globalventures volume four issue two • … volume four issue two march/april 2012 globalventures...

GLOBALA S T E P P U B L I C A T I O N H I G H L I G H T I N G S A S K A T C H E W A N B U S I N E S S

VENTURESVOLUME FOUR ISSUE TWO • MARCH/APRIL 2012

Sweet Success Wendell Estate Honey banks on new venture.

HUNTING FASHION AT HOMELocal entrepreneur creates women’s hunting line.

SPICING UP LOCAL INDUSTRYProvincial organization promotes home-grown products.

OLD FILM, RE-DISCOVEREDLocal film processing company with international focus.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 3

cover10 Wendell Estate Honey

Generational farm, new product

Local honey farm hopes for sweet success in new venture.

features12 Chicks in Camo:

Hunting fashion at home

Carrol Robbins develops hunting apparel line with women in mind.

18 Saskatchewan Herb & Spice Association: Spicing up local industry

Association promotes home-grown products through programming and advocacy.

17 PNWER Summit: International summit comes to Saskatchewan

Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference to be hosted by Saskatchewan.

inside VOLUME FOUR ISSUE TWOMARCH/APRIL 2012

GLOBALVENTURESis the official bi-monthly publication of Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP). Submissions to GLOBALVENTURES are welcomed. The Editor reserves the right to edit for clarity and length. Please contact the Editor for copy submission deadlines.

PUBLISHERSSaskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP)www.sasktrade.sk.ca | http://exportnews.sasktrade.comRegina: P.O. Box 1787320 - 1801 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK S4P 3C6Regina 306.787.9210 / Toll Free: 1.888.XPORTSKSaskatoon: 400 - 402 21st Street East, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0C3Saskatoon 306.933.6551 / Toll Free: 1.888.XPORTSKConcept Media: 2629 Angus Boulevard, Regina, SK S4T 2A6306.545.6099 / [email protected]

EDITOR: Pat Rediger BENCHMARK PUBLIC RELATIONS INC.306.522.9326 / [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Alanna Adamko BENCHMARK PUBLIC RELATIONS INC.306.522-0903 / [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS: Alanna Adamko, Pat RedigerLindsay Thorimbert, STEP

DESIGN: Bob Anderson CONCEPT [email protected]

PRODUCTION: Lorelle Anderson CONCEPT [email protected]

SALES: Bob Harvey CONCEPT MEDIA [email protected]

PRINTING: Western Litho Printers Ltd. / Regina, SK, Canada

DISTRIBUTION: Prairie Advertising Ltd. / Regina, SK, Canada

Publication Mail Agreement #41786012Return undeliverable mail to Circulation Department, 2629 Angus Boulevard, Regina, SK S4T 2A6.

ON THE COVER: Wendell Estate Honey.

PRINTED IN CANADA


24 Film Rescue International: Old film, re-discovered

Indian Head company international player in film processing.

STEP notes 4 Message from

Executive Director - Trade Development

STEP - Championing the Provincial Export Community

6 Where in the World is STEP?

Upcoming international trade events.

21 Biz Notes BREI conference, New funding for

bio industries, U of R JDC Champions, and much more.

26 Staff Profile Holly Kelleher: developing resource,

technology and consulting expertise in province.

4 GLOBALVENTURES • MARCH/APRIL 2012

sector but many of STEP’s newer and other services are geared toward members, regardless of the industry they are in, and the market niche and geographic region they are serving. For example, our “STEP’ing Out Business Development Service” is available to individual STEP members whereby STEP essentially provides a business trip planning service. STEP personnel will assist in the organizing, but not be directly involved in going into the market with the member. For this service, we work with the STEP member to choose a market, assist them in various aspects of the travel and business program, provide market intelligence and market contacts, and the exporter carries out the business trip suitable to his own timing. STEP’s efforts enable the member to mostly focus their time on the sales of the companies’ products and/or services.

STEP has organized trade missions that we entitle a “Saskatchewan Showcase”. These events are outgoing trade missions designed for companies across many industries in non-traditional export sectors. They are usually made to a defined geographic region and offer a very specific business meeting and matchmaking program based on the objectives of each individual company on the trade mission. This allows for the benefit of going to a market with the strength that comes with numbers yet delivers very individualized business programs.

And of course there is the cornerstone service offering of STEP - “Market Intelligence”. When STEP was formed in 1996, one of the critical requests from the export community was to have market

2011 will go down as a memorable year for Saskatchewan exports with

international sales of goods coming in at just under Cdn$29.6 billion. This excellent result is right on par with Saskatchewan’s record setting year of 2008, coming within .001 of a percent or only Cdn$32 million short. Certainly great news, but we all live in a world of “what have you done for me lately” and STEP continues to work hard alongside of Saskatchewan exporters to continue to build our tremendous export economy.

As we look to the future, l believe that one of the challenges for STEP is to ensure that our province develops a well diversified portfolio of strong exporting companies across many industry sectors. Everyone recognizes our tremendous successes in agriculture, oil and gas, mining, and the metal manufacturing industries but at STEP, we also see an emerging trend of new exporters in many other industry sectors. One only has to look at a listing of the newer members in STEP to see the growing diversity of the companies from Saskatchewan pursuing export markets.

This organization is keenly aware of this and has undertaken a number of initiatives to develop and offer services to effectively deal with members in some of these “non-traditional” export sectors. STEP staff strives to ensure that all members receive value for their membership. Outgoing and incoming trade missions tend to be some of the most prominent trade activities and these do typically occur in the sectors where there is a large critical mass of members within an industry

intelligence at their fingertips to make informed decisions on export markets and how to pursue them. Today, this remains one of the most valued services offered. Over the years, STEP has produced an estimated 3,800 customized market intelligence reports for our members and numerous comprehensive market studies. Each regular member receives 50 hours of market research time for their annual membership. If additional research is required beyond the 50 hours, STEP will still undertake the task at a member’s request, with a reasonable charge out rate.

These are a handful of the services STEP offers, irrespective of the industry where you do business. STEP serves a very active and vibrant group of exporting companies and we are always working to ensure our services meet the needs of Saskatchewan business. If you require further information on any of STEP’s services or have any other ideas or suggestions how we can serve you better, please contact me to discuss.

Brad Michnik, CITPExecutive Director - Trade DevelopmentSaskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP)[email protected]

Executive Director - Trade Development

Message from the


BOARD CHAIRShannon Jakes Senior Manager CIBC Commercial Banking

BOARD VICE-CHAIR Tim Wiens President & CEO O & T Farms

Ngee Cau Chief Executive Officer Marketel Systems Ltd.

Cory FurmanPartnerMacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP

Dale Lemke President & CEO Display Systems International Inc.

Sandra Purdy President Prairie Berries Inc.

Paul Degelman Sales & Marketing Manager Degelman Industries Ltd.

Kevin Dow PresidentSchulte Industries Ltd.

