In this month's issue:
- Ontario East Logistics Marketing Team networks with top U.S. retail leaders
- Four Leeds and Grenville companies named among Canada’s Best Managed
- Eastern Ontario startups win seed funding and entrepreneurial training
- Cornwall’s Ground Soap named among America’s most ethical brands
- Peterborough area signs letter of intent to become world-class water cluster
- Kingston concrete business wins national industry award
- Cornwall accounting firms merge to form accounting powerhouse
- Eastern Ontario marketing partnership wins award for iPad app
- Cornwall opens new amalgamated regional ambulance headquarters
Ontario East Logistics Marketing Team networks with top U.S. retail leaders
Some of North America’s biggest retailers now know about the merits of operating logistics operations in Eastern Ontario as a result of a successful mission by local economic developers to a supply chain conference in Dallas, Texas.
Representatives of the Ontario East Logistics Marketing Team recently returned from February’s Retail Industry Leaders Association conference and tradeshow attended by 1,200 top executives involved in retail-related logistics.
“The first day I talked to the chief economist of The Economist magazine and the president of Michael’s. Representatives of Exel, Giant Tiger, Target and other companies with investments in our region were in the room,” said Bob Peters, chair of the Ontario East logistics team.
“Another day, I attended a session with 40 people in the room with a senior v-p of Home Depot, and every single day he walked by our booth,” said Peters, who is also Cornwall’s Senior Economic Development Officer. “That is just one example of the access to C-Level executives the conference provides.”
Peters attended the conference with Lennox and Addington Economic Development Manager Stephen Paul as representatives of seven Eastern Ontario municipalities.
They staffed a tradeshow booth and attended professional development and networking sessions where they espoused the benefits of investing in logistics in our region, including plenty of low-cost land and almost non-existent development charges. They also unveiled an updated Directory of Logistics Companies in Eastern Ontario (available online at www.OntarioEast.ca)
Some major retailers have already discovered that Eastern Ontario is a superb logistics hub location. For example, Target, Walmart, and Shoppers Drug Mart are building, or have built, massive distribution centres in Cornwall while Tim Hortons plans to expand its distribution centre in Kingston. Sears has a large distribution centre in Belleville, while logistics operations exist in Brockville, Prescott and throughout the region.
St. Lawrence College in Cornwall is studying the feasibility of establishing a Centre of Excellence for the region, and local transportation companies are growing to accommodate increased activity.
“I’m not aware of any industry sector that has had a higher rate of new growth or has recently created more new jobs in Eastern Ontario,” said Peters.
During professional development sessions at the conference, Paul and Peters learned that U.S. retailers are excited about growing in the Canadian market—it’s knowledge that will help the Ontario East logistics team with marketing strategy.
Four Leeds and Grenville companies named among Canada’s Best Managed
Four companies in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville have been named among the best run in Canada by a prestigious business awards program.
Burnbrae Farms and Hendrix Restaurant Equipment & Supplies have hit the Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies list for the first time. Calco Environmental Group (Maple Leaf Environmental) and Kriska Transportation have requalified for the distinction of remaining among Canada’s Best Managed.
Hendrix president and founder Larry Vander Baaren said he believes the company’s “growth culture” played a big role in helping it make the 50 Best Managed list.
“We have had some rapid growth over the past five years, mostly through acquisitions,” Vander Baaren said. Hendrix has merged with two other food equipment companies in recent years with the most recent merger growing Hendrix’s sales volume by 30 percent.
Run in partnership by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post, and Queen’s School of Business, the Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies program recognizes Canadian-owned businesses with revenues over $10 million that have achieved outstanding performance and sustained growth.
Kriska has maintained its place as a Best Managed company for 11 years while Calco Environmental has succeeded for five years. If Calco makes the grade again in 2012, it will join the Platinum Club of which Kriska is a member.
Every year, hundreds of Canadian companies undergo a rigorous evaluation of their management practices and abilities in hopes of obtaining a Best Managed designation.
Only 50 companies can make the list for the first time. These receive a
Best Managed winner designation. Repeat winners keep the designation for two additional years subject to a yearly financial and operational review.
Gold Standard winners like Calco are appointed after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status. Platinum Club members like Kriska must maintain their status for a minimum of six consecutive years.
Eastern Ontario startups win seed funding and entrepreneurial training
Two Eastern Ontario companies are among the first to receive $30,000 in seed money plus business training under a new program that supports entrepreneurs who have developed innovative business startups.
Echotec Sonar Corp. of Ashton manufactures 3-dimensional sonars for the commercial fisheries, defence, and scientific markets while Neptune Charts of Arnprior makes low-cost production paper and electronic charts of lakes for people who fish.
VentureStart is run by the Research Innovation Commercialization Centre of Mississauga and Invest Ottawa and Carleton University’s Lead To Win Program. The program is funded by the federal government with support from the Canadian Innovation Centre and a consortium of other non-profit organizations.
