The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce is looking to set up a mentorship program for new business people.
That was one of the items to come out of a Feb. 15 meeting of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
It is one of the first initiatives being pursued by the new Chamber president Scott Campbell, who said the idea came from a recent suggestion posed to him from fellow director Rob Rongve. Rongve had suggested putting together a list of names of people who can mentor small businesses.
That list could include people on the Chamber board or others in the community. The idea is for people involved in new businesses to be able to call one of the mentors in an area of similar expertise.
The idea has won the approval of other directors at the Chamber. Director Sharon Mohagen of Blue Rentals told the meeting she was able to rely on the mentoring of Battleford mayor Chris Odishaw when she was trying to make the big move from a home-based to retail business.
"I was very scared and everything else," Mohagen said of that transition period. She said she was able to bounce ideas off Odishaw and benefit from his good advice. She also valued the fact Odishaw was in a separate business: selling furniture at Battleford Furniture. As a result, she didn't feel any threat to her own business, Mohagen said.
"I appreciated him coming in and sitting down and saying 'are you having any problems?'" Mohagen recalled.
Mohagen and fellow directors Pat Smith and Paul Sayers have volunteered to help kick start the initiative for the Chamber. Many details are still to be worked out.
In addition to the mentorship initiative, the Chamber continues to plan ahead for its upcoming events involving two potential speakers.
Marketing expert Kordell Norton will be in the Battlefords for three sessions March 3.
Norton's first session is to be on "Supercharging your Business Growth" - a session on business marketing and preparing for growth. That event will be aimed mainly at Chamber members and smaller businesses.
Norton will also be on hand in the afternoon for a session on "How to add Sizzle and Pizzazz to Your Event" marketing specifically to local Chamber managers and non-profit members, who organize events. Thursday evening he will be doing a strategy session for the board, which Campbell says will be educational and informative.
Director Paul Sayers reported at the meeting that his committee is still interested in bringing renowned business speaker Donald Cooper (formerly of Cooper Sporting Goods) to the Battlefords this fall.
Cooper has come off a very successful speaking engagement in Prince Albert that was well received according to Sayers. A North Battleford event could see some spinoff benefits from that, with Sayers noting Prince Albert people who took in Cooper's event there may be interested in showing up for a North Battleford session.
Other items discussed included preparations for the Taste of Culture event in March, which is moving to a new location this year at Western Development Museum from its old Agrivilla location.
That event will be held in conjunction with Agri-Mex farm trade and home show, which is set for March 31, April 1 and April 2 at its regular exhibition grounds location.
As well, the board received a short update on activities with respect to the Credit Union CUPlex fundraising. Board director Brendon Boothman says fundraising is still at around the $8.2 million mark.
The fundraising committee is hoping to target more businesses and see more of them step up to the plate with commitments. The number that have contributed is still relatively small: a total of 69 businesses have made funding commitments, Boothman said, out of about 800 businesses in the area.
Boothman noted the fundraising campaign hopes to meet its $10 million target and wrap up its campaign by June 2011 - the one-year anniversary mark. There has been talk about possibly putting on another "Million Dollar Day" fundraising event similar to the successful event last fall, when a million dollars in funding commitments were secured and announced on a single day.