Alanna Koch Deputy MinisterSaskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture

Chris DekkerChief Executive OfficerEnterprise Saskatchewan

Doug Moen Deputy Minister to the PremierExecutive Council and Office of the Premier

Tim GabruchVice President, Marketing Strategy & AdministrationCameco Corporation

Craig Bailey Vice PresidentThe Yanke Group of Companies

George MacKay Vice PresidentBourgault Industries Ltd.

Ranga Ranganathan Director of Business DevelopmentSaskatchewan Research Council

Board of Directors

2011-2012 STEP Board of DirectorsFront Row - Left to Right: Sandra Purdy, President, Prairie Berries Inc., Ranga Ranganathan, Director of Business Development, Saskatchewan Research Council, Tim Gabruch, Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Administration, Cameco Corporation, Shannon Jakes, Senior Manager, CIBC Commercial Banking (STEP Chair), George MacKay, Vice President, Bourgault Industries Ltd., Alanna Koch, Deputy Minister, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Ngee Cau, Chief Executive Officer, MarketelBack Row - Left to Right: Chris Dekker, Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Saskatchewan, Kevin Dow, President, Schulte Industries Ltd., Paul Degelman, Sales & Marketing Manager, Degelman Industries Ltd., Tim Wiens, President & CEO, O & T Farms (STEP Vice-Chair), Dale Lemke, President & CEO, Display Systems International Inc., Cory Furman, Partner, MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP, Doug Moen, Deputy Minister to the Premier, Executive Council and Office of the Premier, Craig Bailey, Vice President, The Yanke Group of Companies

Message

6 GLOBALVENTURES • MARCH/APRIL 20126 GLOBALVENTURES • MARCH/APRIL 2012

MARCH ExpoAgro 2012

Date: March 3 - 11, 2012 Location: Junin, Argentina

STEP members are invited to participate in a business development mission cen-tered on the agricultural and agricul-tural equipment industries and featuring equipment/new technologies in agricul-tural production. STEP will organize a full market program including market orien-tations, visits to producers and competi-tive factories, trade show presentations and one-on-one meetings with relevant organizations and importers.

Contact: Rob Ziola, Senior Director, Trade Development, Manufacturing

Telephone: (306) [email protected]

Natural Products Expo West 2012

Date: March 8 - 11, 2012 Location: Anaheim, California

STEP members are invited to participate in North America’s largest natural prod-ucts trade show. Expected attendance includes 50,000 retailers, manufacturers, industry members, and over 2,500 ex-hibitor displays. STEP will arrange event briefings in advance via webinars, assist with meetings, and secure booth space. Engredea 2012 also takes place in con-junction with NPE West and brings to-gether leading suppliers/manufacturers of ingredients, packaging, technologies, equipment, and service sectors.

Contact: Jordan Gaw, Manager, International Finance & Logistics


Seminar - Contracting and Procurement Process in

North America and AbroadDate: March 9, 2012

Location: Saskatoon, SaskatchewanSTEP will host a seminar pertaining to contracting and procurement processes used by SNC-Lavalin for major projects in North America and abroad. The session will focus on their corporate strategies, procurement, contracting, supplier as-sessments and include examples of past projects and on-going initiatives. The event will be a strong fit for companies interested in learning more about con-tracting opportunities with large engi-neering and construction firms. Contact: Holly Kelleher, Trade Specialist,

Technology, Services & ResourcesTelephone: (306) 933-6531 [email protected]

Upcoming TRADE EVENTS

Taste of Canada 2012Date: March 5 - 6, 2012

Location: Phoenix, ArizonaSTEP will lead a trade mission targeting the retail and food service sectors in the South Western United States and Mexi-co. STEP members are invited to attend the event where they will participate in tabletop expositions and networking receptions to promote their products to select local buyers and distributors from Arizona and Mexico. STEP will also organize market presentations and store tours.

Contact: Patrick Simpson, Technology & Marketing Coordinator


MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 7MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 7

SXSW Trade Show and Exhibition

Date: March 9 - 13, 2012Location: Austin, Texas

The SXSW Interactive Trade Show and Conference attracts over 45,000 profes-sionals from the interactive, film, and music industries. In 2011, conference attendance was 49,126 registrants rep-resenting the interactive categories of marketing, web development, software development, e-commerce, social media, education, electronic media and ven-ture capitalists. Past exhibitors consist of company’s software, web tools, hard-ware distribution, media companies and industry associations as well as compa-nies in marketing, promotions, human resources, education, manufacturing, merchandising, publishing and online entertainment. STEP will attend the in-teractive component of the 2012 confer-ence with an aim to assess the value for STEP member’s future attendance.Contact: Holly Kelleher, Trade Specialist,

Technology, Services & ResourcesTelephone: (306) 933-6531

Email: [email protected]

Saskatchewan Showcase 2012

Date: March 12 - 15, 2012Location: Denver, Colorado

Building on successful Saskatchewan Showcase trips in 2010 & 2011, STEP’s Manufacturing Team invites members to participate in programming and match-making services to introduce them to lo-cal clients and customers in the market. Combining one-on-one meetings with market education seminars, tours and networking events, the mission will bring in-market trade activities to a cross sec-tion of manufacturing companies.

Contact: Stacey Sauer, Trade Specialist, Manufacturing


International Financial Institutions (IFI) Boot Camp

- Prime Contracting Workshop

Date: March 12 - 13, 2012 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

Join STEP, the Private Sector Liaison Of-

will facilitate business matchmaking meetings for members and exhibit at the show.

Contact: David Froh, Director, Trade Development, Technology,

Services & ResourcesTelephone: (306) 787-7928

[email protected]

Seminar - Utilizing the Internet for International

MarketingDate: March 15, 2012

Location: Saskatoon, SaskatchewanSTEP will host internet marketing and social media expert Mr. Harley Rivet for a luncheon seminar that will offer partici-pants with practical knowledge, useful tools, and concrete examples regarding internet marketing best practices for do-ing business abroad. The seminar will provide participants with essential infor-mation needed for maximizing their on-line marketing efforts.

Contact: Patrick Simpson, Technology & Marketing Coordinator


ficers (PSLO) Network and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) for the IFI Boot Camp. The event is designed to educate small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) on successful strategies used by larger international based companies to bid for IFI-funded projects and to create cross-province/cross-country partnerships between SME’s for future opportunities. Along with updates from several of the IFI’s, industry leading international companies will present IFI initiatives they have un-dertaken and identify the types of proj-ects and partners they are pursuing.

Contact: Jordan Gaw, Manager, International Finance & logistics


Globe 2012Date: March 14 - 16, 2012

Location: Vancouver, British ColumbiaSTEP members are invited to participate in Globe 2012 where 10,000+ environ-ment industry leaders, procurement managers, engineers and corporate exec-utives will attend. Globe 2012 is the pre-mier showcase for global environmental innovation with the most advanced envi-ronmental and energy products, services, and systems. During this mission, STEP


FITTskills - Global Business Environment

Date: March 16, 2012Date: April 13, 2012

Location: Online FormatSTEP offers FITT Skills International Trade Training, a unique international trade training which was formed from an ex-pressed interest by Saskatchewan compa-nies to make international trade training available. The courses will be delivered remotely through online lunch hour we-binars and an online conversation board over an eight week period. Topics include cultural aspects of international business, the importance of e-commerce, an intro-duction to trade finance and logistics, and opportunities and challenges presented by international business.



