OVERVIEW
Omid McDonald says his commute from Ottawa to Almonte, where he set up his business, Dairy Distillery, always puts him in a “nice frame of mind.”
Apart from the town’s vibe, there are other advantages. “This place really welcomes new businesses,” McDonald says. “If we’d set up shop in Ottawa, the project, with all the [waits for] getting permits and permissions, would have been delayed at least a year.” That business-friendly attitude seems to be boosting business activity in the town, even in a time of pandemic. “You feel momentum,” McDonald says. “Even [with] COVID, the downtown has had a better year than ever. There’s lots of residential and business construction. My 23 employees are very happy to be here.” McDonald is more than happy to help spread the good news about business and investment opportunities in Eastern Ontario.
7 OBJ.CA
Living and working away from the rat race of big cities is now being embraced by telecommuters, but those who’ve set up businesses and their lives in Eastern Ontario have known the benefits all along.
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ach weekday, Omid McDonald leaves his home in Ottawa’s west end, gets in his car and drives to work at the Dairy Distillery, a new business he and his partners opened in Almonte a couple of years ago. “I’m on the road about half an hour — and that’s amazing in itself,” McDonald says. “In rush hour, it could take the same amount of time just to get to downtown Ottawa.” As he comes off the highway into Almonte, he passes the town’s welcome sign. “That alone puts me in a nice frame of mind,” he says. “The whole town, with its amazing restaurants and coffee shops and the laid-back people, puts me immediately in a comfort zone. I am there to work, but also to enjoy life. And it happens.”
EOBJ POWERBOOK SPRING 2021
Doing business in the ‘comfort zone’
BY CHARLES ENMAN
