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From our social spectrum eNewsletter Q&A with our Facebook Friends followers ABM Where do you want your business/organization to be in ABM If you're an entrepreneur, where are LISA DRADER-MURPHY Not me. I moved my five years? What will it take to you located? Why are you here? What do thriving business. I had 22 employees, a factory, get there? What’s holding you you like best (or least) about your local and was opening my third store. We were very back? business environment? intent on making Atlantic Canada our home to enjoy the beauty, lifestyle, and the people. JAMES RICHARD KIELY, ASPIRING LISA DRADER-MURPHY My company is PRODUCER MUSIC/FILM, HALIFAX: based in Falmouth with a flagship store on RACHEL DODDS I had a very rewarding career In five years, I would like to have a Halifax's waterfront. I chose to move my for nine years but did meet the limitations of successful music-to-film writing, successful business here from Calgary 12 years living in a region. I had progressed to a level in recording and production company ago to enjoy a slower, healthier lifestyle to raise the company and industry that moving back to in Canada and the United States. I’d my young family. I LOVE the loyalty of my Toronto was the only route to progress. It was like to have our first screenplay fully clients and community here. I’ve had opportu- time to start my own business so I could stay in produced and shot in the Hollywood nities to take my brand to the world stage via N.S. and continue to evolve. style and our original songs released international media, attendance at the Golden as the official soundtrack. I would Globe festivities, and now, the upcoming ABM If you weren't an entrepreneur, what like to win an Oscar, a Grammy and Cannes Film Festival in May. Yes, I could’ve would you be? become a “force to be reckoned done these things from Calgary, but I wouldn’t with” in the industry, working with be coming home to my beautiful property in the LISA DRADER-MURPHY I suppose I would top directors. In this business, it’s Annapolis Valley! I’m proud to travel abroad still be employed as a designer for the garment all about connections and the oppor- and sing the praises of N.S., my home province! manufacturing industry, which was rewarding tunity to show off your product, also as well, but nothing compares to my experi- known as “getting noticed”. If your RACHEL DODDS I located here from Toronto ences as an entrepreneur. :) product is not on the shelf, you can after I graduated in 1994. I was drawn to the hardly expect people to buy it. quality of life and people in the Maritimes. I RACHEL DODDS Less than two weeks after I What’s holding me back? Negative started my own business in 2002 and I run it made the major decision to embrace entrepre- inertia. Lack of clarity/vision. And out of a bright and sunny office on Argyle Street neurship full-time, I was offered my dream the absence of financial backing. in downtown Halifax. I love being in the middle marketing job. I figured it was a test from the of the endless energy that downtown offers Universe. I stuck to the entrepreneur plan and every day of the week, all year long. Parking was decided the marketing job and others would Join the a bit of a challenge for work, so I bought a place always be there if things didn't work out. downtown on the waterfront and walk to work. conversation I’m grateful for the quality of business and CRE8IV DESIGN STUDIO INC. Personally, I Follow us on Facebook, personal life Atlantic Canada offers. always knew I would be back home in N.L.! N.S. Twitter & LinkedIn & gave me my start in the world of business, as CRE8IV DESIGN STUDIO INC. We’re located jobs were scarce at the time, however I would you may be in Mount Pearl, N.L.! After running a business not change a thing, as it led me to where I am for several years in Nova Scotia, and having today. What would I be if not an entrepreneur? I featured in the clientele all over the country, personally it was would hope still in the design industry helping next issue time to move the business back to our N.L. business with their branding — if something of Atlantic Business roots. The response has been amazing from other then design... Hmmm tough one! I can't Magazine – Atlantic local businesses, friends and family and our imagine doing anything else! Canada’s largest business just keeps growing and growing each year! We’ve never been busier thanks to our BAREFOOT FACILITATION AND DEVELOP- circulation business economic growth in N.L. MENT Located in Halifax. Before ‘taking the magazine! leap’ in 2008 I had worked in the health system ABM It’s interesting that you all left other here in N.S., so it made sense to continue with places for your current location. Did you roots here as bulk of my clients are N.S. based. start your own business because you felt I’m originally from St. John’s, N.L., so I’m there weren't any job opportunities for looking to broaden scope to ‘home’! Love you? Atlantic Canada ... while opps may take me away ... THIS is where I need to be! Nice question!

Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 11 UPFRONT FROM NO TO SHOW Trade talk holdout says it will come to the table

ewfoundland and Labrador has Nannounced it will join trade talks between Canada and the European Union, two years after the province nearly scuttled

the process altogether. Photo by Paul Daly It is another sign of the détente between the government of Premier (photo right) and Ottawa — especially compared to her predecessor, Danny Williams. The U-turn was announced in a March 17 news release. “The provincial that Newfoundland and Labrador would time that provincial officials were part of government chose to monitor Canada- “absolutely not” sign on. “We will not be the Canadian delegation. And sources close European Union trade negotiations to get joining the federal government in these to the talks characterized the province’s a sense of the willingness of the federal negotiations,” Williams said in May 2009, officials as “aggressively observing” the government to fairly represent the interests noting that the days of “kowtowing to the negotiations. of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said federal government” were over. According to the feds, a 2008 study Susan Sullivan, the province’s minister of Much of that talk may have been for concluded that a stronger economic innovation, trade and rural development. show. In the fall of 2009, Newfoundland partnership could boost Canada’s economy “After closely monitoring the proceedings and Labrador acknowledged that it had by $12 billion annually and increase two- to date, I believe that to continue to senior officials at the ongoing Canada- way trade with Europe by 20 per cent. meaningfully shape the outcomes we now EU discussions. However, the province The seventh round of Canada-EU talks have to participate as more than observers.” insisted it was only monitoring the talks, was scheduled to take place in Ottawa in The move comes two years after not actually participating in them. That April. Williams told the provincial legislature was news to the feds, who stressed at the —Rob Antle

It takes a village

Dr. Abdullah Kirumira’s global success as an innovator-entrepreneur comes down to a simple equation: you can’t treat what you can’t detect.

The former biochemistry professor made international waves when he developed the world’s first rapid acting HIV test while at Acadia University. Today the CEO of Windsor, NS-based BioMedica Diagnostics Inc. is behind a new “lab in a box” technology, enabling cash-strapped clinics in developing countries to diagnose and treat hundreds of diseases. A payroll rebate from NSBI is helping the company get a leg up on its ambitious $500,000 expansion plans to meet international demand. Which just goes to show that when it comes to saving lives and competing globally, it takes a village.

BusIness FInancIng | Trade developmenT | venTure capITal | InvesTmenT aTTracTIon | www.nsbi.ca

Connect with NSBI: – Dr. Abdullah Kirumira, founder and CEO, BioMedica Diagnostics Inc.

NSBI_7.125x4.875_April14_AtlanticBus.indd 1 11-04-14 2:56 PM 12 | Atlantic Business Magazine | May/June 2011 UPFRONT NOTES ON A SCANDAL Civil lawsuits to recoup cash from politicians now net less than zero, but that should change

candals that rocked two Atlantic legislatures in recent years Ssparked promises to go after the bank balances of politicians who improperly spent their taxpayer-funded expense accounts. In Nova Scotia, where four current or former politicians are facing a total of 52 charges, Premier Darrell Dexter has vowed to recoup cash paid to MLAs who are ultimately convicted.