Seminar - African Development Bank

Business Opportunities Date: March 23, 2012

Location: Saskatoon, SaskatchewanJoin Saskatchewan Trade and Export Part-nership (STEP) and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) to attend an information seminar on Busi-ness Opportunities with the African Devel-

opment Bank. The African Development Bank funds development projects and pro-grams in Africa which generate opportuni-ties for the business communities within the 77 member countries and provides them with an opportunity to support eco-nomic and social development in the con-tinent. The most prominent sectors for AfDB lending in 2010 were infrastructure, industry, energy, agriculture, rural devel-opment, tourism, mining, quarrying and social development.



CME NBSF 2012Date: March 29 - 31, 2012

Location: Edmonton, AlbertaThis partnering event provides a gateway to access more than $100 billion of invest-ment and development in Alberta’s oil sands. On this business development mis-sion, STEP will organize a group display at the show, arrange meetings with buyers, and represent non-attending members.Contact: Rob Ziola, Senior Director, Trade

Development, ManufacturingTelephone: (306) 933-6557

[email protected]

Save The Date September 25 - 26, 2012

The STEP Trade Conference will bring together some of the most successful leaders in global business to exchange ideas and network with like minded enterprises. The STEP Trade Conference will provide conference delegates with focused, relevant information pertaining to the trends and obstacles con-

fronting Saskatchewan exporters during this exciting time of growth. For upcoming conference developments visit:

www.sasktrade.sk.ca

Trade Conference 2012 Radisson Hotel, Saskatoon

Seminar - Getting Paid and Staying SafeDate: March 30, 2012

Location: Saskatoon, SaskatchewanAt this seminar, Magerigo Consulting Group and Cameco will highlight impor-tant issues to consider when doing busi-ness in risky and volatile markets. Learn strategies and techniques needed to pro-tect your commercial interests and per-sonnel safety. Representatives from EDC and CSIS will participate in panel discus-sions to assist companies in determining their threshold for risk and how best to address individual issues.

Contact: Kyle Luchia, Trade Specialist, Manufacturing


APRIL CICILS/IPTIC 2012Date: April 21 - 24, 2012

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates CICILS is the international meeting place for the pulse trade with a particular em-phasis on importers and exporters from Western Europe, Canada, USA, Indian Subcontinent and Middle East. The event provides an excellent networking oppor-tunity to meet international buyers who do not attend the CSCA conference.

Contact: Jennifer Evancio, Senior Director, Trade Development, Agri-Value


Grocery Showcase West 2012

Date: April 22 - 23, 2012Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

Grocery Showcase West brings together independent grocery retailers with food producers and suppliers from across Canada. The annual tradeshow presents exhibitors with the opportunity to market their products to interested and success-ful retailers and provides a variety of net-works. Categories include fresh, frozen and refrigerated foods, snacks, beverag-es, ethnic specialties, and gourmet lines. STEP members who are targeting the western retail grocery market are invited to participate at this event.

Contact: Jennifer Evancio, Senior Director, Trade Development, Agri-Value



The Program works with Saskatch-ewan companies to arm them with the knowledge, resources,

and tools that will enable them to build export capacity. STEP works one-on-one with companies as they look to take their products and services beyond the bor-ders of Saskatchewan. The program is designed to benefit a company with an exportable product or service and has the motivation to develop the skills to sell into a foreign market.

WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER EXPORTING?

• Increasesales Influenced by quality and success of

your product• Reachnewmarketshares• Loweryourcosts New suppliers Better buying power with suppliers• Gaincompetitiveadvantage• Reducebusinessrisk

HOW WILL THIS SERVICE BENEFIT MY COMPANY?

• WorkwithqualifiedSTEP professionals

• Opportunitytomeetnewcontacts• Accesstocomprehensiveexportplanningguide

• Enhanceyourskillset

WHAT ARE THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS?

• MustbebasedinSaskatchewan• Musthaveanexportable product/service

• Musthavethedesiretolearn exportingsteps

• Notcurrentlyexportingor exportingonareactivebasis

STEP staff work directly with your com-pany to go through an analysis and the planning process. For further informa-tion, visit www.sasktrade.sk.ca

Please contact STEP to receive further information at 1 888 xportsk (976 7875).

Export Readiness Program

WhatOurMembersSay“The guidance I have received

from STEP has been impressive. The organization is a huge resource and

offers useful services for companies by helping them transition from selling

locally to globally”. Saskatchewan Manufacturing Firm.

Increase ExportsExporter Readiness Program

What Our Members Say“The guidance I have received from STEP has been impressive. The organization is a huge resource and offers useful services for companies by helping them transition from selling locally to globally.” - STEP Member - Manufacturing Firm

ConneCting SaSkatChewan BuSineSS with the world

Saskatchewan Canada

www.sasktrade.sk.caSaskatchewan Canada

Regina Office #320 - 1801 Hamilton Street • P.O. Box 1787 Regina, SK Canada S4P 3C6

Telephone: 306.787.9210Fax: 306.787.6666

Saskatoon Office #400 - 402 21st Street East Saskatoon, SK Canada S7K 0C3 Telephone: 306.933.6551 Fax: 306.933.6556

[email protected] www.sasktrade.sk.ca http://exportnews.sasktrade.comSaskatchewan Exports Information: 1.888.XPORTSK (976.7875)

4476_Exporter Readiness_Brochure_4-panel.indd 1

16/09/10 4:11 PM



BY ALANNA ADAMKOWendell Honey began as a small family farm near MacNutt, Sas-

katchewan in the ‘40s and has become a beehive of activity with over 3000 hives of bees and 35 seasonal employees. Husband/wife team Tim and Isabel Wen-dell manage the family farm which was started by Tim’s father John. Wendell Honey produces a premium, delicately flavoured, extra white honey which is only available from a few regions of the world, Tim states. “Globally speaking there is not that much extra white honey to be had. The quantity is definitely limit-ed with the majority of extra white honey coming from the three Prairie Provinces, a few northern states, as well as from a few select plant species throughout the world. Our honey is a light colour due to the northern climate and the bees forag-ing on alfalfa, sweet clover and canola

blossoms. The Canadian Prairies are also unique in that they produce some of the highest honey yields in the world.” said Tim.

Wendell Honey strives to produce over a million pounds of honey each year…around 25 semi-loads. This honey is shipped in 60 gallon drums, by the semi load, to honey packers in Canada and the USA. The packers heat and blend the Wendell Honey with honey from other floral sources and other producers to ob-tain a product which is consistent in large scale offerings.

Tim and Isabel, with a strong belief in the artisan quality of their honey, de-cided a year ago to begin a new venture,

Wendell Estates, to market their honey in its pure form to retailers.

