Melloul-Blamey holds an international 25th birthday party.
Transcription
Melloul-Blamey holds an international 25th birthday party.
ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 7:58 PM Page 40 WATERCOOLER David Blamey (left) and Bernie Melloul invited hundreds of their closest friends and colleagues to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Melloul-Blamey Construction. The Waterloo event drew industry reps and officials from both the US and Canada. Melloul-Blamey holds an international 25th birthday party. PETER ARMBRUSTER has been named President of the Waterloo Region Home Builders Association. He becomes its 34th President. Armbruster has been a Director on WRHBA’s Board since 2003. He is currently Vice-President of Operations at Activa Group. Activa is a residential land development company with ongoing projects throughout Southern Ontario, with a focus on the Region of Waterloo. Armbruster received a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1991 and is a Licensed Professional Engineer. Over the past 16 years, he has obtained both public and private AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Waterloo Law Association April 24, 2007, Randell K. Thomson, a sole practitioner from New Hamburg, was elected President of the Waterloo Law Association for a two-year term. John English was the guest speaker at the event which drew close to 200 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Walper Terrace Hotel in Kitchener. Serving with Thomson on the Executive will be Pam Hebner, Darrell Hawreliak, Catherine Randell Thomson, president of the Malvern, and Waterloo Law Association. Past-President, and Exchange columnist, Melanie Reist. A release from the WLA noted, “There are many exciting issues facing the Waterloo Law Association and the administration of justice as a whole and Randy, the Executive, and the Board of Trustees are eager to deal with them over the next two years.” BEGINNING THIS SEPTEMBER, Conestoga College will expand the number of career-related training programs available at its new Motive Power Training Centre, located at the campus in Guelph. A significant amount of the automotive/truck and coach industry in Ontario is found in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, and the need for well-skilled employees in the industry is growing as employers increasingly serve a North America-wide market. These two new programs are titled Motive Power Fundamentals – Automotive Service and Motive Power Fundamentals – Truck and Coach. Each is a full-time, daytime, 48-week program. DALSA CORPORATION of Waterloo, an international high performance digital imaging and 40 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m PHOTO: LISA HAGEN, AHA! COMMUNICATIONS PHOTO: DIANE JOHNSON sector experience in the design and construction of municipal infrastructure. WRHBA has over 225 members and since 1946, it has Peter Armbruster been the official voice of the residential construction industry in the Region of Waterloo. WRHBA is the tenth largest association nationally and the fourth largest association provincially. ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 7:59 PM Page 41 WATERCOOLER Cara Fab ian, General Manager, and Larry Mart in, Director of Operations, in front of the newly expanded and renovated De s ti nat io n I nn in Waterloo. The project added 50 suite rooms, a new lobby, and leisure features including a pool. semiconductor company, has appointed Wajid Ali as Chief Financial Officer, effective mid-May 2007. Ali joins DALSA from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). PHOTO COURTESY OF TCI STAMPS TCI STAMPS OF GUELPH, a leading Canadian manufacturer and distributor of marking devices, supplied the country of Senegal in Africa with all the election ink required for the Legislative Elections held June 3, 2007. Wayne Houle, General Manager of TCI with the shipment for bound for Senegal. It can strip off its top in 25 seconds. E os Wayne Houle, General Manager of TCI stated that the order landed safely in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal on May 18 and was met by a delegation led by the Senegalese Minister of the Interior Ousmane Ngom. “This was a larger than normal order and presented us with some interesting logistical problems that we had to overcome.” After a citizen votes, they must dip their finger in the election ink. The ink stains their finger for a two week period and shows that the person has already voted and thus cannot vote again. “TCI in a small way is helping to bring fair democratic elections to underdeveloped countries like Senegal,” Houle commented. The Senegalese government had used a French supplier of election ink for the Presidential Elections in February of 2007, but quality problems led to the order from TCI