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WHAT IS COMMUNITY FUTURES? Community Futures is a volunteer directed, locally driven program that operates across Canada. Our goal is to help rural Canadians start or expand businesses and to help communities improve their local economies. In Manitoba there are 16 Community Futures offices. Each is led by a local board of directors who volunteer their time, energy and expertise. A team of skilled staff provides a wide range of community economic development and business services.
COMMUNITY FUTURES PROVIDES... Business Development & Counselling Community Futures can help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to reach your entrepreneurial goals. Community Futures provides a wide range of business counselling and training services on topics such as: • Creating business plans • Conducting market research • Understanding financing options • Accessing business resources Access to Business Loans Community Futures can provide you with repayable loans not normally offered by financial institutions. Specific business loan programs for new and existing businesses include: • General entrepreneur loans up to $150,000 • Entrepreneurs with disabilities loans up to $150,000 Connections to Other Services Community Futures is supported by Western Economic Diversification Canada and we are a key partner in the Western Canada Business Service Network. Through our partnership we can offer you a vital link to a world of business resources, including information on: • Marketing • Export and trade • Other loan programs • Regulations and licensing • Trademarks and patents • Selling to government markets • Other government products, services, and support programs Community Economic Development (CED) Community Futures helps communities address their social and economic needs and develop a vision for the future. Experienced Community Futures staff help rural communities expand their local economies through: • CED planning • Strategy building • Accessing CED resources • CED project leadership
To find the Community Futures office that serves you... • visit www.cfmanitoba.ca • e-mail info@cfmanitoba.ca • call 1-888-303-2232 • check your regional Yellow Pages Directory under the heading Business Consultants.
OUR LOCATIONS Cedar Lake Region - The Pas Dakota Ojibway - Headingly East Interlake - Riverton Greenstone - Flin Flon Heartland - Portage la Prairie Kitayan - Winnipeg North Central Development - Thompson North Red - Selkirk Northwest - Lynn Lake Parkland - Grandview Southeast - Winnipeg Triple R - Morris West Interlake - Ashern Westman - Brandon White Horse Plains - Elie Winnipeg River - Lac du Bonnet
SPRING 2014
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Growing communities one idea at a time.
Big Eye Leather has eye on the prize La Riviere entrepreneur Clint Boyd’s life may change in a big way this fall. That’s when the world will find out if he’s deemed worthy of a cash infusion by some of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs. After making it through an initial audition in Winnipeg last February, Boyd was invited to Toronto to make a pitch to the well-named
This newsletter is published by:
Community Futures Manitoba (provincial association) 559-167 Lombard Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0V3 Tel: 204-943-2905 Fax: 204-956-9363 E-mail: info@cfmanitoba.ca Web: www.cfmanitoba.ca Supported by:
Dragons of the CBC television show Dragons’ Den. The wildly popular show features aspiring entrepreneurs who pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how to make their dreams happen. Boyd’s flagship business is Big Eye Leather, which produces fish leather products recycled from the waste skins of Manitoba Walleye. Having been in the trapping business for over 40 years, the development of this unique product has been a labour of love for the eco-conscious environmental steward. He is also a skilled tanner and taxidermist. “Out of 41 years in this business, it’s taken the better part of 20 to perfect my recipes. It’s all selftaught. We’re the only ones in the world doing walleye. It’s such a unique process it would take people a long time to figure out.”
Clint Boyd poses outside the Dragon’s Den
In addition to using walleye leather, Clint also uses beaver tails and turkey feet to complement his
What’s Inside… Page 3
Take a river tour for a unique northern experience
Pages 4 &5
Celebrating Entrepreneurs with Disabilities
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Preserving the past
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Championing workplace safety
A sample of Big Eye Leather offerings
products. He has perfected fish leather cowboy boots and mukluks, and has no plans on stopping the expansion of his product line. “There are so many things that can come out of this. The sky’s the limit.” His goal in appearing on Dragons’ Den was to secure investment funds for product marketing. “If I had time I could do it myself but with the whole set-up (the fish leather, animal tanning, and taxidermy) I just can’t be on the road,” ...continued on page 2
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SPRING 2014
More than just lemonade
Championing workplace safety
Just about every child ventures into the world of business via the old fashioned lemonade stand at some point, but business development experts in Manitoba are taking the experience to a new level.
In Manitoba workplaces on average, 100 workers are injured every day, two amputations occur every week and there are three workplace fatalities every month, according to workplace safety expert Theo Heineman. These may be shocking numbers, but the former Community Futures client is working passionately to change those figures.
The Lemonade Stand Game was held as part of a youth leadership conference for Aboriginal youth in Brandon and surrounding communities. It was a fun way for students to learn about business.
