SASKATOONEXPRESS - October 8-14, 2012 - Page 9
Business Excellence
Regional Economic Development Authority The Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) is very proud of the community it serves. SREDA’s three main goals are to retain and expand local business in targeted sectors, to attract new investment in focus areas, and to ensure the Saskatoon Region is the place to live, work, invest and prosper. We are “Celebrating Growth” through past successes and the new opportunities that now lay ahead.
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Small Businesses among Saskatoon’s greatest assets According to Tim LeClair, Chief Executive Officer of SREDA, “there has never been a better time to be in Saskatoon.” LeClair predicts that the current growth is sustainable over the next decade, and adds that it has turned Saskatoon into a tier one market for business. Small and home-based businesses are a huge part of this growth, showing that “entrepreneurship is alive and well in Saskatoon.” Indeed, last year, out of 1166 business licenses granted in the City of Saskatoon, 798 of them were new home based businesses. LeClair adds that, in Saskatchewan, 90% of businesses are considered to be small businesses, and account for 1/3 of the employed labour force and 1/3 of the GDP, numbers that are uniquely high to our province. LeClair credits these numbers to “the hard working small business owners and entrepreneurs.” In Saskatoon, LeClair says there is a unique relationship among small business owners. “In the leaner times, small businesses in the city supported each other. Now in the good times, they are willing to be ambassadors for Saskatoon to people looking to set up a business in our com-
munity. One of our greatest attributes that our City has to offer new businesses is a welcoming and supportive business community. SREDA has a good working relationship with the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce and the North Saskatoon Business Association, as well as with its Private Sector Investors. A membership with SREDA provides benefits along with the opportunity to hear first hand from other local business owners the challenges they encounter along the way. One of these challenges that will continue is the growing baby-boomer population, many of them business owners who are looking for a succession plan for their business. SREDA can facilitate the process to connect these business owners to the professional service providers who do work in this area. For example, SREDA can connect business owners to Travis Kellett at Bridgepoint Business Brokers, so that Kellett can assist in the selling of the business. Another service that SREDA provides includes a Business Incentives Program which is available to start-ups or expansion of existing companies. This service was provided
to Star Egg Company when they moved to their current location. SREDA also provides networking opportunities and encouragement for companies and business people, something Adele Kulyk credits with helping her business, Global Healthcare Connections. As well, SREDA provides competitive intelligence and sector analysis to its members. The relationship between SREDA and its members is mutually beneficial. SREDA interacts with the business community, which provides them access to ambassadors who assist with investment attraction and new investment into the region. In the future, SREDA will be a partner in a newly formed group between Saskatoon’s business community and its post-secondary schools. The goal is to create a strategy to increase the number of skilled graduates from institutions including: University of Saskatchewan, SIAST, Saskatoon Business College, and Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. This will help fill the need for skilled workers across a wide variety of sectors in Saskatoon and the Province in the future. A greater skilled workforce will support our economy along with local business and entrepreneurs.
