CELEBRATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION IN ATLANTIC CANADA

Showcase shines spotlight on Prince Edward Island entrepreneurs

Local entrepreneurs will take centre stage at showcase events planned for this fall in Atlantic Canada. The annual events bring together business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and government officials in a forum to celebrate business leadership and promote innovation.The Entrepreneurs’ Forum Prince Edward Island Showcase will be held tomorrow in Charlottetown, and presents an opportunity to raise the profile of local entrepreneurs and to recognize the many volunteer advisors who help contribute to their success.

“Our Government is determined to see the economic recovery through, and we will continue to focus on what matters to Canadians – creating jobs and promoting economic growth,” said the Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and La Francophonie. “Atlantic Canada has a strong tradition of entrepreneurship. This investment will help leverage local business expertise and will help Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs be more innovative and competitive, and create jobs.”

Featured Prince Edward Island entrepreneurs include: Darren Blanchard, President and CEO, NIMTech Inc. (Charlottetown); Phil Ferraro, owner and founder, Atlantic Living Walls (Charlottetown); Doug Shepherd, Executive Director, Andrews Hockey Growth Programs (Charlottetown); Troy LeBlanc, owner, Creative Home Concepts (Stratford); Mathew Sullivan, owner, Be Your Own Bartender Inc. (Montague); Bernadette Allen, CEO and Senior Consultant, The Competency Group (Charlottetown); and Detry Carragher, principal owner, Streamline Consulting (Charlottetown).

The showcase event is part ofEntrepreneurs’ Forum Showcase Series presented by RBC, which will take placein each of the Atlantic provinces. All seven entrepreneurs in the Prince Edward Island Showcase have taken advantage of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum business advisory services.

Entrepreneurs’ Forum services focus on improving the growth and competitiveness of innovative businesses in Atlantic Canada. In 2010-2011 alone, over 200 Entrepreneurs’ Forum volunteer advisors assisted more than 100 clients, contributing nearly 3,000 hours to providing a “real-world” point of view to problems and opportunities that new and existing innovative companies have to face. The advisory services help Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs gainaccess to experienced local business professionals who provide sound, practical advice on key issues, including the development of strategic management skills, product development, commercialization, increased access to international markets and growth planning.

“EF was great to work with. The process was easy and the opportunity to sit down with seasoned successful local entrepreneurs was quite educational,” said Darren Blanchard, President and CEO of NIMTech Inc. “Sometimes when you are embedded in your world of building your widget or business, you can complicate the simplest things. Speaking with other business builders from various backgrounds and industries gave me insightful perspective on a variety of issues.”

“It’s essential that we recognize commitment to entrepreneurship throughout the Atlantic provinces,” said Entrepreneurs’ Forum President David McNamara. “Our volunteers and advisors devote many hours to helping talented and determined innovative entrepreneurs succeed. They deserve to be commended for their contribution to furthering entrepreneurship and innovation across Atlantic Canada as do the key funding contributors to EF, which are: ACOA, the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), Business New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, and Innovation PEI. RBC Royal Bank is EF’s presenting sponsor this year for the Showcase Series, and Canadian Youth Business Foundation, Manning Atlantic and Deloitte are all also sponsors of Entrepreneurs’ Forum.”

The Government of Canada, through ACOA andNRC-IRAP,is providing a total investment of $320,000 to support the Entrepreneurs’ Forum throughout Atlantic Canada.

Following are the seven companies that are participating in the Entrepreneurs’ Forum Prince Edward Island Showcase:

NIMTech Inc.:NIMTech Inc. is an award‐winning company which designs unique non‐invasive measurement applications, solving significant observability and process control challenges in the chemical, petrochemical, biofuels, and consumer products industries. The Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island-based company’s SonicGuage™ employs multiple ultrasonic waves to characterize the “chemical fingerprint” of a substance and then track – through a container or pipeline– its product quality and the production processes, online and in real time. www.nim-tech.com

Atlantic Living Walls: Atlantic Living Walls (ALW) is a family-owned designer of handcrafted living walls and green roof systems. Located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, ALW was founded as a division of Fortune Bay Eco-Lodge Design to research the effectiveness and potential benefits of utilizing living walls and green roofs in the North Atlantic region. Using state-of-the-art hydroponic technology, the company is continuously advancing the boundaries of green building applications to improve environmental sustainability and social well-being.  www.atlanticlivingwalls.ca

Andrews Hockey Growth Programs: The Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island company has been training hockey players of all abilities since 1979 with the understanding that successful development as a hockey player is the product of complete personal growth. Through scientifically researched on-ice training programs, professionally developed off-ice training and well balanced classroom sessions on topics such as nutrition and goal-setting, Andrews Hockey Growth Programs strives to stress the importance of healthy living and personal excellence.  www.hockeygrowth.com

Creative Home Concepts: Located in Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Creative Home Concepts specializes in the design and installation of a variety of home technologies including custom home theatre, multi-room audio, home automation, lighting and climate control, and more.  www.creativehomeconcepts.ca

Be Your Own Bartender Inc.: Based in Montague, Prince Edward Island, Be Your Own Bartender Inc. is a “retailtainment” kiosk in liquor stores with an interactive touch screen with a database of over 6,500 alcoholic drink recipes. The product is a self-service kiosk where patrons of a liquor store may browse suggestions of popular drink choices, find their favourite recipes, and print them out. The recipes tell the customer which products are needed for a specific drink and how to make it.

The Competency Group: The Competency Group (TCG) is a leader in workplace competency and human resource consulting. Established in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1997, TCG provides highly customized competency-based solutions to meet human resource challenges. The company’s services include the development of national occupational standards for various professions; research and implementation of alternative training solutions for large industrial sectors; development of training materials and curriculum for a variety of occupations; and preparation and coordination of workshops to implement training strategies.  www.thecompetencygroup.com

WorkTable™(Streamline Consulting): WorkTable™ is a unique web-based employee scheduling software that addresses key productivity challenges of corporations struggling to manage and organize a multi-shift employee base. The system, which allows employers to easily schedule and modify employee shifts, also provides instant communication with staff via tools such as cell phone-based text messaging, email, Facebook and RSS feeds (a format that websites use to distribute content). WorkTable™was founded and launched into the marketplace by Streamline Consulting, a Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island-based management consulting firm.

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum Showcase events are being held in the following locations:

• Nova Scotia– October 18, 2011 – Cape Breton University, Sydney
• Prince Edward Island– October 25, 2011 – Culinary Institute of Canada, Charlottetown
• New Brunswick– November 1, 2011 – University of New Brunswick, Saint John
• Newfoundland and Labrador– November 16, 2011 – Portobello’s Restaurant, St. John’s