Business Foundation and departments of the Provincial Government. The game is simple in itself—teams of youth are charged with creating and marketing their own brand of lemonade, then pitching their beverage to a panel of judges, all in a limited amount of time. But as Lindsay Dandeneau, Business Consultant for Entrepreneurship Manitoba says, the game’s design is rooted in the basic principles of business development. Students are asked to create their own marketing mix for their business. Decisions on price, location, product and promotion are all made with their target customer in mind. Each team is also given a limited budget to purchase the required supplies for making and marketing their product. Throughout the activity, a key message is reinforced ‘Companies don’t sell products, customers purchase them.’
Storm-Ridge McArthur measures ingredients with Alison Kirkland from the Women’s Enterprise Centre Manitoba
“It’s critically important to introduce these skills to our youth, said David Ironstand, Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the Brandon Urban Aboriginal People’s Council and one of the event organizers. “There tends to be a negative self-image, where they’ll say ‘I can’t do that. I could never own a business.’ I am trying to empower them, show them that everything is possible.” The half-day session was hosted by representatives from business development organizations including Entrepreneurship Manitoba, Community Futures, Community Futures Entrepreneurs with Disabilities, Aboriginal Business Service Network, Women’s Enterprise Centre Manitoba, Canada Youth
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“Our goal is to get youth to experience being their own boss. We often tell students that they should explore entrepreneurship as an option; we’d like them to test drive that experience, even on a micro-scale.“ Vincent Massey Brandon High School teacher, Quinton Grindle
Hunter–Rain McArthur gets some help from his mother Crystal, who joined in the day’s activities.
teaches a grades 11/12 entrepreneurship class. “I see more and more students treating self-employment as an option. This game is very beneficial and a great experience for the students.” Crocus Plains High School students 17-year-old Hunter-Rain McArthur and his 15-year-old brother StormRidge agreed. “I learned this stuff in school but this (experience) actually showed me how to start and run a business”, said Hunter-Rain when asked how the contest helped complement what he is being taught in his entrepreneurship class.
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said Boyd, adding he has a great assistant in the shop. He sells online and at the odd tradeshow. To help keep up his product stock he employs up to 59 piece workers as needed; many who are at-risk youth he has recruited from Teen Challenge chapters across southern Manitoba.
“You really need people who will stand behind you and they do. I get along with them 110 per cent.”
He also credits Community Futures Heartland with helping him launch his business.
We hope so. Season Nine of Dragons’ Den is set to air Wednesday nights on CBC this fall.
For now he must be content to await the official results of his pitch to the Dragons. As far as he’s concerned, he’s “sitting on a gold mine”.
“We should be honouring our workers,” said Heineman from the St. Boniface headquarters of her firm, 1 Life Workplace Safety and Health. A former paramedic from Brunkild, Manitoba, Heineman is the founder and president of 1 Life, a company which describes itself as specializing in “safety management system evaluation, design, implementation and continuous improvement.”
Theo Heineman, award-winning entrepreneur and workplace safety expert
“Half of the companies were failing their safety audits. I got mad and decided to start a company,” said Heineman, about the firm’s origins. She started the company in 2009 with the goal of improving safety across the province. “I love going into businesses, putting good standards into place and helping to create more profitable, sustainable businesses.”
Heineman and her crew also leverage technology to help Manitoba employers comply with Workplace Safety and Health requirements. For example, mySafetyAssistant.ca is a web based virtual Safety Professional providing small and medium sized business owners 24/7 access to their own company branded workplace safety portal. myContractorManager.ca allows general contractors to simplify subcontractor evaluation and mitigate their workplace safety and health related risk. Her clients are as varied as manufacturers, car dealerships, contractors of various kinds (plumbing, electrical, construction, paving) as well as city and provincial agencies.
To that end, 1 Life provides such services as safety management system development, assistance with COR certification and maintenance, audits, gap analysis, consulting, coaching and live training courses. There are webinars to go along with in-person sessions at 1 Life headquarters at 175 Marion Street in St. Boniface.
Along the way, she’s become a go-to person in the province in issues of on-the-job health and safety; she does a lot of public speaking about the topic, making presentations to organizations like the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering at its National Conference, the Accident Prevention Association, and the Manitoba
Heineman had seen a lot in her time as a paramedic, but ultimately got into the workplace health and safety industry because of the lax systemic attitudes towards worker safety that she’d experienced.
Construction Safety Association. But back when it all started, Heineman had initially retained the services of Community Futures Triple R Morris. “Triple R was the start of that,” she said. “I took courses and accounting and marketing courses. They set me up with a business plan and helped me write it and I ran it out of my home.” From the start at home, Heineman now runs a company that employs 15 people, including three full-time programmers. And Heineman and the firm are award winners, having been recognized by the BBB Torch Awards, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and (Heineman herself) as 2011 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, amongst others. Said Heineman, “I started with the vision that we could have an impact on sending workers home safe at the end of every day and help follow entrepreneurs protect and grow their businesses and today we are living into that vision.”
