Small Business in B.C.

B.C. Small Business Successes

To celebrate the vital role of small business in the province, this report highlights eight small businesses, one from each region, that demonstrate B.C.’s entrepreneurial ingenuity. Small business is B.C.’s economic engine, and these inspiring stories showcase just some of the many small businesses making it happen.

One of the farmers who supply coffee beans to Level Ground Trading is shown a picture of himself on the back of the packaging used by the company.	Level Ground Trading http://www.levelground.com Vancouver Island/Coast Economic Region Level Ground Trading began with the vision of improving the lives of small scale farmers in developing countries through fair trade. Today, the company provides consumers with premium coffee, dried tropical fruit and cane sugar directly from 2,000 farming families in five different countries – Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Tanzania and Ethiopia. President Hugo Ciro travels to producer regions to meet with farmers, co-operatives, and exporters, ensuring that farmers receive a fair and sustainable share of the total price the company pays for green beans – 40 per cent more than conventional coffee importers. Level Ground also works to make a difference at home. The company uses 13 streams of recycling at its plant, where less than one grocery bag of garbage is created per week. Its customers can return their empty coffee packages, which are collected and shipped to a waste-to-energy facility in Burnaby. Level Ground Trading also sponsors over 100 community events each year.

This natural, fully landscaped double back lot with swimmable garden stocked with fish was built for a client who asked for a pond for his grandchildren. It includes a geyser and a split stream and is easy to maintain.	Ferrier’s Water & Landscaping Inc. http://www.ferriers-waterscapes.com Kootenay Economic Region Beautifying the southern Columbia Valley with sustainable landscapes and waterscapes is how Rick Ferrier, owner of Ferrier’s Water & Landscaping Inc., describes his business. Ferrier’s serves the area from Canal Flats to Radium Hotsprings. The company specializes in designing and creating unique landscapes, waterscapes and gardens that integrate with the natural environment. Besides enriching clients’ lifestyles and adding value to a property through curb appeal, Ferrier’s is also a pioneer in applying water conservation strategies to its gardens. Earning his clients’ trust and having the freedom to create amazing landscapes and waterscapes is what Rick cites as his company’s most significant achievement. He credits his success to an ability to envision the extraordinary and then work with clients to create something they can enjoy.

	RFind Systems Inc. http://www.rfind.com Thompson-Okanagan Economic Region RFind Systems Inc. helps manufacturers track and find their products – no matter where they are. And despite having only 13 employees, most of this Kelowna company’s customers are global organizations, who use RFind’s real time location system to know where everything is at all times. RFind’s technology is unique. The company’s founders focused on developing cost-effective, scalable and reliable real-time location system products. The products are wireless and easy to put in place. With an asset tag, a server with mapping software and a responder that feeds information to the computer’s server, a customer can create a simple and cost-effective solution to locating products. Besides its patented technology, the success of this small business depends on client contact expertise. Sharon Barnes, RFind’s CEO, says, “Effective communication is vital. We have to communicate at different levels, across many functional groups, lines of businesses, locations, time zones, languages and complex situations.”

This winner of an Angler’s Atlas photo contest was chosen from hundreds of pictures submitted annually by anglers using www.anglersatlas.com.	Angler’s Atlas (Goldstream Publishing Inc.) http://www.anglersatlas.com Cariboo Economic Region When he was a biologist studying lakes, Sean Simmons realized there were vast amounts of information about lake floors that would be valuable to fishing enthusiasts – if only they could find it. The solution came ten years ago when Sean set up an agreement with the B.C. government to establish the right to publish bathymetric and topographic maps. He then developed a website, which offered free access to 15 maps at the beginning. Today Angler’s Atlas provides maps for over 300,000 North American waterbodies, and other resource information, to anglers through its engaging website, www.anglersatlas.com. The site allows its 50,000 members to download free maps and contribute their own content, like photos, comments and map markers that can be viewed and used by others via GPS units or Google Earth. The company also sells hard copy maps and other products like backroad mapbooks. With a staff of five, Sean attributes success to having access to sophisticated web expertise in the region as well as the emergence of open source technology.

The touring vessel Inside Passage is unique in Canada.	Prince Rupert Adventure Tours http://www.adventuretours.net Northcoast Economic Region Every year, Prince Rupert Adventure Tours takes up to 10,000 people on waterborne wilderness tours – including the pristine wilderness of the Khutzeymateen, home of the largest population of grizzly bears anywhere in the world. But that’s just one of the arms of West Coast Launch Ltd., which also runs the major water transportation business in Prince Rupert. West Coast Launch is owned and operated by Doug and Debbie Davis. Over the past 20 years, the business has expanded to include water taxi services, six-hour sightseeing tours, vessel charters, harbour cruises and Prince Rupert Adventure Tours. According to Debbie Davis, the success of the company lies in the support of the family. Taking on new and costly business ventures has been challenging, but with each member of the family contributing complementary skills, they have been able to take on new opportunities. Their most recent business venture was the addition of a 72-foot catamaran touring vessel called the Inside Passage – built by B.C. shipbuilders with floor-to-ceiling glass for unobstructed views, and certified for 100 passengers.

