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OKANAGAN Penticton E.B.
Second Pass Forestry Earns Outstanding Business Achievement Recognition
Horsman Office One of Province’s Oldest
BY MARK MACDONALD
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Kamloops Firm Wins at BC Indigenous Business Awards BUSINESS EXAMINER
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ANCOUVER – The T hompson a nd Nor t h Ok a n aga n reg ion wa s wel l represented at t he 10 t h A nnual BC Indigenous Business Awards October 15 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Kamloops-based Second Pass Forestry Ltd. earned an Outsta nd i ng Busi ness Ach ievement award in the Business of the Year category for 1-2 person enterprise, while Painted Rock Aggregates & Contracting LLP in Savona took home an Outsta nd i ng Busi ness Ach ievement award in the Community Owned Business of the Year. Splatsi n Fi rst Nat ion took home two awards in Community Owned Business of the Year category, (one entity) for Yucwmenlúcwu (Caretakers of the
Land) LLP (one entity) and a Business Achievement Award fo r Q u i l a k wa I nve st m ents , which operates the Quilakwa Stop ‘N’ Shop and Quilakwa RV Park in Enderby. “The BC Indigenous Business Awards’ program has elevated over 170 outsta nd i ng bu sinesses from th roug hout the province for the past 10 years,” said Scott McIntyre, Foundation Chair. “As we mark this i mpor ta nt decade of excellence and look to the future, the 2018 cohort of awardees lead the way as exa mples of ent repreneu rsh ip, com m itment and extraordinary vision, all of which play a key role in the strength of our provincial economy.” M em b ers of t he 2018 ju r y panel include Brenda Baptiste, SEE AWARDS | PAGE 6
Tanner LeBourdais and Darcy LeBourdais of Second Pass Forestry, with their hardware from the BC Indigenous Business Awards
Venture Kamloops Launches Start Here 3.0
Opinion 19
New Streamlined Web Service Helps Entrepreneurs Access Crucial Resources
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OUR 12TH YEAR
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A M L O O P S - Ve n t u r e Kamloops has partnered with Community Futures Thompson Country and Open Door Group to create a new, streamlined way for entrepreneurs to get the help they need. “We have revamped our intake portal, Start Here, calli ng it Sta r t Here 3.0,” says Venture Kamloops Executive Director Jim Anderson. “We’ve rebranded, because we’re now
connecting these potential clients to two additional partner organizations through the same service.” Venture Kamloops officially launched the new service on November 7, wh ich ut i l i zes a checklist to best determine which of the three organizations can help a client in the most comprehensive way. “ We h a v e a l w a y s w o rk e d closely with these organizations, but to work this closely on a project of this type made us realize how diverse each of our
services are,” says Anderson. “If you throw out the term employment or self-employment services, it may seem like each orga n i zation does the sa me thing, but it’s very clear that we each provide a unique set of services that complement each other very well.” Community Futures Thomps o n C o u n t r y ’s f o c u s i s o n providing entrepreneurs and business owners access to complimentary business resources, professional business counselling, start-up loan assistance,
job placement, tra i n i ng a nd more. Open Door Group provides tailored employment services to individuals and businesses, and Venture Kamloops is the economic development organization for the City of Kamloops, endeavouring to give every local business the best chance to succeed and create economic growth in the region. “We’ve been discussing plans for this service for some time SEE VENTURE KAMLOOPS | PAGE 15
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