and if you’re passionate, there’s no reason why your project shouldn’t succeed. Other points to keep in mind are finding the right resources and making informed decisions!
Follow Fritzlande on social media to keep up with her enterprise!