The Peterborough Business Advisory Centre and Revenue Canada will be hosting a FREE GST/HST for New Registrants Information Seminar for small business owners 

June 28th, 2012 6pm-9pm at 210 Wolfe Street, Peterborough ON K9J 2K9

This is a FREE seminar is for clients who are starting a new business.

Topics include

• How the tax works
• Supplies
• Who has to register
• Your obligations, entitlements
• Books and records
• How to complete your GST/HST return
• Special situations
• Where to get help
• Place of supply rules
• Point of sale rebates

If you would like to attend please RSVP to Brigid Ayotte, 705-743-0777 ext. 2160 or by e-mail at bayotte@gpaedc.on.ca by 4pm June 19th.

Farming with a Conscience…

Sounds intriguing doesn’t it?  I would say most of the farmers I know follow this concept but just don’t promote it.

Roger Harley of Harley Farms does both!   Based in Peterborough, he not only farms, but is the Director of Farming Practices with Rowe Farms.  Roger has worked with Rowe farms to establish criteria for policies & practice on farming.  Their philosophy is “All animals are raised locally in a humane and low stress environment without the use of antibiotics or growth promoting hormones. They have open access to food and water and eat strictly vegetarian diets.”  They believe that when animals live a healthy life they produce healthy and flavourful meat.

Rowe Farms is growing.  They currently have 7 retail outlets throughout the GTA and plan to double this number. With this impending growth, they are in need of more local product and Jamie Cooney, General Manager of Rowe Farms, came to Peterborough to talk with interested producers. He shared the challenges and the successes of the business.  He also told the group they want to bring more farmers into their system. He suggested to the producers, “Working with us, you will have a market for your product.”  Jamie likes the idea of a group of farmers working together to meet a demand.  This was his first, speaking to a group of farmers in one county.

This is a great new agricultural opportunity for those already farming and for those wanting to get into farming.  Roger sees his role as a mentor, if you join this initiative you are not alone and the costs to get involved with this project are manageable.

If you are interested, or know a “wannabe farmer” please contact me for more details.

kjopling@gpaedc.on.ca

705.743.0777 ext 2136

www.rowefarms.ca

www.harleyfarms.ca

Farming with a Conscience

The Peterborough Business Advisory Centre and Revenue Canada will be hosting a Small Business Information Seminar 

June 21st, 2012 6pm-9pm at 210 Wolfe Street, Peterborough ON K9J 2K9

This FREE seminar  is for clients who are starting a new business.

Topics include

• Record keeping, fiscal periods, accounting methods
• Bringing assets into a business
• Types of income
• Capital vs. current expenses
• Capital cost allowance
• Operating expenses
• Rights and obligations
• Payment of taxes
• Audits
• Appeals and Fairness provisions

If you would like to attend please RSVP to Brigid Ayotte, 705-743-0777 ext. 2160 or by e-mail at bayotte@gpaedc.on.ca by 4pm June 19th.

An Elemental Approach to Economic Development

In my last 2 blogs I wrote about our Creative Economy and the 5 Elements approach to promoting Peterborough. I shared  some of my thoughts on our direction such as “In Peterborough I am starting to wrap my head around how to apply these thoughts to our economy and existing strategy. We seem to be settling in as follows. The Creative Economy is the overarching horizontal sector and there are 5 Elements or vertical sectors. The 5 Elements are: Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Life.”

Air – One of the 5 Elements of Peterborough’s Economy

As we begin to refine our positioning and marketing to grow Peterborough’s economy we are starting to bring focus and attention to our areas of strength. One of the area’s of strength is our regional airport, our aviation cluster and the potential for aerospace investment in Peterborough. “Air” is the “element” we are using to brand this business cluster.

Air is a bit of a play on words. As mentioned our “air” focus is on Aerospace and Aviation. Recently $30,000,000 was spent to upgrade our regional airport which is positioned as an aviation industrial park. We have a world class aviation company called Flying Colours and a dozen or so other companies in the aviation and aerospace supply chain. Seneca College, which has Canada’s only flight training center has just announced that it is moving those operations to our expanded airport, which is a real vote of confidence in our new investment and very exciting news. Kudos to the Mayor and City of Peterborough staff who were involved in these negotiations. This “win” give us more to work with as we pursue more aviation investment attraction.