for the Legislative Elections in June. “We have provided this ink to Senegal for elections in the past and our quality is the best in the world,” Houle stated. ARRISCRAFT INTERNATIONAL INCOME FUND is selling its Arriscraft International manufactured stone, brick and natural stone masonry products business, based in Cambridge, to General Shale Brick, Inc. for an aggregate price of $107,000,000, subject to closing adjustments for debt and non-cash working capital. General Shale, based in Johnson City, Tennessee, is an affiliate of Wienerberger AG, the largest brick company in the world headquartered in Vienna, Austria. David Boles, President and CEO of Arriscraft said, “The acquisition is a good result for our unitholders. It is also a good result for Arriscraft and our employees as General Shale has informed us that it intends to continue to operate the Arriscraft production facilities and grow the Arriscraft business in North America.” ARISE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION has announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007. Revenues increased 155.8% year-over-year. Net loss was $1,315,701, compared to $760,661 for the same period in 2006 as a result of increased investments in PV Technology and Silicon Feedstock R&D, strengthening the management team and start-up costs related to the company’s German subsidiary. “In the first quarter of fiscal 2007, I am pleased to report that we met or exceeded all of our objectives, including several strategic hires in Canada and Germany and the completion of the first of two rounds of financing,” said Ian MacLellan, President and CEO. “In addition, we announced Canada’s largest solar research park with two consortium partners, signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Germany’s second largest commercial bank and filed a preliminary prospectus resulting in the offering of $25,300,000 Common Shares subsequent to the end of the quarter. Recent financing, increases to shareholders’ equity and conditional government grants now total over $68 million.” ATS AUTOMATION TOOLING SYSTEMS INC. has appointed two experienced senior executives to the newly-created roles of Vice President, Strategy and Human Resources, and Chief Information Officer, as well as the creation of a new Chief Operating Officer role. Ron Jutras, ATS President and CEO said: “ATS has successfully implemented a new regional business model within our core Automation Systems Group over the past few months and we are now seeing early benefits from this work. [This] Audio/Video by Design • Custom home theatre & automation • Distributed & multi-room audio/video • Commerical & boardroom systems • In-home service & 24/7 customer support • Over 60 product lines – most available to retail stores. Vol k swa g e n’s f ir st h a r d - t op c on ve r t i b l e . Volkswagen Waterloo 550 Weber Street North, Waterloo, ON Tel: (519) 884-7470 [email protected] www.vwwaterloo.com SINCE 1999 519-220-0863 www.avdesign.on.ca J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 | 41 ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 7:59 PM Page 42 WATERCOOLER announcement demonstrates that our organizational improvements have now progressed from the regions to the corporate level... Today’s management changes help to accomplish our objective of building our global strength by infusing our corporate team with new skills and capabilities in areas that are absolutely critical to our continued progress – including strategic employee skills development and information technology. I am delighted with the two individuals we have appointed." “We also plan to further strengthen and add additional depth to our executive team in the near term through the creation of a Chief Operating Officer role. In April, I initiated a search to permanently fill this important new role.” On an interim basis, Bruce Seeley, Vice President of Precision Components, has assumed the COO role. Effective immediately, ATS has appointed Lynne Brenegan as Vice President, Strategy and Human Resources. Brenegan brings 15 years of consulting experience to executive teams in areas such as talent management, leadership development, and organizational redesign in a wide variety of sectors including high technology engineering. She joined ATS in 2006 to bring focus to organization design and strategic talent development. Ron Keyser has been appointed Chief Information Officer. Keyser was most recently Vice President, Information Technology Operations for Magna Services, the shared services unit of automotive components manufacturer Magna International. BRICK BREWING CO.LIMITED has added to its growing contract brewing business with a multiyear agreement to brew Tiger Malt nonalcoholic beer for the Canadian market for Banks Brewing (Barbados) Limited. “Banks