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SPRING 2014
Preserving the past There’s something rustic and comforting about old barns. It would make sense then, that some of their charm would remain with the materials used to construct them. With this in mind, there’s a Manitoba craftsman who is capitalizing on that appeal. Blayne Wyton had an epiphany while on a visit to Ontario a few years back, that the wood from old, disused barns could be repurposed into furniture with that value-added, weathered look. He turned that idea into a company called Prairie Barnwood. He had the experience to handle the craftsman portion of the job, having started a refinishing company, Windsor Furniture, back in 2000. He’d been refinishing 100 pieces a week, by his estimation. It was, in fact, Community Futures that helped him when he was starting Windsor.
“Community Futures helped me do a business plan for Windsor. I’d been laid off from my previous job, and went through the unemployment program to start a new business,” said Wyton. “I sold that company to a fellow in Darlingford when Prairie Barnwood took off. And I just made the decision, that this is the one I wanted to go with.” “Community Futures also helped me out with a loan to help buy the sanders three years ago.”
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Wyton has grown the company from an idea into an entity that employs six people and is looking for two more.
For tourism in northern Manitoba, the town of Churchill tends to overshadow everything else. One Gillam-based man, however, has seen an opportunity to boost tourism via the Nelson River, rather than the ocean.
“It’s definitely fun to watch people come in with their talents,” he said. “It’s A Prairie Barn Wood dining room set fun to watch unique piece of furniture for each people buy member of the farmer’s family. into my dream.” Ultimately, Wyton would like to grow his business from something that’s currently regional into a national presence. “Right now, we have a presence in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. We’ll be moving more into BC and Ontario this year. And I hope to move it into the States.” When Wyton contacts an owner of an old barn who no longer wants the barn, he reclaims what he can, and creates memory pieces for the owner out of the barnwood. For example, when contacted by the extended family of a late farmer who had already dismantled much of his old barn before he died, Prairie Barnwood took what they needed, and, for payment, made a distinct and
Nelson River - an untapped tourism gem
“Usually, we go through about five buildings a year. We’re running against the elements, fighting against wind and rot. Once a barn has fallen, it’s too far gone,” said Wyton. As for challenges, Wyton says, “the hardest thing is that modern equipment isn’t made for old wood. So, it’s trying to find equipment to get the look we want. The other difficult thing is to find good old barns. My favourite barns are from the 1700s to the late 1800s. In this area (about a 25-kilometer radius around Morden-Winkler), right around the turn of the century are the barns we’re looking for.” The work has also given Wyton a little bit of a philosophical pause. “One appreciation we have is just how hard our ancestors worked to settle here. Everything was done by hand. It’s certainly given me an appreciation,” he said. “The interesting thing is how our culture is so disposable, but when you do this, you revive the art and culture from the past.”
Clint Sawchuk works for Manitoba Hydro when he’s not operating Nelson River Adventures, a new summer business that takes people on a tour of the Nelson River, just downstream from Churchill, showing off sights like the iconic York Factory trading post and the local wildlife. There are polar bears along the Nelson, too, not just at the mouth of it—Sawchuk travels with a gun on the trip—and belugas have been known to swim up the river as well. “I flew to York Factory when I first came to Gillam,” said Sawchuk, who is originally from southwestern Manitoba. “I have an obsession with timber-framed buildings, and the building itself is still standing in those conditions, with the permafrost.”
The historic Depot Building at York Factory
calls from people, lots of people that had ancestors that worked at York Factory. Other people just want to see it.” Sawchuk offers four different tours, two shorter ones (Kettle River or Gull Rapids) and two longer, full-day ones which come with lunch (York Factory or Port Nelson); the captain handles cooking duties as well. His season isn’t a long one. Sawchuk offers the trips from late June to August or September. Depending on what tour it is, it’s possible to view seals, polar bears, black bears, moose, caribou, eagles and wolves.
The Nelson River Bridge
Last year was Sawchuk’s first official year in business, after getting all his licenses in order. In his first year, he delivered 19 different outings on his flat-bottomed jetboat. “There’s been quite a bit of interest,” he said. “I’m getting lots of
“You see maybe three or four polar bears every trip,” said Sawchuk. “I saw 18 on one trip but I’ve never seen any at York Factory itself… and the eagles are amazing. You see probably 50 eagles on the trip.” Community Futures North Central Development has played a part in the establishment of Nelson River Adventures.