“We want the money back and you know we’re going to protect the Photo by Paul Daly interests of the people of the province,” Dexter said in February. “If there is a finding of guilt and an order of restitution, you know my expectation is that we will take every possible measure to recover.” The experience in Newfoundland and Labrador shows that can be a costly proposition. Four former politicians in that province were convicted on similar corruption charges in recent years (photo this page from court in 2009). A former legislature employee and a – added up to $396,400. Legal fees were another $283,321. (Atlantic local businessman were also found guilty of fraud and other related Business obtained the numbers under access-to-information laws.) offences. But the government soon expects those numbers to go from red to Three years ago, the provincial government filed civil actions black. Most of the expenses were incurred early in the process, and against the four MHAs, and one who was never charged, to get back Justice Minister said the province only expects to fork roughly $1.3 million. The province also sued the former bureaucrat, out another $10,000 or so. for an amount yet to be determined, and won a default judgment of And of the $1.3 million overpaid to politicians, Collins said, “we $2.3 million earlier this year against the businessman. anticipate getting most, if not all, of that.” Eventually, that could see As of Feb. 28, 2011, the province had recovered $667,182. the government coming out hundreds of thousands ahead. However, the government had spent $679,722, not including HST, Collins said he is happy with efforts to recoup the cash. “We’re on accounting and legal fees. That’s a net loss of more than $12,000. confident we’re on track.” Accounting fees – the province ordered a forensic audit of spending —Rob Antle

Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 13 UPFRONT YOUNG GUNS ATLANTIC CANADA’S YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR AWARD RECIPIENTS BDC celebrates community- minded young entrepreneurs

t a gala event in Saskatoon on May 3, Athe Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) distributed this year’s Young Entrepreneur Awards. Among the 10 YEA recipients, all aged between 19 and 35, were four enterprising Atlantic Canadians. Though they (P.E.I.) Rachelle Wood, Rachelle Wood (N.B.) Pierre Martell, Martell Home Builders Nutrition Wood 29, is a registered holistic Martell 29, offers a web-enabled customer represent a diverse range of business sectors, nutritionist, blogger, educator and motivational experience that provides real-time access they were united by their business success and speaker who often volunteers her time in an to the work-in-progress. “In more than 125 community involvement. effort to get Canadians to change their eating constructions, we’ve never missed a closing To be eligible for a Young Entrepreneur habits and become healthier. date, never gone over budget and every customer has been extremely happy.” Award, you must: be a Canadian citizen; be between 19 and 35 years of age as of Dec. 31, 2011; be a manager and have been actively involved in the company’s daily management for a minimum of two years; and hold at least 20 per cent of the company’s capital stock. Candidates from previous years may re-enter provided they still meet the eligibility criteria and aren’t previous YEA winners. You can either nominate yourself or be nominated by someone (N.S.) Anaïs Guimond, Atlantic Cirque Agency (N.L.) Greg Hanley, Hanley Construction else; you do not have to be a BDC client to apply. and School Guimond, 32, says her school of & Renovation Hanley 31, is an award- Complete nomination information is available circus arts helps improve self-esteem. “Some winning renovator and new home builder. who have never excelled at anything are He incorporates green building materials online at bdc.ca/en/yea2011/pages/home.html discovering for the first time that they have and techniques, including ultra-efficient unique talents and abilities.” insulation free of harmful chemicals, low- flow plumbing and eco-friendly paint.

14 | Atlantic Business Magazine | May/June 2011 A VERY BIG DEAL Salesforce.com buying N.B.’s Radian6 for $340 million

t began in 2006, springing from the Iidea that companies need to monitor the social web in order to effectively join conversations with customers and prospects. Now, five years later, New Brunswick- based Radian6 has been gobbled up in a nine-figure deal. Salesforce.com of San Francisco will pay approximately $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, net of cash acquired. In addition, approximately $10 million in stock and $4 million in cash will be issued to the founders, and will be subject to vesting conditions over two years. The transaction is expected to be completed by July 31. Radian6’s technology captures hundreds of millions of conversations every day across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs and online communities. The goal is to provide intelligence to companies, helping them to better market and sell to prospects, service their customers and understand what’s being said about their brand, products, competitors and services. “With Radian6, Salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce. com. “We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings.” Radian6 is used by more than half of the Fortune 100, and companies like AAA, Dell, GE, Kodak, Molson Coors, Pepsico, and UPS. “Social media has made every business recognize the value of paying attention to the voice of the customer,” said Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian6.

Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 15 UPFRONT

That document is expected to be in the LIVING government’s hands this spring. ON THE EDGE Last year, the province’s then- innovation minister, Shawn Skinner, Fifteen years, billion-dollar boon said EDGE would be looked at to see if it 15-year-old business-attraction should be modified, or even put on the A program has provided nearly a billion chopping block. “My gut tells me today I pieces of good news for Newfoundland don’t think it’s something that we would and Labrador, according to an analysis get rid of,” Skinner said in 2010. He by the province’s Department of Finance. said the program would be analysed to Atlantic Business Magazine obtained the see how it interacts with other business- report under access-to-information laws. attraction efforts. “Maybe its focus needs The analysis found that the province’s to change,” Skinner noted at the time. so-called EDGE program provided a net “Maybe the benefits that are being given benefit to the Newfoundland and Labrador under EDGE might need to be looked at.” economy of $978.6 million from 1995 to EDGE came into effect in 1995 under 2009. Last year, the Newfoundland and the Liberal administration of then- Labrador government commissioned a premier Clyde Wells. In 2001, benefits review of EDGE, its one-time marquee were beefed up for companies that chose business-attraction program that has to locate in rural areas. The program been largely out of the spotlight in recent provides tax incentives to qualifying The EDGE program years. companies for a period of 10 or 15 years, was introduced followed by a five-year period of partial in 1995, making a Finance department officials big splash in the crunched the numbers as part of that rebates. Those eligible include new media at the time process. Independent consultant Grant businesses and existing ones seeking (including the cover of Atlantic Thornton is currently reviewing EDGE. to expand their operations. To qualify, Business). (The acronym stands for Economic they must create and maintain 10 new Diversification and Growth Enterprises.) permanent jobs in Newfoundland and

16 | Atlantic Business Magazine | May/June 2011 THE LARGEST “My gut tells me today I don’t think SELECTION OF it’s something that PREMIUM QUALITY we would get rid of DIAMONDS IN ... Maybe its focus needs to change. ATLANTIC CANADA Maybe the benefits that are being given under EDGE might need to be looked at.” Shawn Skinner, then-minister of innovation, in 2010 WE RUN A SHOW Labrador and make a minimum capital investment of $300,000 or have incremental annual sales of $500,000. THAT MAKES There are currently 71 EDGE firms. Another 71 achieved the status but POWERPOINT were dropped from the list over the years. The program’s heyday was in the late 1990s, under the then-Liberal ENVIOUS. government. EDGE announcements under the current Tory administration, Ensure your next which came to power in 2003, have been few and far between. Just 18 business event is companies have received EDGE designation in the past seven years. anything but ordinary. And only two of those approvals took place since 2007. Whether you’re a group of According to the government’s analysis, EDGE companies incurred 5 or 300, let our staff nearly $2.2 billion in expenditures between 1995 and 2009. All told, the set the stage for a direct, indirect and induced impact on the province’s labour market saw the AWARD-WINNING DESIGNS business event they’ll creation of more than 32,000 person IN YELLOW GOLD, WHITE pay attention to. years of employment. That’s an average of more than 2,100 jobs per year. GOLD OR PLATINUM EDGE firms paid total taxes of $185 million over that 15-year period, the analysis found, but the province lost $137 million in equalization benefits as a result. Government rebates and grants cost another $16.5 million. That Purdy’s Landing put the net impact of the program to the province’s treasury at just $31.5 1949 Upper Water Street, Halifax Downtown Different million. By appointment, please call The province’s minister currently 420-9792 • 1-800-661-4030 1980 Robie Street in charge of the program, Susan Halifax, Nova Scotia Sullivan, declined comment until the belgium-diamonds.com completion of the Grant Thornton report. —Rob Antle Toll free 1.902.423.1161 [email protected] www.atlanticahotelhalifax.com UPFRONT The first iPhone app for Nova Scotia real estate!

