Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen:The 2^nd edition of the MYPIE (Miramichi Young Professional and Involved Entrepreneurs) Gala is right around the corner with its April 17^th slated date; nominations have been  opened on Friday and are on until Marc 19^th for the following awards: MYPIE Entrepreneur, MYPIE Professional, and MYPIE Community Champion.

Please Visit the MYPIE website to nominate individuals in the above categories.
http://www.mypie.ca/special_events.html

Miramichi Rotary’s annual winter pond hockey tournament is a perfect example of the region’s new “spirited by nature” brand (www.miramichi.ca). The new brand, commissioned and developed by Enterprise Miramichi and its partners, is intended to embody the region’s strengths and natural assets and speak to its future direction as a destination for people, business, investment and innovation. 

 “We’re really excited that Miramichi Rotary has invited us to use their pond hockey tournament to introduce the community to the new brand,” said Brian Donovan, Executive Director of Enterprise Miramichi. “This tournament is a successful result of everything that is great about the Miramichi and it’s a real reflection of what the “spirited by nature” brand stands for, with the event showcasing two of our best natural assets – our hard-working people and our beautiful outdoors.” 

The new brand positions the Miramichi for realignment as a region going in a new direction that is sustainable, and engages Miramichiers to build their own futures, while supporting attraction and retention efforts.  

“Our economic strategy focuses on tourism, advanced manufacturing, knowledge-based industries, and growing markets like green energy,” said Jeff MacTavish, Director of Economic Development with City of Miramichi. “We have unique advantages to promote to prospective companies, and we’re encouraged by some of the early successes we’ve had in attracting new investment.” 

The “spirited by nature” brand is built around the tagline “I am,” which is intended to speak directly to the people of Miramichi to acknowledge their contributions to what makes the Miramichi great. Their pride is the keystone of the brand and their involvement is what will drive the success of the region. The brand is also ambitious and targeted enough toward business development to attract attention to the region as well as new investment and business activity. 

“We’re confident that we’ve developed a brand that is consistent with everything we aspire to be in the Miramichi,” said Donovan. “We undertook a lot of research to make sure that we ended up with a brand that is relevant and that would resonate with the people in our region as well as potential businesses and investors.” 

“The business community has been extremely engaged in the planning of the brand launch,” said Véronique Arsenault, Executive Director of the Miramichi Chamber of Commerce. “Businesses are really embracing the new brand and making plans to use it in their own marketing and development strategies.” 

Enterprise Miramichi was recently recognized by the Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) with a Marketing Canada Award for the “spirited by nature” brand.   

About Enterprise MiramichiEnterprise Miramichi is an economic development agency dedicated to helping the Miramichi region experience economic growth, prosperity and renewal. The organization is committed to promoting the region’s business attributes, strengthening the economic base, and building a larger, retainable workforce. Enterprise Miramichi strives to provide leadership and partnership coordination, lead the development of strategic economic planning, integrate local, provincial and federal priorities, offer business development assistance and counselling, foster the development of strategic clusters and support investment and export development activities. 

About Miramichi Rotary Pond HockeyThe Miramichi Rotary Pond Hockey tournament was started in 2005 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rotary International. It promotes the City of Miramichi as a winter tourism destination, and allows for some fun and exercise. It is a major fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Newcastle. Managed by a committee of volunteers, net proceeds go back into the community and to other Rotary projects. In 2009, the club completed its $100,000 commitment towards the French Fort Cove Eco Center.

The past year has been one of volatility and challenge. Equity markets saw one of their largest sell-offs in history over the 6 month period in late 2008, early 2009. Equity markets usually rebound 6 months in advance of a turning economy and did so quite abruptly in March/April 2009.  The price of Gold has held well over 1000$ and oil has made a comeback to the 80$ range. What does this all mean for 2010, 2011?

The good news: there is evidence confidence in the recovery is growing although the expectation is for a gradual recovery.  Forty percent of Canadian firms recently surveyed by the Bank of Canada expect to be increasing employment in the next twelve months. Although that does not seem high by historical standards, the number was almost zero in late 2008, early 2009.  According to that same survey by the Bank of Canada, firms are expecting both input and output prices to grow at a faster rate in the coming 12 months. That implies the price for raw materials (commodities such as metals, wood) should start to move up over the next 12 months, benefiting companies in these sectors.

The firms were especially concerned on the potential increase in commodity prices, something that would be a benefit to the mining companies in the province as well as tax revenue for the Province. The firms also indicated an expectation in increased purchasing of equipment.

Another important factor in a turn-around economy is access to credit. Firms are now seeing credit conditions starting to loosen meaning the opportunity to go forward with plans or expansions are improving. This will lead to more economic activity and employment as well.

Interest Rates: Are almost no-existent. The real Federal Funds rates went negative early

in 2008 and has stayed that way until the present time. The Bank of Canada overnight rates have been cut from 3% in July 2008 to a current rate of 0.25%. As the economy starts to improve, and the threat of inflation creeps in, rates will start to rise. The stimulus packages governments all around the world have implemented are starting to work their way through the economy, leading to increased activity.  What does this all mean for the Miramichi and Provincial economies?