Tim LeClair, Chief Executive Officer of SREDA
Connecting people with healthcare services worldwide Saskatoon’s Global Healthcare Connections Inc. is an industry leader in the area of medical tourism. Adele Kulyk developed the company to provide unbiased information and guidance while giving each client realistic hope. Kulyk does intensive research and outreach, and therefore knows exactly who are the experts and where they are treating and in the fields of Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Obesity, Stem Cells and Fertility, just to name a few. She makes suggestions as to possible treatment options – including the
Adele Kulyk, founder of Global Healthcare Connections
best of what’s available in state-of-the-art conventional medicine as well as advanced natural medicine - and once the client has made a decision, Kulyk arranges for them to have a phone conversation or even a Skype session with the specialist they have chosen. Kulyk also helps with travel details, and ensures the clients have the proper medical insurance for their treatment and travel. In the past year, Kulyk has arranged treatment and travel for over 100 clients and is so respected in the industry that she has twice attended the Summit on Medical Travel and Tourism in Puerto Vallarta, MX, as a guest of the Mexican Government. Her company was also nominated for two SABEX Awards, and in a few short weeks, Kulyk will travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to attend the World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress. Kulyk firmly believes that people need to take charge of their own health. “One fear that haunts everyone today is that one day your doctor will say the five most chilling words a person can hear, ‘I’m sorry, you have cancer.’ Your mind whirls with emotion. Suddenly, you are facing a health crisis. We think that learning more about the disease and your treatment choices will help you. History has shown that assertive patients who actively work to understand and overcome illness increase their odds of survival, live longer, and enjoy life more.” The inspiration to start her company came after Kulyk, a lifelong business woman in Saskatchewan, had a close personal friend who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. At the time of his diagnosis he was told he had no options. “I think maybe it was his gift to us all, that pushed me to research options for cancer treatment, and while it may have been too late in his case, there is hope that we can win the war on cancer” says Kulyk. “You can be a passive victim or an active fighter. The choice is yours. Our recommendation is to fight. Don’t surrender!”
With their global clientele, GHC GHC toll free in Canada at 1-888-974-2470 or find could be located in any Canadian them online at http://www.globalhealthcareconneccity. However, Kulyk “couldn’t tions.com/ imagine starting this business anywhere else! Saskatoon, with its innovative and entrepreneurial people, supports the emergence and growth of new companies, and SREDA does an incredible job to ensure that the Saskatoon Region is the place to live, work and invest. The strength of community and the people who live here in Saskatoon are the very reason why I believe this is one of the best cities to be in business.” You can contact Adele Kulyk and
“Providing assistance to Saskatchewan’s Métis entrepreneur for 15 years”
Do you…. Want to start your own business? Purchase an existing business? Expand or renovate your existing business? Clarence Campeau Development Fund may be able to assist you! www.clarencecampeau.com Saskatoon Office: 2158 Airport Drive • Saskatoon, SK • S7L 6M6 • toll free: 1-888-657-4870 • phone: 306-657-4870 Regina Office: 2380 2nd Avenue • Regina, SK • S4R 1A6 • toll free: 1-877-359-2233 • phone: 306-790-2233
ILO congratulates SREDA on its achievements in supporting small business and entrepreneurship ILO supports entrepreneurship through our Startup Company Program; technology licensing; research collaboration & connecting you to expertise
Page 10 - SASKATOONEXPRESS - October 8-14, 2012
Regional Economic Development Authority
103 - 202 Fourth Avenue North, Saskatoon, SK CANADA S7K 0K1 1.800.706.1977
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Star Egg: A Saskatchewan Success story Bert Harman’s father started producing eggs in Prince Albert as a hobby in the 1930’s. In 1949, he turned his hobby into a full time job, and was joined by his son in 1965. By 1979, Bert had expanded the operations by purchasing a grading station, Star Egg Co. Ltd., in Saskatoon. As the company grew, so did the distribution. For the past three decades Star Egg has supplied 85% of the Saskatchewan market, and has seen growth into the Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba provinces. With this growth, space became an issue. In 2008, after SREDA aided them in getting tax abatement, Star Egg moved into its new location on Quebec Avenue, where it grades, markets and distributes millions of eggs. Harman now oversees his family business with the help of his son, Shawn, and his daughter, Dana Haynes. The company em-
ploys over 50 people between its Saskatoon processing plant and its production farms in Humboldt, Prince Albert, and Steinbach, Manitoba. Harman notes how the business has changed from the time when he worked with his Dad. “Back then, it was just my Dad and me doing everything.” Now, the whole business is highly mechanized and regimented. First, the eggs are washed, and then an employee does a visual inspection for, and removes any, broken eggs. Next, a high-tech dirt detector camera removes any eggs deemed to be dirty after the washing, followed by an electronic sensor alerting to any eggs with cracks. The eggs are then weighed and separated due to weight, and a blood detector looks at the interior of the eggs and removes any eggs that have blood inside them or show any other imperfections.