The program, which is designed to enhance the success rate of start-up enterprises in Southern Ontario, is expected to train as many as 450 entrepreneurs over 15 months and provide as much as $4 million in seed financing to qualified applicants.
To be eligible for the VentureStart program, entrepreneurs must be university or college graduates of a science, technology, engineering or mathematics program and must reside in southern Ontario. Full details of the program and sign-up forms are available at www.venturestart.ca.
The program is comprised of two phases, an entrepreneurial training phase and a business launch phase. The enrolment cost for eligible entrepreneurs is only $1,700 since VentureStart covers half the cost of the training phase. There are no other costs for the entrepreneur to continue in the program, other than the requirement of matching funds for any seed financing ultimately received, up to a maximum of $30,000.
Cornwall’s Ground Soap named among America’s most ethical brands
A Cornwall soap maker’s environmentally friendly business approach has earned it the distinction of being named one of the most ethical brands in America.
Ground Soap (www.groundsoap.com), made from all-natural ingredients and packaged in batik cotton, has been selected by e-commerce business Ethical Ocean for the accolade.
“Ground Soap is one of the best ethical brands in America,” said Chad Hamre, CEO of Ethical Ocean. “In fact, we have taken a close look at over 3,000 ethical consumer companies and selected Ground Soap as one of the top 200.”
Ethical Ocean (www.ethicalocean.com) is an e-commerce business “with a conscience” that features close to 4,000 organic, vegan, fairly-traded and eco-friendly products, including fashions, accessories, cosmetics, house wares, sporting goods—and soaps.
Ethical Ocean was featured on CBC’s Dragon’s Den in 2011. The company has since gone on to raise $500,000 from Canadian investors and is rapidly growing, creating a marketplace that facilitates the sale and purchase of all things ethical.
Ground Soap is owned by Angela Youngs, who said she is excited to be featured on the Ethical Ocean website and honoured to be selected as one of America’s most ethical brands. Her soaps are sold in Ethical Ocean’s online store and are 100 percent organic and wild harvested.
“But, perhaps more importantly, people love the soaps, which just goes to show you that you can be responsible and have good, clean fun doing it at the same time,” she said.
Peterborough area signs letter of intent to become world-class water cluster
The Greater Peterborough Area took a big step this month toward creating a world-class water cluster in the community.
The Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster, the City of Peterborough, the County of Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, Trent University and Fleming College signed a letter of intent March 5 to combine efforts to advance water technology, research, investment and job creation opportunities in the area.
“The fresh water research and technology and existing companies in our region make this development a logical next step,” said Dan Taylor, President and CEO of the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster.
“We will be promoting this region to global markets to bring investment and job creation in the water industry to our community,” Taylor said.
The Greater Peterborough Area is well positioned to house a world-class water cluster comprising three important sectors: research and innovation, a strong existing base of manufacturing and technology in the water industry, and a host of water stewardship organizations.
The signing of the letter of intent shows commitment from the communities and the institutions to pursue advancements and growth in this sector. It was crafted to set the groundwork for the signing members to expand their interactions and collaboration in the fields of water and wastewater quality, conservation, research, innovation and commercialization.
Ric McGee, Mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes, said the signing of the letter of intent represents the region’s first step in creating a Regional Centre of Excellence for Water Quality.
“The measure of our success will be our capacity to bring all stakeholders together in the pursuit of technology, innovation and best practices that promote improved water quality within this region and on the world's stage,” McGee said.
Kingston concrete business wins national industry award
Kingston’s Anchor Concrete Products Ltd. has won a national industry award for its 2011 role in building a monorail test track at Bombardier Transportation’s Millhaven facility.
Anchor has won first place in the Creative Use of Precast Award presented by the National Precast Concrete Association.
Jeff Bradfield, President of Anchor Concrete Products Ltd., said the work was challenging.
“This particular project was tremendously complex in terms of design, mould manufacturing, production and installation,” Bradfield said.
Anchor Concrete (www.anchorconcrete.com) supported the monorail construction project by designing and building 166 reinforced concrete beams measuring a total of 1.8 kilometres.
The beam structures consisted of segments of curves, super elevated curves, and vertical gradients that had to have extremely tight tolerances in terms of manufacturing and installation. The beams will be used as the foundation for testing trains designed for monorail projects destined for Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and other locations.
John-Paul Shearer, Director of Business Development with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, said Anchor’s award is well deserved.
“Not only does it prove Anchor’s capability, but it also shows that Kingston companies have great competency when it comes to working innovatively together though collaborations like this on a local level,” Shearer said.
Cornwall accounting firms merge to form accounting powerhouse
In the Eastern Ontario city of Cornwall, 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal 2. Indeed, in the case of the merging two Cornwall accounting offices, this equation equals 20: Twenty professionals working together to serve the Cornwall market.