is one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious brewers and this new agreement represents another in Brick’s growing roster of international strategic partners,” commented Doug Berchtold, Brick Brewing’s President and CEO. “Adding to our contract brewing, co-packing and agency businesses complements Brick’s core brewing operations. It helps spread fixed overhead costs across more volume, delivering operating efficiencies to benefit production cost for all brands.” “Tiger Malt sales are expanding rapidly in Canada, with its growing East and West Indian populations, and we were seeking a high quality craft brewer in Canada who could achieve the standards of brewing excellence we demand for our popular non-alcoholic beverage,” said Chris St. John, General Manger of Banks Brewing. DALSA CORPORATION has signed a definitive agreement with Research In Motion to jointly develop lands in Waterloo Ontario. As part of the agreement, which is expected to close within the next several months, RIM will purchase approximately 37 acres of land from DALSA at the intersection of University Avenue East and Northfield Drive East in Waterloo, and plans to use it for future expansion. DALSA, which owns approxiSavvas Chamberlain, CEO of DALSA mately 19 adjacent acres, has similar plans in the future. The two parcels of land will be jointly developed by the two companies. “It is fantastic that DALSA and RIM are working together to develop the lands in Waterloo,” commented Savvas Chamberlain, CEO of DALSA Corporation. “The Innovative Solutions for Corporate Gifts & Reward Programs DIVISION OF I-A-C INC. PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZING IN: MULTI-RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT LOCALLY BASED - ON CALL 24 HRS. Website: www.orbis.ca CANADA’S TECHNOLOGY TRIANGLE INC. has announced that Iris Huang is appointed Marketing and Communications Officer. Huang is completing an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing Concentration, Wilfrid Laurier University, and an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics Co-op, University of Waterloo. She will graduate this summer. A Waterloo resident, Huang has successfully completed cooperative education assignments at SlipStream Data Inc, TD Securities and the University of Waterloo’s Cooperative Education and Career Services department. THE CO-OPERATORS announced donations totalling $224,075 to 183 Canadian charitable organizations, including ten from the tri-city. The contributions were part of the Directed Donations program, in which each staff member directs $75 of corporate funds to the charity of his or her choice. “We’re proud to stand behind the dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to improve the lives of people in real and measurable ways,” explains Kathy Website: www.parkcapital.ca Professional Real Estate Services Specializing In: Industrial/Commercial Sales & Leasing Investments Consulting eldon gallery uptown waterloo 14 King Street North, Waterloo (519) 886-0886 [email protected] 42 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m agreement reflects the collective confidence we both have in our future growth and our commitment to the City of Waterloo and the Waterloo Region, which I believe benefit in many ways from the success of growing high tech companies.” Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion added, “We are extremely pleased to share this news following Waterloo’s recognition as the world’s Top Intelligent Community. RIM is excited at the prospects of its business and the opportunities for growth in Waterloo, and we look forward to working with DALSA to develop this property.” Mortgage Financing 76 Dawson Road, P.O. Box 923 Guelph, Ontario N1H 6M6 Tel: (519) 824-9900 Fax: (519) 824-2471 Website: www.parkcapital.ca E-Mail: [email protected] ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:00 PM Page 43 WATERCOOLER Bardswick, president and CEO. “With so many of our staff using their paid volunteer day to serve at charities here in Guelph and right across the country, we see very clearly how much of a positive difference this kind of assistance makes.” A list of staff-chosen charities was compiled and each participating staff member then selected which organization his or her designated $75 of corporate funds would go towards. With an overall staff participation rate in the program of 84%, The Cooperators is sending a clear signal of support to Canada’s charitable sector. The following tri-city charitable organizations benefited from The Co-operators 2007 Directed Donations Program: Sunrise Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre (Guelph); Hospice Wellington; Change Now Youth Drop In Centre (Guelph); Big Brothers Big Sisters (Guelph); Groves Memorial Community