Bridgepoint Business Brokers experts in succession planning As the baby-boomer population increases, so does the numbers of business owners looking to retire and sell their businesses. This is where Bridgepoint Business Brokers comes in. Founded in 2009 by Travis Kellett, Bridgepoint helps business owners formulate exit strategies that are good for themselves, their businesses and their employees. Before founding Bridgepoint , Kellett worked in the banking industries in mergers and acquisitions. During this time, he saw that people who were trying to sell their businesses had a lot of questions and weren’t getting a lot of answers. “I didn’t feel like I was helping anyone,” he says, and so made the move to start his own business where he could feel like he was making a difference. As Kellett explains it, one of the biggest things he has learned is that “selling a business is very emotionally stressful for owners. It’s like they’re selling their baby.” Add to that worrying about ensuring employees still have a job after the sale and the often daunting number of steps it takes to make the sale, and owners can become very overwhelmed by the whole process, especially when there is no one centralized place in the province to list businesses for sale, due to confidentiality reasons. Kellett and his team have set up a step by step process to both gives business owners the information they need at critical times and to ensure that the transition and sale take place as smoothly as possible. The first step is to meet with the client and ensure that they, and their family, are truly ready and
comfortable with the thought of selling the business, because “when it happens, it comes fast.” Next, there is a detailed business valuation which looks at how much the business is worth and if there are ways to optimise the business to further increase its value. This step usually takes two to three months. The next step is to develop a marketing strategy, followed by finding a buyer and helping the buyer and the seller to close the deal. SREDA often provides information about potential buyers. Kellett’s team includes people with backgrounds in accounting, real estate and law, so they are able to guide the seller along while still allowing for the client to remain very involved in the process, which usually takes anywhere from 6-9 months from start to closing. So far, Kellett says that response has been very positive, with the team getting 8-10 referrals a week. Although they are based in Saskatoon, Bridgepoint does do some business outside of the city, as Kellett says there are not many firms like his out there. In the future, he would like to see the business expand even more in the city and across the province, and to add agents and people and further establish themselves in the business community in the city. Until then, he will continue to help people through what can be a stressful time in their lives. “When they first come to see me, clients are confused by the process. The reward for me is when they get the cheque from their lawyer and can walk away, but know that the business is going to continue.”
Finally, the eggs are mechanically packaged. All of this happens in under a minute, with 1.2 million eggs a day being processed. With the new mechanization of the industry come stricter regulations, and Star Egg works hard to maintain industry standards, including taking part in egg re-call drills – although Harman notes that eggs have never been subject to a recall. Still, Star Egg employs a person whose full-time job it is to maintain the company’s audit standing. Training for new staff is also more rigorous to ensure they are aware of all of the regulations. Harman is hoping that the new regulations and technology will help the company to continue to expand beyond its current western Canadian market, where it already supplies eggs to both the retail, and food service industries. You will find their product in stores such as Co-op, Wal-Mart, Real Canadian Wholesale Clubs, Superstores, Extra Foods, Sobeys, Costco, or distributed to warehouses such as Federated Co-op, Loblaw’s, Pratt’s, ICD and Northern Grocers to name a few. As the owner of a small business, Harman admits that the “responsibility is 24 hours a day. You’re always tied to it, you never get away.” Still, he says there’s a “certain amount of satisfaction, when you have your employee family Christmas party and you see MA70551.j08 your employees and their families Meagan having fun, to know that you built
Bert Harman and Star Egg are proud to be Saskatchewan based. (Photo by Joelle Tomlinson) this. People rely on us.” And though some people might not want to deal with that pressure, Harmon “wouldn’t trade places with anyone. I’m going to be 65 next month, and a lot of my peers have retired already, MA70553.j08 but most days, for me, are too fun to retire.”
Meagan
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November 8, 2012
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