Last week Chamber staff had the opportunity to attend the Economic Gardening Conference.
Sponsored by organizations such as Community Futures, UBC, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Development Bank of Canada, the conference brought together economic development professionals from across North America.
What is Economic Gardening? Well, it’s not about gardens. According to the Canadian Institute for Economic Gardening it’s a concept that takes an entrepreneurial approach to regional prosperity.
Often referred to as a “grow from within” strategy, it helps existing companies within a community grow larger.
In contrast to traditional business assistance, economic gardening focuses on strategic growth challenges, such as developing new markets, refining business models and gaining access to competitive intelligence.
Business leaders from many regions spoke on changing and challenging economic trends, data mining, the new currency of information, staff selection and retention and competitive strategies in a global market.
It was an amazing group of speakers and the time flew by. In order to share the information, the speakers have made their power point presentations available on-line so if you are interested, go to c2eg.com and check the 2013 conference tab.
The first speaker, Tammie Nemecek from Grow Florida, asked all the entrepreneurs in the audience to stand and then played a short video reminding us of their importance in our economy.
Please visit the Chamber’s blog to see the actual video as it’s even better set to music!
Here’s what the video said.
Entrepreneurs are people with a single brilliant idea. They are thinkers, doers and innovators.
Entrepreneurs change the way we think about what is possible.
They have a clear vision of how life can be better for all of us. Even when times are tough and there are obstacles and turbulence, entrepreneurs create opportunities for success and achievement.
They push us to discover new ways of doing things. Risk itself is not the reward.
The rewards are driving innovation, changing people’s lives, creating jobs, fuelling growth and making a better world.
Entrepreneurs are everywhere.
They run small businesses that support our economy and find new ways to solve old problems.
They can be any one of us!
Hail, entrepreneur, indeed!
The Chamber is holding a variety of events to celebrate Small Business Week in Canada.
These inspirational and learning opportunities are available to everyone in the community from Oct. 22 to 25 and details are available at the Chamber website: www.summerlandchamber.com .
We always appreciate your feedback. Please contact me at manager@summerlandchamber.com or our chamber president, Arlene Fenrich, at president@summerlandchamber.com.
Christine Petkau is the manager of the Summerland Chamber of Commerce.