Resources to build the business

The city plans to support our investment attraction work with $100,000 per year over the next three years to bring focus and move investment attraction efforts in the right direction. We were able to leverage this year’s budget with an additional $50,000 and hope to do the same over the next few years. We are just wrapping up our search for a lead professional to add to our team to focus solely on airport, aviation and aerospace investment attraction and we should be hiring within the next month or so.

The global business aviation industry is in growth mode and is expected to double the number of airplanes from approximately 18,000 to 38,000 over the next 15-20 years. This is a current area of strength in Peterborough’s aviation sector. We have several active leads and are working on with more to come. We are also working with Industry Canada who works with aviation companies with government and other contracts who must invest in Canada. We plan to be one of those places in Canada that the aviation industry investments in.

With our community’s new investment in the airport, the local strengths we have in with aviation and aerospace and the resources and focus we are bringing to this effort we look forward to helping Peterborough’s economy soar in this very exciting high potential sector of the economy.

Author: Dan Taylor. President and CEO of the Greater Peterborough Economic Development Corporation and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster

About a year ago – and after many discussions, targeted research and brainstorming sessions – staff at the GPA EDC decided that it was time for a switch. Our communications needed a refresh. So much of our focus had been on telling the world about our services and the work of the GPA EDC… important to promote, but not what we should focus on.

Under the leadership of our President & CEO, Dan Taylor (@Cre8tiveDanT), we came to the conclusion that it was time to start promoting our PLACE. Our home, our product, our biggest asset… Peterborough (the City and the County). So then we started to plan. And then it started to snowball. And now we are deep in the weeds on a complete overhaul of every marketing product and communications piece that we distribute or maintain.

Our new strategy allows us to engage ever part of our corporation… Business development, Tourism, Agriculture, Innovation.  Our messages will be clearer, our focus more defined. So what changes?

1. We are building one interconnected website which will combine all of the aspects of our work.  This will help improve search engine optimization, create a clearer picture of the work we do and highlight the COMMUNITY not the corporation.
2. We are moving into email-based newsletters which will be used to keep potential investors, visitors and the community informed on the latest and greatest Peterborough news.
3. We’re rebranding… last year Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism underwent a sizeable re-branding project.  We are now implementing that brand throughout our corporation.
4. We’re building an on-line community forum which will give Peterborough a voice and allow residents, local business owners and visitors to share their Peterborough experiences.
5. We’re getting Market Ready.  We’re diving deeper and learning about every aspect of our community.  The more we know, the better we can promote it.
6. We’re defining our products. From a business development perspective we now understand Air, Water, Earth, Life and Fire to be our greatest areas of opportunity (see Dan Taylor’s blog, May 2012).

We’ve joined forces with some local talent to bring this whole project together:

• The Peterborough CFDC (@PTBOCfdc) has approved partial funding for a Communication Coordinator to join the team for the next year.
• The team at Studio-N (@StudioNCreative) are working on design and programming the creative work.
• Local Photogs Michael Hurcomb (@MichaelHurcomb) and Jesse Goodrice (@GoodricePhoto) are building an entirely new image library for the project.
• Donald Fraser (@small_print) of Small Print Writing and Communications Consulting is taking on the writing for the project .

So how can you get involved? We are looking for local businesses, residents and visitors to the region to volunteer guest blog on our community forum. We need many different perspectives from all walks of life to post one blog a month. Each blogger will be set up with a profile, a pretty pic and a searchable “column”. Email me at kyoung@gpaedc.on.ca or DM me at @youngk8e for more information.

Its time to define Peterborough. Let’s Do Business.

Submitted by: Kate Young, Communications Officer

Photography by Michael Hurcomb

Peterborough – The Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation is pleased to welcome Aleksandra de Oliveira to the role of Corporate Assistant. Aleksandra brings a wealth of executive administration experience through her sixteen years of work in Brazil and Canada.  Her portfolio includes the Canadian Consulate General in Sao Paulo, community organizations and the private sector.  “We are really pleased to welcome Aleksandra to our team at the GPA EDC”, said Dan Taylor, “the combination of her skills and experience as a New Canadian will provide a fresh and unique perspective to our work of attracting investment and facilitating an environment of growth for the region.”