“Community Futures has been great,” said Sawchuk, who specifically cited Community Futures’ Charlene Kissick as a big help. “First of all, I got my business loan through them; for the offseason (repayments), they’re not as picky as a bank. Starting a business isn’t cheap. I got the boat. The boat is pretty much $100,000. And everything else costs–the training, the equipment.” He had his business plan ready when someone mentioned CFNCD in Thompson. “We went through it, they helped me with the business end, helped to show me how to track your records, what your outlook for three years is going to be, how it’s all going to work,” he said. For his second year in business, Sawchuk is getting some attention from potential European clients for this upcoming season, travellers interested in a real and unique northern Manitoban adventure. Said Sawchuk, “It’s a full day. It’s a long day, but I’ve never had anyone complain.”
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SPRING 2014
Entrepreneurs with disabilities take centre stage in contest The winning hasn’t stopped for Taylor Layton, following her capture of the top prize in the Just Watch Me! video contest this spring. Layton, who hails from Outlook, Saskatchewan was one of 15 contestants for the online voting contest, which celebrates rural entrepreneurs with disabilities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Contest entrants submitted short videos expressing why self-employment works for them, and shared stories of business success. Prizes were cash awards and donated business services. Layton runs Taylor’s Curbside Recycling, a subscription–based business that picks up residential recyclables and sorts them for resale. Following media attention about her entry in the contest, the community rallied in a big way. After securing a top spot in the judged portion of the contest, the community proceeded to vote… and vote… and vote for her video. Following her win (which was celebrated at the town hall), other businesses came forward with donations of a customized commercial trailer to help her business expand, and her pick of jewellry pieces courtesy of Lia Sophia Jewellry. The gift was in response to her expressed desire to treat herself to some “bling” with her winnings. The company was so impressed with her video, they extended an invitation for her and her mom to speak at its annual conference. The meeting and gala takes place this July in Toronto, with around 800 people expected to attend. As a result of all the attention, there is even talk of expanding her services to a nearby town, which could mean hiring her first employee and growing her customer base beyond the near-seventy she currently has.
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Second Prize Winner Brett Devloo The Blind Kid clothing line Brett Devloo is the founder and creative force behind The Blind Kid clothing line, a brand of clothing and skateboard wear based in Stonewall. Devloo’s clothing line allows him to “own” his disability, while also remaining a vibrant participant in the skateboarding culture he loves. He is seen here with friend Nicole Wood selling TBK clothing at a recent tradeshow.
Third Prize Winner Winner Taylor Layton with mother Eloise receives her award in front of a cheering crowd in Outlook, Saskatchewan. Credit: Derek Ruttle
“It’s beyond words. I’m so proud and excited,” said Taylor’s mom Eloise. “You know, everybody has the right to have a job. It’s just a matter of finding the right job for that person.” And that, says Susan Bater, Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Program Coordinator for Community Futures in rural Manitoba and spokesperson for the contest, is the whole point behind the contest. “Self-employment can be a great fit for people with disabilities or ongoing health conditions. Owning a small business means they can set their own hours, create a personalized work environment, and – most importantly, gain a sense of control over their destiny,” explains Bater. “The Just Watch Me! video contest is a way that entrepreneurs with disabilities from rural communities can share and celebrate their success stories, while competing for prizes that will help grow their businesses.”
Second prize winner Brett Devloo is the founder and creative force behind The Blind Kid clothing line, a brand of clothing and skateboard wear based in Stonewall, Manitoba. It was the thrill of competition that stood out for him. “The voting stood out to me the most. Each morning waking up and me and my girlfriend checking the Just Watch Me! website. Watching the votes go up and going from first place to second place and not knowing which ranking I’d end up with. It was a daily excitement to see all the votes coming in,“ he said, adding the contest has resulted in a lot of media coverage for his clothing line and a foundation he has launched to assist other blind youth in the province. “Our hope is that these videos inspire others to consider being their own boss,” said Bater, adding the contest will be back next year for its 4th year.
Andrea Gorda Pip Creek Farm + Studio Third Prize Winner Andrea Gorda is the owner of Pip Creek Farm + Studio in Inglis. She operates a farm and photography studio and sells handmade products such as soaps and artisan breads.
Fourth Prize Winner LeVerne Tucker Storybook Farm /Storybook Art & Fibre Fourth Prize winner LeVerne Tucker is the owner and operator of Storybook Farm /Storybook Art & Fibre in Teulon, a small diverse farm focusing on experiential tourism, fibre production, natural products and sustainable living. Her business allows her to work at her own pace in a field she’d always dreamed about, while educating the public about sustainable agriculture. She is seen receiving her award from CF East Interlake’s Eugene Zalevich.
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