Forest products: Housing starts in the US are still lagging in the annual rate of 600,000 compared to 1.2-1.5 million starts in more prosperous times. Due to that, lumber curtailment and OSB/Plywood construction have slowed considerably over the last 3 years. The average home contains about 10 000 board feet of lumber and 5 000 square feet of panels (OSB or plywood). This implies about 6 billion board feet of lumber is not being produced in this recession just for housing starts (i.e not including commercial, home improvement or the myriad of uses for lumber). Canadian production in 2008 was about 24 billion bd ft to put that in perspective.

Oil: Oil works 2 ways for an economy like ours. As the price of Oil increases, activity increases in Western Canada and the opportunity for local firms to win work there increases. An increasing price of Oil also leads to the desire for more citizens to

use green or renewable energy. With the eventuality of a solar plant on the Miramichi, that bodes well for our local economy. And the risk: there are risks to this recovery. Equity Analysts I follow seem consistent in the belief the stock markets will do

fine for the 1st 6 months of the year, followed by a decline in the last 6 months. The magnitude of decline will be contingent upon a number of factors such as how much increased activity is occurring, interest rates/inflation and economic outlook.

The overall take on this is the recovery, albeit fragile, is proceeding and should lead to improved employment and conditions over the next 12-24 months. With low interest rates and an improving economy, now is the time to be positioning your firm for expansion or even thinking about a new start-up.

The importance of a dashboard is understood by everyone who operates a vehicle. Imagine driving a car without a speedometer and no indication of how fast the car is traveling. Would you get very far before cars behind you began honking in frustration for holding up traffic or before the police issued a ticket for speeding? What if the car has no gas gauge? How would you know the amount of gas in the tank or how far you could travel before needing more gas? What if there are no warning lights reminding you to be safe, fasten the seatbelt or indicate there are problems with the braking system or engine. The potential for a serious accident is huge if the brakes or engine suddenly give out with no prior warning of a problem.

Driving a car under these conditions would not be very enjoyable and would take a lot of extra effort. There would be constant distractions away from minding the rules of the road, being alert to your surroundings and the route to your destination. A dashboard enables you to get in the driver seat car and embark on a journey with only occasional glances to be sure that everything is in order, and if things go wrong, you are able to know quickly and take the required action. Think of your business as the vehicle you are driving. Are there any indicators, bells, whistles or warning lights providing information at a glance and at any given moment that your inventory is seriously low on an item?

What if a rush manufacturing order is received but stock is unknowingly depleted on an essential part? Cash flow is limited and you are unable to purchase the part. Suddenly the rush order is not getting done and your customer is not pleased. Not having the item completed on time causes delays to the customer and affects the whole chain of supply. Maybe orders were slow last month and revenue was down so the parts order was not completed as planned. Will your customer return after receiving unsatisfactory service?– hopefully but maybe not!

A business financial dashboard provides information at a glance and in real time about the current situation of a business; how fast revenue is coming in or expenses are going out, are inventory and productivity where they need to be? Information is presented in easy to understand images that quickly indicate performance. The dashboard also provides a tool for forecasting future scenarios. The information is readily available and accessible. A simple data entry can indicate the impact of changes in price or other variables. A quick glance at the financial dashboard confirms that your business vehicle is traveling in the right direction, at the right speed with enough gas to get you there. Everything is running smoothly and you as the business owner are able to spend more time and effort growing your business.

If you are interested in more information about financial dashboards, contact Kelly Sherrard at Enterprise Miramichi 622-5266.

Full time permanent employment for more than fifty individuals can be credited to the introduction of an employer-welcomed project; New Start 55+ (an older workers initiative) delivered through Enterprise Miramichi since August 2008.

The New Start 55+ is a federal-provincial cost-shared employment program created to provide a range of employment activities for older workers who live in vulnerable communities and who have lost their jobs. The New Start 55+ Project has been successful in assisting older workers find ways to shift the emphasis away from aging and job loss toward their ability to make a tangible contribution in the workforce. For many, their age, job loss and hourly wage decease is seen as less relevant when they are perceived as a valuable team member of a business or organization.

Participants in the New Start 55+ Project begin their transition with a six week Essential Skills Training component ranging from Literacy, Numeracy, Communication, Team Building, First-Aid, CPR, Basic Computer Skills and much more.

Employers and scholars are not surprised by the level of comprehension of this group and how the many years of “just living life” has made them top grade students. Specific, specialized training for successful integration into new employment is offered to various employers based on agreed-upon skills up-grading for sustainable long term employment.

Employers in our region are required to keep up with the fast-paced knowledge of new technologies causing changes in hiring techniques just to keep up with times. However, many companies have made a commitment to be part of this initiative acknowledging the value of Miramichi’s experienced and dedicated workers.

At a time when the Miramichi region is facing labor shortages, the experience of workers 55 and over should not and cannot be overlooked. With some active support and practical help, these workers will continue to make an important contribution to our communities. Thank you to all employers of our community who have participated in New Start 55+ for trusting in the abilities of our older workers. The New Start 55+ Project is searching for new employers to explore the interesting avenue this initiative offers to the workplace. If you are an employer with employment needs, please consider an experienced, dedicated and mature worker.

This project offers 70% of wage reimbursement and 70% of reimbursements for employment deduction cost.

For more information on this initiative, please contact Kim Drisdelle at 622-5259 or kim.drisdelle@ent-miramichi.ca