We would also like to announce Brigid Ayotte’s promotion to the new role of Business Cultivator. Brigid brings ten years of experience including administration, marketing & business support as well as event planning and project coordination. In her role as Business Cultivator, Brigid will be coordinating business support services and learning opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Peterborough community.  She will also be providing support to the Sustainability program in collaboration with the County and City of Peterborough.

Brigid’s new role is a revised position formerly entitled Outreach Coordinator previously held by Lisa Greig. Aleksandra will be filling Brigid’s position as Corporate Assistant.  Please join us in congratulating our staff to their new appointments.

So Peterborough… are you up for the challenge? We’ve been contacted by the Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) and Force Four Productions (Cupcake Girls, Urban/Suburban) about possibly being the next Million Dollar Neighbourhood. They are looking for 100 families in our region to rise to the challenge…

Click MDN Season 2-Casting CallCM to view the casting call and to get directions on how to apply to be one of the 100 families

Recently, the GPA EDC, together with the Kawartha Manufacturers Association (KMA), put a unique spin on a cultural phenomenon in order to bring together some of the local community’s creative industrial minds in a forum designed to share information, ideas and resources. 

Entitled speed sharing, the event was a blend of speed dating, brainstorming and networking.  Attendees were divided into groups and assigned a table with a moderator and were presented with one of three topics for discussion.  The groups rotated through the tables at 20 minute intervals.  Topics included:

After a brief networking session while the moderators condensed discussions into common themes / solutions / actions, the results were presented.   The groups were then re-shuffled for dinner and encouraged to continue the discussion over dinner.

The Speed Sharing event was one of many innovative sessions hosted by the GPA EDC and the KMA to increase the competitiveness and competencies of manufacturers’ in this region.

By Julie Andras

JAC! Julie Andras Communications

www.julieandrascommunications.com

Over the past month or so I have had many opportunities to get to know Peterborough, ON better. I’ve dined in fine restaurants, I’ve wandered the vibrant downtown, experienced the wonders of sipping cappuccinos at the many wonderful coffee spots, enjoyed chats with the professionals in my new stomping ground, and mingled with some amazing people at networking events.

In all of my outings there have been two common themes – creativity and innovation.

Recently I took  time to reflect on these experiences, and the thread that runs through them. I have viewed projects by students from Fleming and Trent that show innovation and creativity are integral parts of their education. I have cheered on the high school students who over the past year have taken gold not only at the regional level, but also at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, and  now one local student is off to International as well.

The innovation incubator is alive and well in Peterborough – and so is creativity.

My chats with local professionals have revealed an intense creativity that lives in the heart of this community. Graphic designers, marketing professionals, business consultants – all bring a unique perspective to what creativity means to them, to their clients, and our community.

I toyed with a phrase but kept reversing it – it’s almost like a palindrome. Where creativity thrives, innovation thrives – where innovation thrives, creativity thrives. I don’t believe there’s a proper order to it – they are symbiotic and Peterborough is the perfect example of how well it works.

Over the next many years, I believe there will be many more creative innovations (or innovative creations) and Peterborough and the rest of the world will benefit – as much as I have benefited from being here to experience it.

With over 20 days spent out in the county at our municipal BAC kiosk’s we have made 25 new business connections, visited over 80 small businesses,talked about the importance of networking and businesses working together to promote & cost share.  Small business is BIG business throughout Peterborough County! 
Since mid January I have held the role of, Rural Outreach, helping small businesses access resources to start &/or grow their business. This position is part of our Business Advisory Centre (BAC) within the GPA EDC.  What I really enjoy about this position is all the positive energy that comes with entrepreneurs. They believe in their product/service and really want to get it to market place.

With my rural business background, I provide support to small businesses in the County or connect those businesses with the experts they need to fill the knowledge gap! Weather you are just starting or have been in business for a number of years, we are here to help. From working with you on your first business plan or re-visiting it after a number of years. Answering marketing, promotion projection & forecasting questions. Sometimes having a different perspective on your business is a good thing!

There are so many unique & interesting entrepreneurs living in the Greater Peterborough Area with great business ideas, products and services. This just reinforces the concept of buying locally.  If you want a great product or service you truly don’t have to go very far from home to get it!

For more information, visit www.businessadvisorycentre.ca and see how we can be a partner in your business success.

Submitted by: Karen Jopling, Agricultural Development Officer