“For a number of years, we have thought we would like to get our honey to market just as we enjoy it at our table. In March of 2011 we began to serious-ly explore this possibility. It has been a complex process and a learning experi-ence to get Wendell Estate Honey to mar-ket,” says Isabel. They decided to use the Saskatoon company Dark Horse to create packaging and a website for their prod-uct. They then researched, with the help of STEP, the requirements to market out-side of the province. The next challenge was to get the honey into retail sized jars with labels.

In October, with Wendell Estate Honey (a premium, raw, creamy, white honey in an elegant jar) in hand, they attended a trade mission with STEP, to the Anuga

Wendell Estate Honey Generational farm, new product


trade show in Cologne, Germany – the world’s leading food fair for the retail trade and the food service and catering market. “The response to our honey, at Anuga, was amazing,” said Isabel, “and we have developed industry contacts around the world that we continue to explore.”

As they work on marketing Wendell Estate Honey, they have developed a re-lationship with some high-end retailers in Regina and Saskatoon but see the ma-jority of their market as being outside of the province.

“We are busy getting the word out about our product,” Tim says, “and the feedback we get from anyone who tries our honey is enthusiastic and very en-couraging. We have quite a number of pallets with jars of our honey to sell and are already looking forward to this year’s production. We are hoping to sell large quantities through distributors. We are excited because we have a fine product in a designer package,” said Tim.

Wendell Estate Honey is farm source certified, from a CFIA inspected and true source registered farm (Wendell Honey) and is certified as Kosher.

Wendell Estate Honey is available at the following retailers and on their web-site http://www.wendellestate.ca/.

Saskatoon:Bulk Cheese WarehouseSouleio foodsCava CuisineWestern Development MuseumGarden Architecture & DesignSheraton HotelBlossoms Living Regina:Bulk Cheese WarehouseCrocus & IvyBasketCasesItalian Star DeliButcher Boy Meats

andDe Luca, WinnipegArtisan Edibles, Vancouver


BY ALANNA ADAMKOMost mothers are the world’s big-gest fans of their children, but few

decide to start a clothing line inspired by them.

Carrol Robbins, decided to create a women’s hunting apparel line in 2008, after her son, Cody Robbins host of the hunting show Live 2 Hunt With Cody Robbins and his fiancée Kelsey Claypool, also an avid hunter, encouraged her.

“He told me in 2008, “Mom you need to do something for the gals in the indus-try,” said Robbins.

At the time, Robbins kept busy during the summer running an ice cream and chocolate shop, homemade pie shop and a fudge factory shop, in Watertown Lakes, Alberta.

During the winter however, when her family ranch in Tessier, Saskatchewan, had harvested its alfalfa hay and the tour-ism season had ended, Robbins found she was searching for something to do.

“I’ve always been self employed and in the winter months, when the stores in Waterton Lakes are closed, I needed something to fill those gaps and be pro-ductive,” she said. With the encourage-ment and help of her family, Chicks in Camo was born.

Robbins said she started Chicks in Camo, wanting to create an outdoor line for women that had a structured and tai-lored look, instead of the bulkier men’s hunting gear that women hunters wore for lack of alternatives.

camoChicks in

Unique opportunity discovered with women’s hunting apparel

Robbin’s “Team Chicks” pose in publicity photos for hunting apparel business Chicks in Camo.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 13MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 13

She said the challenge was to create an apparel line that was feminine, while re-maining practical.

The solution: “We want clothing that is warm and suitable for the climate. It has to be traditional camouflage fabric. We design a pant that is very warm that ladies can just wear a pair of jeans under, we want the fabric to be soft, durable and most importantly, is the quietness of the fabric, when you’re hunting and crawling through the bush,” she said.

She also wanted to create an apparel line that women could wear hunting and then later on in the day, wear casually. She designed several different styles of hoodies, athletic style tops and form-fit-ting jackets to serve that purpose.

“We are striving for clothing they can wear in the field and then they can whip off their cover-alls and still wear our clothing out as a casual line,” she said.

She designs the clothing in a range of sizes from size extra-small to ladies ex-tra-large to make the line as accessible to as many women as possible.

“We want our company to be acces-sible to every person from the little girl to the grandma, so we aren’t just look-ing for models, we are looking for every-body,” she said.

Robbins has a team of seven women who are active hunters that she has dubbed “Team Chicks.” They help pro-vide input and market the apparel line at trade shows, she said. “They are a huge inspiration to Chicks in Camo being suc-cessful.”

They represent to her, the larger growing segment of women joining the sport of hunting. “The hunting industry is picking up more women in the last five years I would say. Women are com-ing into the hunting scene and being recognized and noticed, it has probably increased by 30 per cent,” she said.

The trade shows are currently her main avenue for selling her clothing line as well as meeting potential clients and finding out what they want to buy. She started selling a girls clothing line for ages newborns to 12 years old, which she says has been hugely successful at trade shows and often sells out.

When people saw the girl’s clothing line, many people also requested that she, “do something for little boys as well,” she said. This led to the creation of a boy’s infant line called “Buck Gear”-- now a trade show favourite.

She said that STEP has made many of the trade shows possible through their support. “We have made it to the three biggest trade shows we’ve gone to in Alberta because of their support. If it hadn’t been for their support I don’t think we would have been able to do all three shows. I can’t say enough good things about them,” she said.

They have also helped Robbins with her goal to make her clothing accessible

to a wide range of women, through man-ufacturing overseas giving her the ability to sell her clothing at an affordable price point.

She said that in her first year of business she had the clothing garments manufac-tured in Saskatoon, but her clothing was too expensive to reach a wide market.

“The garments were being done in Saskatoon and it just wasn’t viable,” she said. So she went to STEP to ask for as-sistance with the manufacturing end of her business. They did a business analy-sis and came back with the solution to manufacture the line in China, and more importantly, the contacts to make it hap-pen, she said.


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“When they suggested manufacturing in China, and when you’re new and you haven’t done it before, you’re like ‘are you kidding me, how do you do that?’ They opened my eyes to the avenues available to me, the legalities of having to find legitimate manufacturing companies in China and the legal paperwork that would be involved, financing the proj-ect, making sure everything is secure, and who I would contact, and what is in-volved for shipping,” she said.

Even with STEP’s help, “it doesn’t fall into place overnight,” she warned. It took one full year for overseas manufac-turing to become a reality, she said. True Timber, a camouflage manufacturer and designer in South Carolina, just recently received the first samples of Chicks in Camo apparel back from China.

It was worth the wait however, said Robbins. Not only was True Timber im-pressed by the price point but the pro-fessional quality of the samples as well. They were so impressed they asked Rob-bins’ permission to display the samples in their trade show booth at The Shot Show in Las Vegas, she said. The hunting trade show, which takes place every Janu-ary, is one of the largest in the world, she added.

“With our clothing going to Vegas for the top people in the industry to view, it is going to open up so many avenues, she said.

