Practical Business Planning Oasis

Has there ever been a better time to start a small business in northern British Columbia?

Consider this. Scan Prince George and northern BC from an altitude of 30,000 feet, and what are you likely to see?

No doubt, you will notice a few challenges:

1. Thousands of hectares of dead, decaying beetlewood.
2. The price of lumber at an all-time low.
3. Global warming.
4. Rising gas prices.
5. Layoffs.

However, if you’re remotely inclined to view the positives, there are many:

1. An impressive infrastructure, including roads, rails, water and an international airport.
2. The dawning of some serious shipping capacity through the Port at Prince Rupert.
3. State of the art technology linking us instantaneously to the rest of the globe.
4. An abundance of clean air, at least outside of the bowl area.
5. Access to the most bountiful supply of fresh water on the planet.
6. Natural beauty within 20 minutes any direction.
7. Inexpensive energy and affordable housing.

At the North Central Municipal Association Conference recently held in Prince George recently, I listened with great interest to a presentation delivered by Graham Whitmarsh. Mr. Whitmarsh is Head of the Climate Action team working out of the Premier’s office. Although he had the unenviable task of promoting the carbon tax credit concept to a roomful of northerners, the eager optimist in me was drawn to the following economic opportunities mentioned at the end of his talk:

• Clean Technology
• Clean Power
• Forest Fiber
• Carbon Offsets
• Green Retail
• Service Sector
• Green Tourism

Sure we have a few challenges, but every successful business is built on one or more problems that people will pay to have solved. Great businesses emerge when entrepreneurs defy negativity and grapple with problems to devise solutions.

It seems our long-term romance with the US lumber market, however beneficial, has hindered our motivation to identify alternate sources of jobs and revenue.

From a business development perspective, I would like to see a lot more ideas springing forth from the economic opportunities above. The most deceptive thing about great opportunities is that they often come disguised as obstacles cloaked in a veil of hard work.

As I step off my 30,000 foot soapbox and instead look a few years into the future, the real heroes of tomorrow will be the entrepreneurs who design clean businesses that provide solutions without further eradicating our planet.

Are you sitting on ideas that could solve problems and make the world a better place to live in?

If we get busy now, what entrepreneurial successes could we be celebrating in 5 or 10 years?

Article by Dan Boudreau, reprinted from the Prince George Free Press.