Hospital Foundation (Fergus); Habitat for Humanity (Wellington Branch); Michael House (Guelph); Lisaard House (Cambridge); Big Brothers Big Sisters (Kitchener); Kidsability Foundation (Waterloo). PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) has recognized staff member Valerie Kropf as the 2007 PwC Kitchener-Waterloo Volunteer of the Year for her outstanding work with the Tavistock Missionary Church. A cash donation of $1,000 will be made to Kropf’s church in recognition of her contributions. “PwC’s Volunteer Recognition Program honours PwC volunteers for their tremendous contributions to their communities,” says Dennis Grimm, PwC Partner and City Leader of PwC’s Kitchener-Waterloo office. “PwC is committed to giving back to the community and we’re proud of people like Valerie who set an example for others to follow.” The Volunteer Recognition Program is just one of the programs of the PwC Canada Foundation (www.pwc.com/ca/community). The Foundation and its mission of creating positive and lasting community change through the sharing of time, expertise and resources has been embraced by PwC staff and partners. MORE THAN 1,200 CYCLISTS, walkers and volunteers took part in the 15th annual Manulife Bike and Hike for Heart and helped raise $200,000 for St. Mary’s Regional Cardiac Care Centre in Kitchener. In its 15-year history, the event has raised more than $2 million for heart health in Waterloo Region. “We met our goal today,” said Paul Rooney, President and CEO, Manulife Canada. “Everyone who helped in this achievement should be very proud of their efforts. The Bike and Hike is a great way for all of us to support healthy hearts and lifestyles and contribute to a world-class cardiac care centre. We can have fun, exercise and help ensure our community’s long-term health.” “We greatly appreciate the community’s overwhelming support for heart health and the cardiac centre,” added Moira Taylor, president of St. Mary’s General Hospital. “This event has yet again set a high standard in helping our cardiac care centre continue to provide world-class care.” VIRTUAL CAUSEWAY (Exchange, Sept. 06) has been named one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies in PROFIT magazine’s June 2007 issue. A leading outsource provider of integrated sales and marketing services, Virtual Causeway’s revenue increased by 1,298% during the five-year review period – exceptional results that secured the company 44th place in the 19th annual PROFIT 100 ranking. Virtual Causeway had previously been a member of the Profit Hot 50 ranking in 2005. “We are honored to be i n c l u d e d among such a Rick Endrulat, president of Virtual s u c c e s s f u l Causeway group of entrepreneurs,” says Rick Endrulat, President of Virtual Causeway. “Our continued growth, support from local organizations and focus of our employees has made it possible for us to receive another award from PROFIT Magazine.” Ranking Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the PROFIT 100 profiles the country’s most successful growth companies. THE CVCA, Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, has announced that Waterloo-based Sandvine, led by Dave Caputo, Co-founder, President and CEO, is the recipient of CVCA’s 14th Annual ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award’. Established in 1992, the purpose of CVCA’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ competition is to promote, highlight and celebrate the achievements of entrepreneurs who lead venture-backed Canadian companies. “The selection process focuses on individuals whose entrepreneurial spirit, drive and success personify the qualities that all venture capital investors seek to find in their portfolio companies,” said Richard Kinlough, Chair of CVCA’s Entrepreneur of the Year Committee and Managing Director, Group Head, CIT Corporate Finance, Canada. Dave Caputo and co-founders Brad Siim, Marc Morin, Tom Donnelly and Don Bowman have grown Sandvine from the concept stage into the leading developer of intelligent broadband network management solutions. In March 2006, Sandvine was listed on London’s AIM Exchange, raising $37 million and reaching a market cap of over $230 million at first day of closing. Sandvine was listed on the TSX in October 2006, raising a further $13 million. As of May 28, 2007, Sandvine (TSX: SVC) had a market cap of approximately $580 million, the highest market cap of any Canadian VC-backed IT company that has gone public since 2000. Sandvine develops and markets network equipment targeted to the evolving needs of today’s broadband service providers. Sandvine’s award-winning solutions identify the types and behaviours of traffic on networks, enabling service providers to improve customer satisfaction, reduce Let me take your corporate entertaining & presentation to a new level. J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 | 43 ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:00 PM Page 44 WATERCOOLER operational costs and increase profitability. KITCHENER was well represented at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ annual conference, in Calgary, Alta. Mayor Carl Zehr and Councillors Berry Vrbanovic, Kelly Galloway and Geoff Lorentz were on hand to witness a number of developments that could mean great things for Canadian municipalities – including Kitchener. The FCM is calling on the federal government to provide municipalities nationwide with annual revenues equivalent to one cent of the Goods and Services Tax. If approved, the returns would yield approximately $5 billion per year in additional funding for all local governments and municipalities in Canada. “Canadian municipalities generate significant wealth to support the national economy of Canada,” said Zehr. “We need a permanent share of growth-responsive revenues to assist us in addressing many of the challenges we are currently facing, such as ageing and insufficient infrastructure, increasing social and environmental pressures and rapid urbanization.” This resolution was originally brought forward by the City of Toronto, and endorsed by the Big City Mayors Caucus, as well as the FCM Ontario Caucus, which is chaired by Vrbanovic. Vrbanovic was elected to the role of FCM vice-president at large. “This is a tremendous opportunity to play a role influencing federal policy as it relates to local governments – not just our own, but local governments across the province and country,” Vrbanovic said. LARCHE COMMUNICATIONS INC. has agreed to acquire from Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. the assets of radio station CICX FM (Jack Is booking corporate travel more arduous than first expected? Avoid wasting valuable resources on line. Keep your team focused on the bottom line. Call for more information 519-741-0770 FM) Orillia, Ontario. Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire from Larche Communications (Kitchener) Inc. the assets of CIKZ FM (Tri Cities Hot New Country), Kitchener. “This swap makes great strategic sense for our company,” says LCI President Paul Larche. “It will allow us to better compete and consolidate our efforts in central Ontario, where we already own CICZ FM Midland.” Gary Miles, CEO - Radio, Rogers Media, stated, “We have been fans of Paul Larche and his organization for years. We believe this exchange makes perfect sense for both companies. We both share the same operating philosophies and commitment to broadcasting. CIKZ FM will make a great addition to our Kitchener holdings.” The sale is subject to approval from the Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). RETAIL COUNCIL OF CANADA (RCC) awarded 18 prestigious industry awards at the annual Excellence in Retailing Awards Dinner. recognizing the retail industry’s top achievers. A highlight of the event was the presentation of a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to Walter J. Hachborn of St. Jacobs, President and Co-Founder of Home Hardware Stores Limited. “Mr. Hachborn is a true Canadian business icon. Over the course of his distinguished career, Walter’s combination of ingenuity, business acumen, work ethic and kindness have and continue to leave an indelible mark on the Canadian retail landscape," said Diane J. Brisebois, President and CEO, Retail Council of Canada. “Mr. Hachborn has instilled a spirit of humanity and charity in the Home Hardware culture and that community goodwill can be felt in cities and towns across the country. Mr. Hachborn is Walter Hachborn, co-founder of Home Hardware Stores Limited. also being recognized as a civic leader who positively shapes the lives of others in his humanitarian efforts.” HOWARD BURTON, Executive Director of Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, will leave the organization in the near future. Burton has headed the Institute since inception. COM DEV INTERNATIONAL LTD. has purchased a 46,000 square foot facility in El Segundo, 44 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m California. The facility will serve as the home of the engineering and production operations of COM DEV USA. It is located in close proximity to some of the world’s leading space companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The purchase cost is US$8.75 million, which COM DEV has funded through existing debt facilities. “We are very excited by our prospects for capturing meaningful market share in the domestic US market,” said Mike Pley, President of COM DEV International. David Lizius has been appointed General Manager of COM DEV USA. COM DEV also recently announced that it has begun the production phase of its work on