2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Health Care Services

The Nanaimo Child Development Centre has been promoting optimum child development by serving children and youth with developmental needs and their families since 1967. The Nanaimo Child Development Centre is the oldest Child Development Centre across British Columbia.  Their services are free of charge.  Through generous individual and business community supporters they can provide support services, education, and needs navigation to the families as well. 

The Nanaimo Child Development Centre is a CARF accredited organization.  Winning awards like this help them maintain the level of professionalism required to meet these standards.  On a more personal level, the Nanaimo CDC has many therapists working with children and their families throughout the Ladysmith, Nanaimo, and Lantzville communities who they’ve been able to share the success with.  To the Nanaimo CDC this “is an honour.” 

The Centre is very excited to be a main partner in the Inclusive Playground renovation that will be taking place in 2020 at the Maffeo Sutton Playground Park location. They have also started hosting inclusive play days for the community.  They believe these are great for the community because all children and youth should be able to enjoy activities and nature. “When everyone is included, everyone wins.”– Jesse Jackson 

Check out their website at www.nanaimocdc.com, like them on Facebook at Nanaimo Child Development Centre, or follow them on Twitter at @nanaimoCDC!  

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Corporate Social Responsibility

Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island is a not for profit organization with a mission to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to families across the Mid-Vancouver Island Region.  Safe, decent, and affordable housing can have a transformative impact on families and on the communities in which they live.  Research shows that kids do better in school, parents’ employment prospects improve, and families are happier and better equipped to face life’s challenges after moving into a Habitat home.

Habitat for Humanity raise funds via their two ReStores, which sell new and used building supplies, home décor, furniture, and lighting, as well as through donations. With the support of their volunteers and community supporters they can build homes for families experiencing housing poverty who would not qualify for a regular mortgage.

Winning this award was “wonderful as it showed us that our local community in Nanaimo is supportive of our mission and understands what we are working to achieve.”

The impact of the winning the award has been to encourage everyone at Habitat for Humanity to think about how they can go even further to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility goals.  For example, they are looking at working with local contractors to divert even more waste from landfill, they are planning to hold community clean up events, and they have big ambitions to be able to provide more affordable homes for local families than ever before.

Habitat for Humanity has a busy few years ahead of them with home builds planned for the Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo and will hopefully be expanding into other parts of the Mid-Island region. They would like to welcome more volunteers into our ReStores and onto our Build Sites and keep connecting with communities at local events.

Check out their website at www.habitatmvi.org, like them on Facebook at Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island, or follow them on Instagram at @habitatmvi!

Click here to download PDF!

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best Tourism Operator

Harbour Air was founded in British Columbia in 1982. With two small de Havilland Beaver seaplanes and a plan to service the forest industry, Harbour Air began by offering private charters to log buyers visiting the coast. With growing success and an increasing demand on both commuting and touring service, the company quickly expanded over the years adding daily, frequently scheduled flights between Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and Whistler.

Today, after over 35 years in business and more than 40 aircraft, the Harbour Air Group consisting of Harbour Air Seaplanes, Whistler Air and Saltspring Air has become one of the largest all-seaplane airlines in the world.

Amongst other accolades, Harbour Air is recognized as a platinum member of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, a recipient of the Cumberbatch Award for Safety by the Air Navigators Guild, a Canadian Signature Experience, a Business of the Year in Victoria and a National Recipient of the Visa Canada Experience of the Year Award. In 2007 we became North America’s first fully Carbon Neutral Airline.

This year (2019) the founder of Harbour Air, Greg McDougall, was inducted in the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame!

Winning this award is special for John because he knows what a fantastic job his team does daily and this proves it. Awards that are voted for by the travelling passengers and public always mean the most as it’s a true gauge of how we are perceived within the community we serve. The award serves as a great motivator and morale boost for the staff. Customer Service is not always the easiest business to be in but we strive to be the best we can.

The biggest thing currently on the horizon is of course the Electric Aircraft Fleet announcement we made back in March. We are currently partnering with MagniX from Australia in the creation of the first electric seaplane, with the rest of the fleet to follow.

We are also looking at some new routes to connect Vancouver Island and the lower mainland, so stay tuned for those announcements.

Check out their website at www.harbourair.com, like them on Facebook at Harbour Air Seaplanes, or follow them on Instagram at @harbourair (use the hashtag #flyHA and they might feature your photo!)

Click here to download the PDF!

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Selling Nanaimo to the World

Nanaimo • September 20, 2019

SELLING NANAIMO TO THE WORLD

The Vancouver Island Export Forum is an added attraction to the 2019 Business Expo on October 3 in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. The Nanaimo Chamber recognizes that manufacturing and export traffic to destinations regionally, and around the world, are rapidly growing. New business supports are available to those in the export chain for both suppliers and vendors. The Forum will highlight some of these.