Robbins also plans to attend trade shows in March to continue expanding her market. Chicks in Camo will be fea-tured in Saskatoon and Yorkton and Red Deer and Edmonton in Alberta. For the

first time, she is also planning on break-ing into the British Columbia market with a trade show.

Besides increasing sales, Robbins has an ulterior motive to expanding her busi-ness – she wants to help as many women as possible reap the benefits of self-em-ployment.

“We are still looking at our product and our company and looking at the best avenues for distribution such as retail outlets and private individuals marketing the product. We want as many women to benefit from Chicks in Camo as possible.”


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The Power of PartnershipsPacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) Annual SummitSaskatoon, July 15-19, 2012

22nd Annual SummitSaskatoon, Saskatchewan

With a combined economy of more than $1 trillion, the Pacific NorthWest is one of the most important economic and trade regions in North America. PNWER is a public-private sector partnership that increases economic growth and trade between member states, provinces and territories. For the first time ever, Saskatchewan will host the annual PNWER summit. More than 500 delegates will discuss topics ranging from cross-border trade barriers, energy and agriculture to innovation and environmental policies. Join us to promote growth and network with public- and private-sector leaders. For more information or to register, visit www.pnwer.org/2012annualsummit

4472 PNWER print ad(212mmx275mm).indd 1 2/17/12 2:26 PM


For the first time ever, Saskatchewan will host the annual summit of the Pa-

cific NorthWest Economic Region (PNW-ER). About 500 business and government leaders will meet in Saskatoon July 15-19 to develop strategies to promote trade and economic growth across the region. The summit will be an opportunity to dis-cuss the Beyond the Border action plan announced by United States President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Min-ister Stephen Harper in December 2011.

Formed in 1991, PNWER is a public-private sector partnership representing Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories in Canada, and Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington in the United States (U.S.). The only partnership of its kind in North America, PNWER repre-sents a regional combined GDP of around $1 trillion.

Summit 2012 co-chairs, Lyle Stewart, MLA for Thunder Creek, and Kent Smith-Windsor, executive director of the Great-er Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, expect the summit to promote greater regional collaboration at all levels. Sas-katchewan business people will join their counterparts, as well as government leaders, from across the region to ad-dress cross-border issues such as trans-portation of goods, labour mobility and regulatory standardization.

“This is an important chance to reach hands across the border to the northwest U.S. It is critically important for us to get the lines of communication flowing across the border,” said Smith-Windsor.

“This may be the only forum for a busi-ness leader to share policy concerns with leadership of all 10 governments in one setting,” said Matt Morrison, PNWER ex-ecutive director, from his headquarters in Seattle. “This summit will be an impor-

tant opportunity to provide input on the Beyond the Border and Regulatory Coop-eration Council plans that both Canada and the U.S. have endorsed,” he added.

PNWER has been active in the devel-opment of the Beyond the Border action plan, which Morrison refers to as one of the most significant developments in American-Canadian relations in more than 20 years.

The three-day summit in Saskatoon will showcase the best Saskatoon and Sas-katchewan have to offer, said Smith-Wind-sor. The opening day will feature a keynote address from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. Other keynote speakers will be an-nounced in the months to come.

Stewart has watched Saskatchewan’s participation in PNWER grow since the province joined in 2008. “We recognize the value of PNWER because it is a pri-vate-public relationship, and it has great credibility with governments on both sides of the border,” he adds. He expects strong representation from Saskatche-wan cabinet ministers and other MLAs, as well as several federal cabinet ministers.

The summit agenda includes sessions on topics such as agriculture, innovation, and border issues. University presidents from the region will be featured in ses-sions. Saskatchewan Trade & Export Part-nership (STEP) and the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce are hosting a special session and reception July 16 to build trading relationships with India and Bangladesh. A group of government and business leaders from these countries will be participating.

Summit organizers are planning policy tours throughout the three days showcas-ing Saskatchewan’s world-class innova-tion and industry. Highlights will include a tour of the VIDO-InterVac infectious dis-ease and vaccine research facility, which

has produced six world firsts in animal vaccines, and the Canadian Light Source, Canada’s only synchrotron and one of the most advanced in the world. Tours of ura-nium and potash mines are also planned.

“This is a great opportunity to profile Saskatchewan as an economic power-house,” said Stewart.

With the assistance of the Saskatch-ewan organizing committee, PNWER is developing an agenda that includes top-ics of interest to all attendees no matter what jurisdiction they represent. PNWER summits are outcome-focused with spe-cific action items identified in each ses-sion and plans developed to address these action items.

Stewart expects to see a strong delega-tion of Saskatchewan companies contrib-uting to the discussion and welcoming visitors from across the Pacific Northwest. “I hope to see many Saskatchewan com-panies participate in the summit to share their successes and help to demonstrate our prairie hospitality,” he said.

Registration is now open and will con-tinue through to the beginning of July. For more information on the agenda and to register online, go to www.pnwer.org/2012annualsummit.*Policy tours are tentative. Please refer to the PNWER website for an up-to-date list of tours.

Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Summit July 2012Making it easier for Saskatchewan companies to do business outside our border

Lyle Stewart


Herb and spices continue to grow

Small association has grown and diversified through its 20 year history

With over 4000 domestic botanical plants that could used commer-

cially, Canada hasn’t even begun to realize its potential in the international market, says Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Asso-ciation (SHSA) executive director Connie Kehler. The SHSA is working closely with Canadian Herb, Spice and Natural Health Product Coalition (CHSNC) however, to help Canada`s potential grow.

The SHSA began more than 20 years ago by a diverse group of people, in-cluding spice growers and buyers, wild-crafters and culinary herb growers and processers -- brought together by their passion for the herb and spice industry. It has since evolved from a small grower association to a comprehensive industry association with a national role to play.

“We encompass the whole value chain, including research and development in the industry. It is now an integrated in-dustry association with many partners

across the world and throughout the en-tire chain of production from the ground to the product’s distribution and market-ing,” says Kehler.

She said that SHSA not only represents micro-growers/processors but large-scale producers, distributors, research scientists, buyers, marketers and many other players in the herb, spice and bo-tanical industries world-wide. The prod-ucts can also be just as varied she says, from a micro-producer selling Christmas wreaths locally to a large scale producer growing 20,000 acres of coriander which needs to be harvested, cleaned, pro-cessed and marketed through a “whole value chain” of industry businesses.

The one common thread -- whether the member is a distributor in the Unit-

ed States, or a Saskatchewan grower -- is that the association tries to promote Canadian grown product whenever pos-sible.

The SHSA also plays an important role at the national level as the secretariat for the CHSNC (Canadian Herb, Spice and Natural Health Product Coalition). Through this role it helps other associa-tions across Canada plan their events and take care of all the legal requirements to host the event. The SHSA is also available across Canada to support members in re-gions that don`t have a local association. Through partnerships with the CHSNC and other industry partners, the SHSA also provides many different tools and programs for their members.

“We provide a toolbox for our industry to help them be successful,” said Kehler. “If we don’t have it and somebody else does we will give them directions on how to find it, and if it’s not out there, we will build it,” she said.

