Economic think tank plans business forum
Event would unite suppliers, manufacturers
By Paula Brewer
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE and DEGELIS, Quebec — The drive to grow local commerce is increasing, and a group of business partners hope to help it succeed on both sides of the Canadian border with a regional forum coming up in November.
Staff photo/Paula Brewer
Members of the Core Leadership Team of Acadia of the Lands and Forests were in Presque Isle Oct. 5 to get the ball rolling on an upcoming regional forum. The group intends to hold the event in Degelis, Que., to connect suppliers with large manufacturers within a 60-mile radius of Edmundston, New Brunswick, an area which includes parts of Aroostook County. At Northeast Publishing in Presque Isle are, from left, Director of News/Weeklies Mark Putnam; CLT members Felix Daigle, George Dumond and CLT Chair Lise Ouellette; NEP General Manager Andrew Birden; and CLT members Don Levesque and Cindy Rivard.
Members of the Core Leadership Team of Acadia of the Lands and Forests, a self-described “think tank” on regional economic issues, were in Presque Isle Oct. 5 to share their plan with local print media. During a visit to Northeast Publishing, they met with NEP General Manager Andrew Birden and Mark Putnam, director of news for the company’s family of five weekly newspapers.
Organizers will announce the date of the daylong networking event, but said it will take place near the end of November in Degelis, Que., which is near the New Brunswick border. The members of the Core Leadership Team hope the conference will spur connections and industry growth to the benefit of the entire region of Acadia of the Lands and Forests: portions of northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec.
“It has a wonderful potential, a very important potential,” CLT Chairwoman Lise Ouellette said Thursday, Oct. 6, by phone from Edmundston. “We have in this region approximately 300 manufacturing companies, and it is an economic engine for the region, potentially. By bringing collaboration and understanding between companies in the supply chain system, we think it can have a very important impact.”
NEP’s Birden agrees. “Because of the international and provincial borders, most businesses in our region have only half the geographic area to sell our products and services compared to businesses in the interior of our respective countries. We can pretty much sell products to Maine residents only, which is an unfortunate handicap for an international region that shares the same culture. The borders trap Quebecois businesses and New Brunswick businesses in their geographic regions as well, forcing manufacturers to pay for huge shipping costs and other expenses.
“The Core Leadership Team is bringing together the suppliers in the Acadian region, local manufacturers and the knowledge of cross-border trade. Smart business people who go to this forum could use the extended professional network and new trade knowledge to double the geographic area of potential customers in a short period of time,” said Birden.
The forum will include presentations as well as a more informal networking opportunity, but its key component is a “speed-dating”, or short meeting, setup for smaller businesses to meet with larger ones to develop contacts and pave the way for future supply-chain relationships.
Ouellette said larger businesses have identified their specific needs, and CLT organizers will share that knowledge.
“Now that we have a good understanding of what the needs are, that in itself is a wonderful information base,” she said. “We are working to share the information with smaller companies, so they can get in touch with the larger companies, and the economic development agencies can help them with that.
“The intent is to have much of that [communication] going on before the event, so when we go to the event, discussions have already been started so it creates momentum to bring the discussions further. So the speed dating is the most important component of the day,” she added.
Ouellette explained the team will schedule short meetings ahead of time so people can establish contact. They will meet again at the event, where further exchanges are possible.