The Island’s Foreign Trade Zone designation, the Port Authority’s Short Sea Shipping advantages, the opening of Export Navigator offices here, and recent rapid growth of advanced manufacturing on the Island are all great reasons to launch the Forum now.

“Whether your business is actively involved in export trade, or you count manufacturers and exporters among your clients and colleagues, this is an opportunity to gain information and advantages early in the game. Advanced-manufacturing is a rapidly growing sector of the mid-Island economy feeding the export trade activity of the Island” according to Kim Smythe of the Nanaimo Chamber.

George Hanson of VIEA, Export Navigator Fabrizio Alberico, John Juricic with the Island Manufacturing Council, and Jason Mitchell of the Nanaimo Port Authority will form a panel moderated by Nathan Seaward of the YPN. The discussion starts at 1:00 pm in the Lantzville Room at VICC and is co-presented by the Nanaimo Chamber and Young Professionals of Nanaimo.

Topics include the simplicity of profitability through mid-Island export markets, the diversity of products and services that are considered as ‘exports’, offshore destinations include… (anywhere off of Vancouver Island!), and who your friends are – a look at trade partners around the world!

At 2 pm, the Forum features the Belgian Trade Commission who will encourage exports to Europe by taking advantage of the new Canada Europe Trade Agreement using their country as the portal. Expanding trading partners is always health and CETA makes Europe even more attractive.

Help kick off Small Business Month in BC. Find out what’s happening with business in Nanaimo today at nearly 100 trade show booths. Trade Show and Forum attendance and registration is free! Register Now!

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best Retailer

Charlie’s Closet is a consignment store that does their part for the environment by keeping a massive amount of clothing out of the landfill.  They also help support the economy and provide quality pieces of clothing to the people of Nanaimo for an affordable price.  They’ve built a community of women at their shop and offer comradery, support, and a children’s play corner for any mothers shopping.

“I think everyone at the event saw how much this meant to me, and to my children,” said Nadine, Charlie’s Closet owner.  The support Charlie’s Closet has received from the community has built the business and their lives. “It’s been an honour just to be nominated the last few years, I never ever imagined they would call our name.”

This win kicked off an amazing year for Charlie’s Closet!  Shortly after the Nanaimo Business Awards win, they took Best Consignment in the Best of the City awards.  Their business has doubled within this past year due to hard work finally paying off and the added exposure from this wonderful acknowledgment.

You can find Charlie’s Closet in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter!  Or online on Facebook at Charlie’s Closet Nanaimo or on Instagram at @charliesclosetnanaimo!

Click here to download PDF! 

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Nanaimo Launches BC’s Small Business Month

Nanaimo • September 16, 2019

EXPORT FORUM AN ADDED ATTRACTION TO BUSINESS EXPO

Business Expo, the Chamber’s salute to Small Business Month in BC, is launching the Vancouver Island Export Forum as an added attraction at the Expo on October 3 in the VICC. Export traffic from Nanaimo to destinations regionally and around the world are growing. New tools are available to support those exporting from the mid-Island and the Forum will reveal some of these.

The Island’s Foreign Trade Zone designation, the Port Authority’s Short Sea Shipping advantages, the opening of Export Navigator offices here, and recent rapid growth of advanced manufacturing on the Island were all good reasons to launch the Forum now.

“Whether your business is actively involved in export trade, or you count manufacturers and exporters among your clients and colleagues, this is an opportunity to gain an advantage early in the game. Advanced-manufacturing and exporting is a rapidly growing sector of the local economy” according to Kim Smythe of the Nanaimo Chamber.

A panel including George Hanson of VIEA, Fabrizio Alberico of Export Navigator, John Juricic with the Island Manufacturing Council, and others will be in attendance. The event starts at 1:00 pm in the Departure Bay Room at VICC and is co-presented by the Nanaimo Chamber and Young Professionals of Nanaimo.

At 2 pm, the Forum highlights a team from the Belgian Trade Commission, encouraging export to Europe by taking advantage of the new Canada Europe Trade Agreement. With trade conditions becoming more complicated with current trade partners, CETA becomes even more attractive.

Help kick off Small Business Month in BC and find out what’s happening with business in Nanaimo today – attendance is free! Register now for the forum!

Click here to download PDF.

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2019 Nanaimo Business Awards – Best in Creative Services

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

What three core values make up HA Photography’s foundation? Professionalism, customer care, and community service. Dirk is sought after for his industry knowledge and expertise, visionary approach to impact branding, and forging synergies with small business partners. He is a welcoming and a trusted professional who takes the time to understand each client’s unique needs and desire to standout amongst others. As a fixture in the community, Dirk is committed to community and frequently offers a range of in-kind services to a variety of local charitable organizations. He believes that his “respected reputation and top-notch customer care have set me apart from my colleagues and made me the go-to photographer in Nanaimo.”

