For Tyler Sellars, visiting a relative in her retirement home was a distressing experience. The relative was unhappy and felt uncared for. Now, her sadness has led the 20-year-old New Brunswick entrepreneur to a new business idea that aims to optimize care for the elderly.

In the mid-2000s, Sellars’ relative had suffered a stroke and was living in the facility where she spent her final years.

“They didn’t give her sufficient stimulation to counter the effects of the stroke; that made her health deteriorate,” said Sellars by phone from his Moncton home. “And although a few of the nurses clearly loved their jobs, others were not as committed.”

The experience left Sellars with an understanding of the needs of the elderly and now he is CEO of a new venture that plans to build three retirement communities together in Atlantic Canada. The plan is to build the three communities in a city centre and offer a high level of care.

“Stage 1 will be a retirement community for people who just need help with things like lawn care. Stage 2 will be a continuing care retirement community, offering minimal medical care. Stage 3 will offer hospice care,” he said.

“The homes will be built together on one large piece of land. Because they’ll be together, people won’t have to move. If someone gets sick, they might move to another building but they’ll still be near their family and friends.”

He said that age-segregated housing is a $51-billion industry and that Moncton has been chosen as a potential location for his venture because it is fast-growing but still affordable, and a great place to run a business.

This might seem an unlikely project for a man his age to be involved in, but Sellars has the support of experienced Halifax-based entrepreneurs. Despite his youth, this is not the first entrepreneurial venture for Sellars, who learned the value of self-reliance back in 2008 when, as a 15-year-old, his parents told him they could no longer afford to pay his soccer fees.

A gifted soccer player, Sellars was on New Brunswick’s provincial team and the travel and expenses cost up to $10,000 a year. His parents, Jim and Barb, worked in the financial sector and were hard hit by the economic collapse.

The young Tyler could not bear to lose his soccer, so he started raising money himself, beginning by asking the public for cash at Moncton stores.

“It was mid-December and freezing. I hated it; you have to use puppy dog eyes on everyone,” he said.

He began to look for other ideas and, without his father’s knowledge, made $8,000 on eBay by selling soccer jerseys and other items in his father’s name. Then he created his own e-commerce website, selling clothes made in South Korea.

“I realized this effort is called ‘entrepreneurship.’ I met with a bunch of local entrepreneurs and fell in love.”

He later set up a venture called Redknot that links volunteers who want to work in developing countries with non-profits.

He has just sold Redknot to a partner.

He has also recently completed Year 1 of a commerce degree at Saint Mary’s University, but plans to commit himself to the retirement project rather than finish school. He said he has been a good student, but intends to pursue this opportunity.

“I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur but, with my other ventures, I haven’t fully committed myself. I wanted to be safe. But this is taking off. I don’t want to miss the chance.”

He said he wants to share his story because he knows there are many successful young entrepreneurs, but he rarely heard about them when he needed encouragement.

“I always wanted a helping hand, not physically, but emotionally. I wanted a story to back myself up with.”