Local partners Ian MacDonell, Pierre Vaillancourt and Andrew Shannon will oversee BDO’s merger with Doyle & Shannon. The merged firms will operate under the BDO name.
“As the only national accounting firm in the area, this merger will combine our local expertise with extensive resources and strengthen our focus on assisting entrepreneurs with their complex needs,” said MacDonell.
Shannon said the merger comes at the right time for his firm and its customers.
“Our business is growing, as is the Cornwall economy, and the merger with BDO positions us well to provide expertise in a full range of assurance and accounting, tax, business valuation, succession planning and advisory services,” he said.
BDO (www.bdo.ca) is a Canada-wide accounting firm and has a national team of 2,700 partners and professionals.
Clean technology developed in Kingston gets almost $5.5 million from feds
A breakthrough green solvent system being developed by Kingston’s GreenCentre Canada and Switchable Solutions Inc. has been awarded $5.48 million by the Canadian government.
This technology, which was discovered at Queen’s University by Dr. Philip Jessop and licensed to GreenCentre from PARTEQ Innovations, as an economical and environmentally friendly alternative to oil sands processing and plastics recycling.
The funding comes from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. It will support the design and commissioning of production facilities to recycle post-consumer plastics and to pilot the extraction of bitumen from oil sands without the generation of tailing ponds.
Switchable Solutions (www.switchablesolutions.com), a spinoff company of GreenCentre, is providing matching funding for the $11 million project. The clean technology company is poised to revolutionize oil sands processing and plastics recycling, as well as a series of other processes including remediation of tailing ponds and cuttings from drilling rigs.
“The really exciting thing about this technology is its potential to enhance the sustainability of numerous manufacturing industries that provide us with the products and services that underpin our daily lives. It is the essence of what green chemistry represents,” says Dr. Rui Resendes, Executive Director of GreenCentre.
GreenCentre Canada (www.grenncentre.canada.com) is a national Centre of Excellence for commercializing early-stage green chemistry discoveries generated by academic researchers and industry. It is funded by the governments of Ontario and Canada and by industry.
Eastern Ontario marketing partnership wins award for iPad app
An Eastern Ontario marketing partnership that developed an iPad app on how to start a cheese making business in Eastern Ontario won an award last month at the annual Economic Developers Council of Ontario conference.
Ontario’s Food and Beverage (FAB) Region was recognized for innovative use of technology and social media.
The How to Start a Cheese Making Business in Eastern Ontario app was created in partnership by the Counties of Lennox & Addington, Hastings, and Prince Edward, as well as with the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corp.
“I am proud of the way that we continue to work with our neighboring counties to pool resources and funding, and brand ourselves as the place to manufacture artisan food and beverages,” said Anne Prichard, Executive Director of the Frontenac CFDC.
Stephen Paul, Economic Development Manager for Lennox and Addington County, said sales of small-scale and artisan cheeses are set to grow by $100 million in Ontario over the next decade. The FAB region wants to be at the industry’s forefront.
“Our assessment indicates that there is a need for 25 to 50 new artisan cheese makers across the province and helping prospective cheese makers locate here by providing them with a clearinghouse of information ranging from milk supply, equipment, regulations and financing is just smart business,” added Karin Desveaux Economic Development for Prince Edward County.
Andrew Redden, Economic Development Manager for Hastings County, said the app has been downloaded hundreds of times and has resulted in some “serious contacts” to follow up.
The iPad app contains more than 55 pages of interactive content, guidelines and fundamentals for creating a successful cheese making business from start to finish. Topics include an overview of the cheese making business in Ontario, start-up costs, interviews with current cheese makers, types of farms and animals, and much more.
Cornwall opens new amalgamated regional ambulance headquarters
The Cornwall community celebrated the opening of a new $5.1-million regional ambulance headquarters earlier this month.
The new 28,000-sq.ft. Emergency Medical Services headquarters for Cornwall and the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry allows the regional EMS to consolidate its entire administrative, logistical and operational services under one roof.
Cornwall Mayor Bob Kilger described the new EMS HQ as a welcome addition to the community’s infrastructure.
“It will contribute to overall efficiencies for this important municipal service and it will also build on the excellent quality of life that is already offered in Cornwall and the United Counties of S, D & G,” Kilger said.
The governments of Canada and Ontario are each contributing one-third of total eligible project costs under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, up to a maximum of $1.7 million each. The City of Cornwall is contributing the balance of the total eligible project cost of $5.1 million.
Increased operational space will improve the delivery of emergency medical services in the region and staff will benefit from an enhanced work environment, more storage space, and additional parking.
Grant Crack, Member of Provincial Parliament for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, said the project created as many as 100 construction jobs and will provide paramedics with the resources needed to improve response times and to help keep residents safe and healthy.