For Dirk, winning the award for “Best Creative Services” “topped of a completely stellar day.” “OMG, I was totally thrilled and could not have been happier!” Dirk had a very successful shoot earlier that day in Sooke with FortisBC capturing images of a hand drum making workshop on the Scia’new traditional territory. Winning the award has given HA Photography further recognition and profile.  This is important to Dirk as he wants to “continually raise the stature of what it means to be a professional photographer.”

There are some exciting changes coming up at HA Photography. Currently in the works is a new website featuring stock images of Nanaimo and the local area. This new website will have many new images and more information for Dirk’s clients. HA Photography is also looking for an upgraded look for the logo.  In short, there are a great deal of new things coming down the line.

Check out HA Photography’s website heydemannphoto.com, like them on Facebook at HA Photography, or follow them on Instagram at @dirk.heydemann!

Click here to download PDF.

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The ‘Greening’ of Business in Nanaimo

Our new City Council has taken some major steps toward Nanaimo evolving as a community firmly committed to a ‘greener’ future.  Following Council’s declaration of a ‘climate emergency’ in April, they have begun adopting policies that reflect shifting municipal philosophies to address some of the elements of human-influenced climate change.

They’ve made changes to city planning to increase our community’s walkability while appealing to the province for more transit hours to create the greatest single expansion of public transit service in our history. City staff are working on recommendations to Council on ways to regulate single use consumer plastic bags. We’ve long been targeting ‘zero waste’ in attempts to divert as much as possible from our landfill and extend its life while also encouraging citizens to reduce their water and energy use. As much as legislated actions will help minimize climate change, we need to strike initiatives on our own in our businesses and our homes.

Committing to a major shift in our thinking and practices is vital to extending our lease on this planet. This longer lease will give us more time to figure out how to balance, or more fully integrate, environmental concerns with a heathy and strong economy for the future. Rather than looking at managing climate change as an expense, business needs to look at the opportunities to create efficiencies through enhanced energy management, waste diversion, reduction and reuse activities, and other green initiatives.

Seeking out potential business opportunities in this new economy is paramount in unison with the motive of saving money and protecting the planet for future generations. Businesses are doing this in a wide and diverse manner. There are a number of local businesses either operating, expanding or planning on opening to serve new markets created by this ‘green’ shift in our thinking and actions. The term coined to describe this approach is ‘the circular economy’. Take a look around and see where what actions you’re taking and how you’re impacted by this emerging economy.

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Making Connections – Our Ultimate Goal

Nanaimo’s second annual Commercial Street Night Market — part street party, part artisan market, part food fest — kicked off in late June and is likely to boast big crowds until the end of August.

2019 Jonathan Ha Photography

Considered a huge success again, we’re incredibly happy that it brings together so many community members in an outstanding celebration of pride-of-place.

 

In May, the Nanaimo Chamber was the proud recipient of the BC Chamber Executives’ Award for Community & Member Engagement among ‘large’ Chambers in the province. This Award recognized the efforts of our staff and our many volunteers – from board members to Ambassadors to our event volunteers.

Considered for the 2019 Award were the Chamber’s efforts in non-partisan, civic leadership and government advocacy activities. The Chamber was lead organizer of many All-Candidate election events in Nanaimo for the past few years. In the lead-up to the 2018 municipal election we produced a series of Civic Leadership Workshops and presented widely-attended All-Candidate “meet and greets” and candidate debates.

Another consideration was the Chamber’s role in representing the voice of business addressing increasing homelessness problems, plus consequences to our community overall and the business community in particular. The Chamber has a seat on the City’s Homeless Coalition and Emergency Shelter Community Advisory Committees and looks forward to continuing to work on short and long-term solutions. While we are a compassionate community, safety and security for businesses and residents are a primary priority and core value of the Chamber.

The 2018 Commercial Street Night Market was also highlighted by judges – an event that went a long way to seeing Nanaimo’s downtown take some steps toward renewal. This event was so successful that we’ll all be enjoying a bigger, better, more fantastic version this summer.

Our gratitude to all who played a part in these or any of our other Chamber successes – and there are many! It’s been a great honour for the Chamber to work in the community over the years to earn this provincial recognition.

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New Website and Branding

We are so excited to announce that we have new branding.  Showcasing our new look we commissioned Box221 Digital Studios (a local marketing company) to handle all of our new look!

With the new changes we have had made to the website making it easier for our members to access information, we also offer a new member spotlight advertising option.

At Box 221, every person is different, every business too.  They don’t like cookie cutter approaches to business and neither should you – you deserve better!  They  work with you to create the best bang possible options for you.

PS: I invite you to send me an email and tell me about our new look and let me know if you have any ideas about doing it better or differently.
ceo@nanaimochamber.bc.ca

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