A Morden Chamber of Commerce small business luncheon last Thursday celebrated three local business success stories while also acknowledging some of the challenges that had to be overcome along the way.
A panel discussion included Earl Gardiner of Careica Health, Candace Grenier of Pure Anada, and Kyle and Audrey Wiebe of Maverick Industries.
It was facilitated by Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, who kicked things off by touching on a study that showed Manitoba has over the last decade lost about 25,000 residents.
When one delved into what and why it was happening, he noted the largest gap was with people between the ages of 30 and 39—those starting their careers and their families.
“Some of the research, what we found, was they were looking for better opportunities for career growth, and they didn’t see that in Manitoba,” he said.
“The big challenge we found with that was they weren’t aware of the opportunities that existed within our own province,” Davidson said. “We haven’t done a good enough job of telling the stories of the world-class companies within our communities and being champions for those.
“What the research also showed us was that we are our own worst enemies,” he added, suggesting that was a key thought behind them putting on events like this luncheon.
“We all know the great things that our communities have to offer, and that’s really what the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce is all about,” Davidson said, stressing there is a need to tell more of the Manitoba success stories and be champions of local business communities to help change that narrative.
Speaking about Maverick Industries, Wiebe recalled having moved away from the area but then becoming a welder and eventually having the opportunity to start his own business here with the inspiration particularly of his father
They started Maverick Industries in 2008 with smaller welding projects.
“It eventually grew to a few employees, kind of eventually bursting at the seams,” Wiebe said, noting a key development came in 2015 when they acquired Intersteel Industries. “They had about seven staff, so we amalgamated the companies.
“We’ve been growing over the years,” he said. “Audrey stepped into the company in 2016 as our COO … and we are just over 50 staff today. We are currently in our first phase of five phases of a 10 year plan [for growth].
Grenier likewise recalled how she started Pure Anada on a smaller scale in her home.
“I started to refine the brand, make it retail ready … and that was 20 years ago, so it slowly grew during that time,” she said, noting hundreds of retailers across Canada now carry their products. And in addition to their main location in Morden, they also have another space elsewhere in the Pembina Valley.
“I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember,” said Gardiner, who recalled it was while he was working as a hospital administrator in Killarney when he learned about a technology out of the United Kingdom that could produce oxygen for hospitals on site.
“I got quite excited about it and decided to leave my role at the hospital to start a new company,” he said, adding they chose to locate in Morden in part because of its close proximity to the city and airport access.
“Morden had a manufacturing industry here, not anywhere as big as it is now though,” he added.
He also touched on how the company has evolved since its inception here.
“We moved away from industrial oxygen sales, moving into providing home oxygen services,” he said. “It really fit my interests … we moved into becoming the exclusive provider of home oxygen services across all of Manitoba.”
In 1999, they then also delved into a new technology developed in Canada that would allow for testing people for sleep apnea in their own homes.
“We’ve been really fortunate to grow our company across western Canada.”
The speakers also touched on some of the challenges they have faced.
“In our case, we competed against multi-nationals … so being a little company in Morden, that was really challenging,” said Gardiner. “One of the biggest hurdles that we had to overcome was to develop a CSA standard for on-site oxygen production … that took almost five years to complete.”
“A challenge for us is that we are using ingredients that are harvested, not crafted, so it’s not like you can get a synthetic ingredient that’s standard every time,” said Grenier, who also touched on challenges with their product formulations as well as building a solid team that could help them really build the company, develop the right culture, and get the buy-in.
Audrey Wiebe noted how working together as husband and wife in itself can perhaps be a challenge.
“We work together really well. He does a lot more of the sales and customer focus, and I deal a lot more with managing the employees and building the structure around that,” she said.
One of the major things that she focused on for the first few years was not only bringing on people but also the retention of staff.
“We want to build this team,” she said.
Finally, the speakers touched on some of the factors behind being located in Morden and how it can be an advantage.
“I guess the culture of the communities here are unique but a little bit different. They have a small town mindset. You figure things out,” said Kyle Wiebe.
“One of the main things is we have a welding school in our community, which obviously, for our business, is a huge asset to have in our community,” he added, noting companies here also benefit from Morden having such a strong immigration program.
“We have had clients from around the world … come to visit here … I always left those meetings feeling so lucky that I was doing business in rural Manitoba,” said Grenier, also citing the benefit of being able to have their own building here along access to a great workforce and proximity to the border.
“It is challenging sometimes,” said Gardiner, who noted he has also benefitted from being involved with and serving on provincial committees because he feels it is important to have more rural representation.
“As a result of that, I’ve been able to gain respect of people from the city … and I always say why not Morden as opposed to why.”