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mapped throughout A quartet of cabinet ministers, including then- premier Danny Williams (second from left), went to Nova Scotia & Halifax Harbour Grace in 2008 to announce an $8-million government loan to Terra Nova Shoes. That loan from the palm agreement has since been reworked, after Terra Nova cut jobs at the site. Photo courtesy Government of of your hand! Newfoundland and Labrador

New Office SOLE SURVIVOR in Halifax! New terms cobbled together 53 St. Margaret’s Bay Road for $8-million loan to shoe firm (Just up from Armdale round-about) Call us at 477-5656 he Newfoundland and Labrador Tgovernment has reworked an agreement with a shoe company that slashed its workforce less than two years SeaNovaScotia.com after receiving an $8-million interest- free loan from taxpayers to expand its operations. Terra Nova Shoes got the cash in the fall of 2008 for adding a 30,000 square-foot extension to its existing 70,000 square- foot facility in Harbour Grace, about an hour from St. John’s. The company was expected to add 50 employees to its existing staff of 170 at the time. Instead, Terra Nova went on to launch a series of cutbacks. A year ago, the company announced the layoffs of 59 workers, dropping the total number of employees in Harbour Grace near 100. Those layoffs sparked the provincial Department of Business, which handed out the loan, to review the situation. In December, the government and Terra Nova’s parent companies (Kodiak Group Holdings Co. and Williamson-Dickie Holding Co.) inked a revised agreement. Atlantic Business Magazine obtained that document under provincial access-to- information laws. Business Minister stressed that the original deal allowed Terra Nova’s manufacturing operations to be consolidated in Newfoundland instead of Ontario, where he said a plant was shuttered by the shoe firm. “We felt they had a solid business plan at the time (in 2008), the economy was strong and robust,” Dalley said in an interview. “But

18 | Atlantic Business Magazine | May/June 2011 The revised deal requires Terra Nova Shoes to maintain annual minimum employment of 85 to 110 full-time permanent positions. as we all know, we went through a period of recession, tough economic times globally. And basically, their business is based on manufacturing and exporting of their products. And with the downturn in the economy, and the downturn in industrial demand, they went through some significant challenges.” Terra Nova’s workforce rose as high as 205 before the economy took a turn for the worse, Dalley noted. He said that 109 people are currently employed at the Harbour Grace facility, according to the most recent quarterly update provided to WITH A VIEW the government by the company. The revised deal requires Terra Nova Shoes to maintain annual minimum employment LIKE THIS, of 85 to 110 full-time permanent positions. If 1102_SWP_Congrats_Sm.pdf 1 11-04-13 3:13 PM the company does not meet those targets, the SPREADSHEETS government can declare the loan in default and demand payment. The loan is secured ARE ALMOST by the property, building and equipment at Harbour Grace, and guarantees by both parent companies. BEARABLE. The new agreement also saw Terra Nova repay $1 million of the original $8 million loan. On the remaining $7 million, the company is slated to repay 10 per cent of Only 45 minutes profits this year, and 20 per cent of profits in each of the next two years. Over the from Halifax. subsequent five years, repayments will be made through equal instalments or 20 per cent of profits, whichever is greater. Ask about our Dalley said the reworked deal will help protect an important industry in Spring Meeting a rural part of the province. “We felt we Specials! could work with the company and keep them viable and competitive and to stay in the region, and certainly maintain a significant impact in the region,” he noted. The Terra Nova Shoes facility in Newfoundland manufactures high-quality work boots. The company has won contracts to supply Canada’s Department of National Defence. Terra Nova Shoes was first Seaside Different established in Harbour Grace four decades ago. Kodiak acquired the company in 2005. Three years later, Kodiak was gobbled up by 36 Treasure Drive Texas-based Williamson-Dickie. Western Shore, Nova Scotia —Rob Antle Toll free 1.800.565.5075 [email protected] www.atlanticaoakisland.com