the James Webb Space Telescope. COM DEV’s Space Science division has been working on the design and engineering phases of the project since 1998, and was awarded a CDN $39 million contract on April 30 by the Canadian Space Agency to proceed with the fabrication, build and test of the flight unit. EXECULINK TELECOM, a small telecommunications company based out of Southwestern Ontario, has announced that it will provide local phone service, despite a recent government decision to deregulate the market. Without local phone regulations in place it is much harder for smaller providers to compete in a market dominated by a small number of billion dollar companies. “We believe in the competitive marketplace and we understand that consumer habits are shifting,” says Chief Executive Officer, Ian Stevens. “We have no doubt that we can rise to the challenge presented by a deregulated market. Consumers need more than a price play; they are looking for quality service and support at a reasonable price.” X ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:16 PM Page 45 MAKING A DIFFERENCE motion, sign language interpretation, bookkeeping and accounting, collectables and bead jewellery. Birgit Sievert, Employment Consultant and Communication Devices Specialist with The Canadian Hearing Society – Waterloo Region has also referred several clients to the program. She commented, “Clients with hearing loss were provided appropriate accommodations and American Sign Language Interpreters have been booked for those who are deaf and requested the provision of sign language. Working in a one-on-one setting allowed our clients clear communication and an opportunity to clarify literacy issues with the advisor in a personal setting. Advisors were sensitive to deaf culture and hearing loss issues allowing the clients additional comfort in a traditionally uneasy setting.” Another graduate is launching a consulting business and already has her first Design-Build Project Management Construction Management T E S T X T I M E Our Legacy Industrial Commercial Institutiowww.ballcon.com nal B A L L C O N ST R U C T I O N I N C . 820 Victoria Street North P.O. Box 1202 Kitchener ON Canada N2G 4G8 The New Frontier Program is giving differently-abled people greater independence and the opportunity to contribute to our economy. client. She asked not to be identified but told Exchange that “the supportive atmosphere of the New Frontier Program was really important to me. They were very understanding of the barriers some of us face and provided the supports needed to overcome them.” She prefers the term “differently-abled” rather than disabled to describe her condition. Wayne Tuttle cautions that the New Frontier Program is not for the faint of heart. You have to be willing to put the work in to succeed. There are many who start the program but are not able to finish. In some cases the first phase of the program helps them to analyze business ideas that for various reasons are likely to fail. By combining sound business training with support to overcome other barriers, Beth Pitt and the New Frontier Program are making a difference by giving differently-abled people greater independence and the opportunity to contribute to our economy. Readers wanting more information about the New Frontier Program can contact Beth Pitt at 519-743-2460 ext 410 or e-mail [email protected]. O F Proud Winner of three 2006 Building Excellence Awards Industrial Award of Excellence, $2 to $10 Million, Grand River Foods tel 519 742.5851 fax 519 742.6727 [email protected] w w w .b a l lc o n. c o m Commercial Award of Merit, Over $10 Million, Open Text Commercial Award of Excellence, Up to $750,000, Tim Hortons, Guelph AUDIO • VIDEO • LIGHTING • STAGING Complete Selection of A/V Equipment including: • • • • • • • LCD Projectors Screens Podiums Wireless Mics A/V Carts Technicians Delivery/Setup (519) 745-6154 124 Ottawa St. S, Kitchener www.sherwoodsystems.com RENTALS • SALES • INSTALLATION J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 | 45 ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:01 PM Page 46 MAKING A DIFFERENCE EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS Lutherwood self-employment program assists differently-abled people to start their own businesses in only one eye. This does not prevent him from designing websites, however! Tuttle graduated from the New Frontier Program in 2002. He learned about it from Yves Bergeron, Employment Consultant with Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), one of the project partners. Tuttle was living in Kitchener at the time he enrolled in the program but now lives in Welland, Ontario where, along with his wife Tina, he runs a business called Two Tuttles’ Four Paws that markets hard-tofind health care products for pets (www.twotuttlesfourpaws.com). He also designs websites. He credits the training he received through the New Frontier Program with helping him to be able to modify his business plan and change course when his original Participants attend workshops on topics such as an overview of self-employment, competitive analysis, rules and regulations and start-up and operating costs. Beth Pitt, Lead Business Advisor for the New Frontier program of the Enterprise and Business Group of Lutherwood. by BRIAN HUNSBERGER eople don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan,” says Wayne Tuttle, repeating a tried and true business adage. “I’ve been an entrepreneur since the mid-1990’s and I’ve had some first-hand experience with failure,” he added. Tuttle credits the New Frontier Program with helping him to turn those failures into successes. New Frontier is a program of the Enterprise and Business Group of Lutherwood, a social service agency based in Waterloo Region. The Enterprise and Business Group runs several programs to assist people who have been disadvantaged in some way, helping them to learn the skills needed and overcome the barriers they face in launching their own businesses. The New Frontier Program, based in Lutherwood’s downtown Kitchener office, is described as a self-employment program for people with disabilities. Beth Pitt is the Lead Business Advisor. She acts as both a trainer and a coach for people in program. Tuttle suffers from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that has left him with 10 percent vision P 46 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m idea of providing disability awareness training to corporations was not working out. “I also learned through that process not to go into business with friends,” Tuttle added. A business partnership is a very different relationship than a social friendship. Pitt explained that New Frontier was launched in June, 2001. It is funded by Service Canada and operated in partnership with The Canadian Hearing Society, CNIB and K-W Access-Ability. Participants go through the program in groups of four to eight people. Aids such as FM hearing systems, Braille translation and sign language can be provided. Approximately three to four groups complete the program each year. There are three phases to the program that extend over a nine month period. The first phase, called the Pre-entrepreneurial phase, lasts three to four weeks. Participants attend workshops on topics such as an overview of self-employment, competitive analysis, rules and regulations and start-up and operating costs. This phase also helps participants assess the suitability of the program for them. Those who decide to continue then enter Business Plan Development phase that is six to eight weeks long. In this phase they develop their business plan including market research, marketing, sales and customer service, budgeting and financial forecasting. The third phase is the “Coaching” phase, where participants work one-on-one with an advisor to move the venture forward and get it launched. This can last as long as 24 weeks, until the business is up and running. Wayne Tuttle said that the mentoring he received for a year after starting his business was crucial to his success. Over the past six years more than 75 people have graduated from the program, Pitt noted. Graduates in the past year have started businesses in such diverse fields as interior decorating, dry cleaning, music procontinued on page 45 ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:03 PM Page 47 Living Leonardo An Exploration of Imagination and Innovation "A Fundraising Event for Brain Tumour Research" This exhibition will bring Leonardo's work to life through real and rare artifacts. POSSIBLE SELF PORTRAIT c. 1513 We invite individuals, families, groups, schools/organizations and even entire communities to attend this 'Exploration of Imagination and Innovation'. MARCH 8 - 23, 2008 Visitor and Heritage Information Centre (Waterloo Tourist Train Station) UPTOWN WATERLOO SEIGE MACHINE c. 1480 LAST SUPPER ETCHNG Living Leonardo is about Life...it's about the wonder and magic of the human mind and the human spirit, it shows the importance of how one person, with one mind (or brain), and one idea (imagination and innovation) can change the world for all of us. DR. ROLANDO DEL MAESTRO, CURATOR www.livingleonardo.com All proceeds go to Brain Tumour Research Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute. Production by: Special thanks to: RUN FOR FUNDS FOR BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH STUDY FOR THE LAST SUPPER c.1495 BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CENTRE FUND #200956 "The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding." - Leonardo ExchJA07_pgs24-48 6/15/07 8:03 PM Page 48