Beginning with one pickup truck and a vision, Dahlen Contracting has developed into a multi-service company with a whole fleet of vehicles.	Dahlen Contracting Ltd. Northeast Economic Region Seven years ago, Carl and Shelley Dahlen were subcontractors with only one pickup truck – and a vision of going it on their own. Today, they operate Dahlen Contracting Ltd., focused mostly on oilfield construction and maintenance. But the company is also in the residential rental and renovation business. Most recently, they added a residential and commercial landscaping division. And their single truck has become an entire fleet. In a smaller community like Dawson Creek, diversification is the key to small business success. For the Dahlens, it was important to expand into varied sectors because of the cyclical nature of the oil patch. The benefit of expanding into various sectors is that now the company can provide its 25 employees with year-round work, resulting in a workforce with multiple skills – and minimal employee turnover.

Meet ‘Owly,’ the mascot of Invoke Media’s web-based service Hootsuite.	Invoke Media http://www.invokemedia.com Mainland/Southwest Economic Region Ryan Holmes’ entrepreneurial instincts were right on the money in 2006 when the CEO of Invoke joined forces with Novare Res founders Dario Meli and David Tedman, creating today’s Invoke Media, which now is a world leader in social media. Invoke specializes in building some of the industry’s top social media platforms. The White House is one of many clients using Invoke’s application HootSuite, a webbased service that helps professionals manage their Twitter accounts. This summer HootSuite was recognized by Backbone Magazine and KPMG as one of the Top 20 Web 2.0 companies driving innovation and changing the way people use the Internet. Other Invoke clients include the University of B.C., Texas Instruments, VanCity Credit Union, Electronic Arts, and the Gap. David Tedman believes Invoke’s magic ingredient is its employees. He calls his staff of 28 “the best team of people in Vancouver,” no small compliment considering the city’s reputation as the Silicon Valley of Canada.

In business since 1979, Avison Management Services has established a reputation for exceptional integrated resource management services.	Avison Management Services Ltd. http://www.avison.bc.ca Nechako Economic Region Thirty years ago, Avison Management Services Ltd. began offering environmentally responsible services to the forest industry. Today the company still provides resource management through environmental leadership – but its scope has vastly expanded. Their office is located in Vanderhoof - which, as the company points out, is the geographic centre of British Columbia. From there, they offer a broad spectrum of integrated land-based management services. Their clients come from many sectors, including forestry, agriculture, mining, oil and gas, wind power, environmental assessments and monitoring, and the public sector. Adapting to emerging needs and business diversity are the two factors for achieving long-term success, says Stuart Sinclair, Avison’s president. The firm has three partners – Sinclair, Bill Laforge and Brian Frenkel – and 30 highly trained employees, including registered professional foresters, fisheries biologists, fish and wildlife technicians, forest technicians, GIS technicians and microstation technicians. The company continues to venture into new endeavours, such as helping clients reduce their environmental impact through greenhouse gas verification and carbon offset projects.

B.C. Small Business Challenges

Consumer confidence and access to capital

The economic downturn undermined consumer confidence and constricted the flow of capital. This has had an impact on almost every sector of the economy.

An economic turnaround requires renewed business investment, improved economic confidence, and overall job creation. In British Columbia, small business has the ability to positively influence the effects of the current economy by sheer numbers alone. To stimulate economic activity and job creation, small businesses are seeking improved credit conditions as well as improved overall business and consumer confidence.

Having access to capital is vital to the success of small businesses. For many, this can be a difficult challenge. The fact is small businesses are risky and hard to evaluate. This can make it difficult for small businesses to access the capital their companies need through traditional financial sources.

Labour shortage

The challenge of labour shortage has been temporarily reduced because of job losses and
delayed retirement in almost all business sectors. However, small businesses recognize that this problem will recur with economic recovery. The majority of small businesses consider finding and retaining qualified workers the most significant challenge to the growth and survival of their business.

Regulation and time-consuming tax procedures

Governments rely on regulations to meet policy objectives that serve and advance the public interest and instill confidence in Canadian markets and institutions, while supporting a fair and competitive economy. Unfortunately, complying with government regulations often imposes additional cost on businesses.

Despite the province’s efforts to simplify and streamline the regulatory environment, red tape imposed by all three levels of government is still a problem for small businesses in British Columbia.

Need for training

Small businesses understand the need for training in managing their enterprises and helping their people to perform better. However, training takes a lot of time, effort and money – all of which are limited resources for small businesses. The challenge is to find a way to help businesses develop training plans that address these obstacles so small business can take advantage of training to further their growth and successes.

Broadband Internet access

Ensuring access to broadband internet in all areas of the province would improve productivity, increase research capabilities and expand target markets for all small businesses who wish to leverage this resource.

Mountain pine beetle

The mountain pine beetle epidemic in the Interior of British Columbia is an unprecedented forest health issue. The effect this epidemic has had on the Interior forest industry is a concern for all British Columbians, given its importance to the province’s economic base. The repercussions for the communities and the small businesses that service the forest industry have been significant. The challenge now is to create more short- and long-term stability for these forestdependent communities.