One “tool” that has been developed is a set of “good agriculture and collection practices,” said Kehler. These guidelines help producers and primary processors assess their risk for their operations for various things such as food safety, trace-ability, product quality or ethical prac-tices.

This practice also can improve their product quality and reduce their business risk by ensuring that they have the prop-er documentation to do business, she said. Ultimately, this documentation adds to buyer assurance that what they are re-ceiving is a quality, professional product,

BY ALANNA ADAMKO

The Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association promotes member products through its trade show booth.


and helps open up markets to their mem-bers, she added. The goal is to do smart documentation that reduces the amount of time doing paperwork. The SHSA along with CHSNC have also aided in the industry development of traceability tools which help industry members build their own traceability programs.

She said there are many benefits to having an effective industry traceabil-ity program. First, it will help producers track where they are having success and replicate it. Secondly, if there is a product recall or identified issue, it will help to narrow where the product came from or what the issue is and isolate it, provid-ing a huge cost-effective savings to the entire industry, she said. Traceability may also help Canadian industry improve its competitive advantage over lower qual-ity, cheaper international products, said Kehler.

“We need to find a way to prove why they should buy our product in a global or local market, we can do that by wrap-ping our products in due diligence in many forms,” she said.

The SHSA has along with the CHSNC developed plant identification practices to ensure that what is stated in the prod-uct or bottle is accurate. This practices help boost consumer confidence and promote buying Canadian product.

“There are issues internationally that what is on the label is not what is in the bottle.” said Kehler. “So we have devel-oped a plant identification process that has been internationally accepted and helps give people assurance that their product is what they say it is.”

The CHSNC also works with regulators to ensure there are governmental regula-tions and labor programs in place those works with all in the industry in Canada. She said it can be difficult in the industry to keep educated and remain in compli-ance with new government guidelines and regulations. They work with the gov-ernment to ensure that regulations and guidelines that are developed best fit both small and large commercial enter-prises. To keep paperwork to a minimum SHSA and CHSNC work with industries existing paperwork to find ensure dupli-cation is not needed.

“We try to make new programs fit into existing practices to use people’s time to its best ability so they can get out there and do their job,” she said. On the re-search and development side, the SHSA is currently testing a gentlemen agreement spice levy to create a pool of funding to support spice growers to have industry led research and development.

Kehler says that although SHSA helps provide many tools for the industry, it’s ultimately up to their members to do their homework and utilize them. “They need to make sure they are being proac-tive in accessing the tools that are avail-able,” she said. “There is support for people to use but it is short-lived – they have to meet the deadlines.”

They also have to do their research be-forehand to ensure there is a market and buyers interested in their product, said Kehler. She has seen in the past, grow-ers who don’t do their homework and are left with storage sheds full of product without a market.

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That is why SHSA has a membership with STEP, she says, which can help their members with important market research before they start an enterprise and with the right contacts to success-fully produce, distribute and market their product.

“We would consider STEP to be one of those tools we help provide to our members. Anything from being new and not understanding how the marketing world looks, some varied guidance ideas of how to market their product, who to connect with, rules of marketing, and how to be involved in trade show booths – they have been a great link for our in-dustry,” she said.

As for future plans, SHSA is holding its annual meeting in Prince Albert, on Feb. 29, and maintains an annual presence in the The Western Canadian Crop Produc-tion Show. They are also helping plan upcoming events for SHSA and CHSNC members which will be announced on their website http://www.saskherbspice.org

Milk Thistle can be processed and marketed.


What our members say...

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Hillberg & Berk Associates Inc.

“As a new member, I am very pleased with the work that STEP has done for our organization. We appreciate the

valuable information received on upcoming seminars and events. All Canadian Grain, Inc. has had several

inquiries because of the STEP web site and membership directory. The quick responses received from STEP staff

are appreciated and the information is timely.” Shawn Bourgeois - CEOLafleche, Saskatchewan

“The return companies receive from purchasing a STEP membership is invaluable. STEP has helped map out

some possible exporting markets for our company when the time comes. I have had one-on-one conversations

with STEP staff about exporting, customs, and shipping products across the border. The guidance I have received

from STEP has been impressive. I encourage every company to find out more about the services that STEP

offers. STEP is a huge resource and offers great services for companies. STEP can help companies transition

themselves from selling locally to globally.”Rachel Mielke - DesignerRegina, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) provides core services essential to international marketing. Services are structured to develop member export sales and enable them to stay strong in the global marketplace. Here’s what a few of them have had to say about our services. For further information or to submit content, please contact Heather Swan, Manager - Corporate Services at (306) 787-7942 or [email protected].


terial. The material is usually plant-based fibres and a resin, made of polymer or plastic typically.

Jeffrey Cutler, director of industrial science at the Canadian Light Source and part of the fibre research team, said quality variations between batches are the challenge when using and reproducing biocomposite materials.

“By using the synchrotron at the Saskatoon research facility, we can try to understand at the atomic and molecular scales how the individual atoms of fibre are put together and how does that fibre actually bond directly to that resin material,” said Cutler.

“Data from the synchrotron can be used to make changes to the biocomposite so that commercial reproduction is more uniform,” he added.

The non-profit Composite Innovation Centre Manitoba Inc. received $103,000 in federal funding for the six-month-old project as well as private sector contributions for the $220,000 project.

Simon Potter, project innovation manager with the Compos-ite Innovations Centre, said the study is a response to demand for environmentally friendly materials to replace fiberglass and metals now used in the aerospace and building sectors. The goal is to improve the performance and specifications of bio-materials so they can be used in vehicle construction of ve-hicles.

“If we understand the chemistry of the fibres and we can formulate resins and biofoams that would specifically be de-signed to interact with the chemistry of the fibres, we will ac-tually get much stronger composite materials out of it. There are lots of good reasons for us moving in this biocomposite direction,” said Potter.

STEP members who have noteworthy news are invited to share that information with Global Ventures for our BIZNotes section. For further information or to submit content, please contact Heather Swan, Manager - Corporate Services at (306) 787-7942 or [email protected].

Government announces good news for bio-based businessProvincial and federal governments recently announced more than $200,000 in funding to purchase solvent recovery equip-ment which will reduce costs and environmental impacts for bio-based industries.

The Honorable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification and the Honourable Ken Chevelday-off, Minister of First Nations and Métis Relations, on behalf of the Honorable Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan Minister of Enterprise and Minister Responsible for Trade, announced a shared investment of $261,000 to purchase and install solvent-recovery equipment at POS Bio-Sciences which will achieve more cost-effective extraction processes for oils, proteins, and bio-mass by reducing water and solvent usage.

Solvents in the bio-extraction process are costly, challeng-ing a company’s ability to achieve price point competitiveness. POS’s new equipment will minimize the amount of solvent re-quired in the extraction process, thereby reducing production costs, environmental impact and increasing the profitability of product development.

This new equipment will be useful to cosmetics, nutraceu-ticals, food supplement and bio-fuels industries. The federal and provincial governments are each contributing $130,500 through the Canada – Saskatchewan Western Economic Part-nership Agreement (WEPA) to the equipment purchase and installation. POS Bio-Sciences is providing the balance of the project funding which totals $440,000.

POS Bio-Sciences will purchase and install a custom-de-signed, explosion-proof solvent condenser along with two storage tanks and a chiller system tailored to POS specifica-tions for biomass and microalgae extraction. Installation is ex-pected to be complete in summer 2012.

Exciting new research for flax and hemp growersScientists at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon, are trying to figure out how flax and hemp fibres interact with adhesives at an atomic and molecular level to form a biocomposite ma-

BIZ Notes


Business Conference Trains Economic DevelopersThere is often emphasis placed on the creation of new business but a major economic conference in Saskatoon will focus on the retention and expansion of businesses in the community.

From June 18 to 21 the Business Retention and Expansion International (BREI) Conference will bring together business leaders, entrepreneurs and economic experts to learn and share ideas on how to build a better business environment. The con-ference theme is Action Reaction: Be the Catalyst for Change.

This conference is an opportunity for economic developers, community leaders, and business ambassadors to hear what works and what does not work, to explore Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) best practices and learn how to overcome challenges they may face as they implement their BRE pro-grams.

BREI is a leading professional association for business reten-tion and expansion. BREI’s mandate is to provide leadership resources, education and networking opportunities in busi-ness retention and expansion, as well as to build international awareness of the importance and vast economic benefits that a BRE program can have on a community and a region.

There will be an opening ceremony, a two-day training ses-sion for participants wishing to become BRE certified coordi-

nators, a professional development session, keynote speak-ers, tourism opportunities both in and around Saskatoon, an awards banquet, and various other programs and events.

Keynote speakers will include Stephen Dubner, award win-ning author of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Daniel Isenberg is a Babson Global Professor of Management Practice and the founding executive director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP) and Linda Nazareth, TV broadcaster and author of The Leisure Economy: How a Shift Away from the Work World Will Reshape Our Lives and Industries.

Enterprise Saskatchewan has been working to build a healthy local economy and an improved business climate as a major goal of its business retention and expansion program. The program promotes job growth by helping communities identify the concerns and barriers to survival and growth fac-ing local businesses as well as developing key strategies and action plans to create solutions for increased development.

This conference will also bring recognition to the work that various agencies and organizations have accomplished here in Saskatchewan. These include Enterprise Saskatchewan, En-terprise Regions (ERs), Community Futures Development Cor-porations (CFDC’s), Chambers of Commerce, City Economic Development Officers, Saskatchewan Economic Development Association (SEDA), municipal leaders and other economic de-velopment bodies.

Regina’s Paul J. Hill School of Business top school at Western Canadian Competition

The University of Regina’s Paul J. Hill School of Business team recently brought home the gold at the JDC West Business Competition at the University of Alberta. The 48 business stu-dents finished first overall against 10 other Western Canadian business schools. They finished ahead of the University of Brit-ish Columbia and the University of Calgary.

“In the last five years, we’ve placed every year,’’ said Morina Rennie, dean of business administration at the U of R. “Three second places, one third place and now a first place. We’ve completed our collection!”

“The education you’re getting here is as good as, if not bet-ter, than someplace in Vancouver or Calgary or those other places,’’ added Tom Chase, the university’s provost and vice-president academic .

The U of R team stood out through their philanthropy ef-forts, said Rennie. “I think I’m most impressed by the volunteer work that the students have done -- 1,100 hours and $42,000 for Hope’s Home (an early learning and daytime respite for medically fragile children).”

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“Murad is a true visionary in our industry,” added Moats. “With his vision and guidance, Canadian pulses are being shipped to food and ingredient markets around the globe.”

Alliance Grain Traders was founded in 2007 with the acqui-sition of Saskcan Pulse Trading by the Agtech Income Fund, the predecessor to Alliance Grain Traders. Today, Alliance Grain Traders buys lentils, peas, beans and chickpeas from farmers in the best pulse growing regions and ships them to over 100 countries around the globe.

STEP members among Paragon finalistsThree STEP members are among the list of nominees for the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce Paragon Awards. The annual awards recognize business excellence in Regina and are divided into several categories. GB Internet Solutions is nomi-nated in new business venture; Film Rescue International, ex-port achievement; and Brandt Group of Companies, business of the year. The winners will be named at the Paragon Awards Dinner at the Delta Regina hotel on April 5.To see the complete nominee list visit reginachamber.com.

Kyle Gibson, co-captain of the U of R team, thanked the team members for their effort and dedication over the last five months. “They put in countless hours, by doing extra cases, by working with their coaches. It really came down to all the hard work that you guys put in. That’s what made this team success-ful ... All that hard work paid off.’’

Saskatchewan leader growing Canadian pulse industryMurad Al-Katib, president and CEO of Alliance Grain Traders – the world’s largest lentil processing company was presented with the BASF Pulse Promoter Award in January. The annual award recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the development of the pulse industry.

Bill Greuel, BASF Clearfield Business Manager, and Lee Moats, Chair, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ Board of Directors, presented Al-Katib with the award at Pulse Days 2012.

“I can’t think of a more deserving individual,” says Greuel. “In a very short period of time, Al-Katib has built Alliance Grain Traders into a world leader in value-added pulses, staple foods and specialty crops.”


tion date – typically 20 to 80 years old. “You can’t just put the film through the

intended process, if it’s past the expiry date, it’s much more challenging to get pictures off a 40-year-old film than a new film,” he said.

He said often they receive old film can-isters which family members discover among the estate possessions once a loved one passed away.

“Most of our clients are people where there is a death in the family and they clean out the estate and they find old film that wasn’t processed in their belongings, and its 20 to 80 years old, and that’s what we do is process these old films,” he said.

At Film Rescue they have developed special in-house procedures to process the antiquated film, which not many peo-ple have the knowledge to do, he said. They are also unique in that they have developed a database of their lab notes over time, which contains the knowledge to process an excess of 350 unique film types.

As a result, Film Rescue is competitive in an international market and does busi-ness with private individuals, museums, and historical organizations throughout the world.

Shutterbug magazine, recently did a feature on Film Rescue, which was a huge honour, said Miller.

“It is one of the top photography mag-azines in the world,” he said.

At the beginning of the business, Film Rescue relied primarily on referrals from Kodak, whom had the business on its international referral list. Today, said Miller, they primarily have referrals from film processing laboratories throughout the world which are familiar with their unique work.

Film Rescue International:Old film, re-discoveredIndian Head company international player in film processing.

Film Rescue International founder, Greg Miller, bought his first camera at

the age of 10, an old Rollei SL 35 and has been hooked on photography ever since. In his youth, he apprenticed for a labora-tory that processed motion picture film. In 1983 he opened his own business, Ex-clusive Film and Video, developing film for motion picture companies out of To-ronto. For projects on-the-side, he would re-use leftover developing chemicals to process old still picture film. This would later lead to him opening Film Rescue In-ternational with girlfriend Tracy Gostick, focusing full-time on processing old film. In 1999, they made the decision to move to Indian Head, when an opportunity to purchase the building of the former

Union bank, arose and to be closer to family in nearby Wolseley.

“At the time, real estate in Saskatch-ewan was still relatively inexpensive,” said Miller. “You could sell your house in Toronto and buy something really nice here.”

Miller and Gostick opened Film Rescue International, which is now one of only a handful of businesses world-wide that specializes in developing antique, ex-pired, obsolete, still and movie film, said Miller. What differentiates them from a regular photo processing lab, he said, is they process film that is past its expira-

BY ALANNA ADAMKO


helping them with their border challeng-es, said Miller.

“If we have issues there is somebody to call, it’s been somewhat helpful,” he said.

They are also assisting Film Rescue in attending a trade show in Germany for 2012, he said.

The company also plans on increas-ing its market locally. Miller admits that processing old film is a niche market and they are primarily doing business interna-tionally but he wants to change that. Film rescue is starting to offer digital scanning services for family archives, such as old photo albums, and family histories which would help local people preserve and share their family history, said Miller.

“We are going to start archiving family pictures in a big way and give it back to you on a hard drive which you can dupli-cate and give copies to families to hand-out,” he said.

To learn more about Film Rescue Inter-national and their services phone 1 800 329 8988 or visit their website at www.filmrescue.com. They are also on Face-book, Twitter, RSS and Flickr.

With the growth of their client list so has their business grown, he said. Film Rescue has around 10 employees, says Miller, sharing their mutual passion for film.

The team has worked hard, overcom-ing many industry challenges, said Miller, such as trying to remain on the cutting edge of technology and film processing advancements and overcoming obstacles to receive and ship film over the Cana-dian/United States border.

He says that once the learning curve is overcome, technology brings with it many benefits to the industry.

“Our scanners, computers and pro-grams are faster and we can deliver more and more things back to customers elec-tronically instead of through the mail,” said Miller. He notes that Internet speed in Canada hasn’t kept up with interna-tional standards and needs to evolve for

companies such as Film Rescue to contin-ue to be competitive internationally.

Industry changes also keep their work at Film Rescue fresh and motivating, he said.

“It’s what keeps the job entertaining,” said Miller. “If I was doing the same thing day-in and day-out it would get boring. As new things become obsolete we have to learn how to develop a new process for them.”

This also creates potential new revenue streams for Film Rescue when one type of film becomes discontinued and needs the specialization of a lab such as Film Rescue to process.

“APS film is still being made but is dis-appearing, we are getting ready for APS to be dropped and taking on that work,” he said. They have been added to Koda-chrome’s referral list for in anticipation for upcoming work, he said.

And STEP has been instrumental in

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26 GLOBALVENTURES • MARCH/APRIL 2012 MARCH/APRIL 2012 • GLOBALVENTURES 26

Cameco values diversity. We are Canada’s #1 industrial employer of Aboriginal people. We have also built strong partnerships with northern people to share the economic and social opportunities created by uranium development in the north.

A different kind of

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12-166-048 – A Different Kind of WorkforceMonday, February 27, 2012 – Global VenturesFull Page 4C (212 mm x 275 mm)

and go out and impact their business, and I find that very interesting and very moti-vating,” she said. “It is exciting to be a part of the team that can facilitate that.”

Kelleher said she and other STEP em-ployees run many activities throughout the year to help STEP businesses network and gain international trade. She said in the Technology, Resources and Services department, they facilitate 10-12 trade shows a year for their members. She helps clients’ book spaces at prominent trade shows, and helps them budget and plan their trade show booth. Once at the trade show, she then assists with meetings on behalf of her STEP clients with prominent businesses and people within their indus-try.

“We set up meetings for them in terms of connecting them with the people they want to connect with to get more value out of going to those shows,” said Kelle-her. One trade show STEP is currently plan-ning is the Canadian Institute of Mining Trade Show in Edmonton. Kelleher says STEP has already booked a large amount of space at the show to ensure there is a “strong Saskatchewan presence.”

Kelleher said that STEP also facilitates business development missions in mar-kets that Saskatchewan businesses want to enter. She says many of these develop-ment missions are currently taking place in Africa and South America, lucrative mar-kets for Saskatchewan business, especially in the resource industries.

An example of a recent business de-velopment mission Kelleher helped plan was a mission to Chicago for some of her technology business clients. She helped

arrange face-to-face meetings for her cli-ents with prominent people within the technology industry. At missions such as these, STEP also helps facilitate industry events and speaking engagements that would interest and benefit the businesses on the mission.

Finally, STEP helps serve its business clients, said Kelleher, by bringing poten-tial customers to the province. Once they bring the potential customers, they fa-cilitate tours of local industries and busi-nesses to showcase what Saskatchewan business to offer.

At the end of the day, Kelleher said she also wants STEP members to feel com-fortable using STEP as a business-plan-ning and support resource. “We want to be used as a resource for them so if they want to pick up a phone and ask a ques-tion, we have a lot of market research and international experience, where we could find that a bit quicker than on their own.”

As part of the STEP membership, they can receive market intelligence support, providing them with an in-depth analy-sis of markets or sectors they want to expand into. As for the future, Kelleher looks forward to meeting with a variety of businesses in the future and learning about the many industries in the prov-ince.

“I enjoy the variety of work with sever-al different companies and meeting with them to see how they run, their products and services and to be exposed to that variety is exciting, and very motivating,” she said.

She would consider it her greatest personal success to continue to see com-panies that she works with grow into market they had want to expand into and flourish.

BY ALANNA ADAMKOHolly Kelleher was browsing job post-ings when a unique opportunity

came up. She noticed several career post-ings at STEP. She was just finishing her MBA in international business, finance, from the University of Saskatchewan at the time. Kelleher was interested in work-ing for an organization that had interna-tional reach.

“They are involved in international work and helping companies export,” said Kelleher. “I saw this as a neat oppor-tunity to help with their [member’s] busi-ness development and go beyond what they are doing for their business in Sas-katchewan.”

Kelleher had previous experience work-ing for international companies. She had previously worked in several roles at Canpotex Limited: The offshore mar-keting and distribution company for the Saskatchewan potash producers (Agrium, Mosaic, PotashCorp) and the world’s larg-est exporter of potash.

In her current role at STEP as Trade Specialist, Technology, Resources and Ser-vices, she continues to work with oil, gas and mining companies in the Resources sector, but also works with companies in other sectors such as such as technology and web-based companies and profes-sional services industries, such as envi-ronmental and engineering consultants.

“What I like about it is that it still touch-es base with my mining background but with over 100 companies in the sector I work in, I do different activities with each of them.”

She also feels a sense of accomplish-ment in helping local businesses expand into larger markets. “Because most of the businesses I work with are small or me-dium size I have a chance to meet them

Staff Profile: Holly Kelleher: developing resource, technology and consulting expertise.


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