Manitoba entrepreneurs share their big ideas

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Published on Thursday, October 29, 2015

By Kira Paterson

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The first annual “What’s the Big Idea?” event was a success. Marilyn Crewe, economic development officer (EDO) for the town of Neepawa, said that it went really well for its first time. “We were really pleased with the event,” she said. It was put on at the Minnedosa Community Conference Centre on Thursday, Oct. 22.

The event was put on as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas for a chance to get prizes. It was also intended to help the entrepreneurs get in touch with support agencies that could help them start their businesses, even if they didn’t win anything. 

There were also different agency representatives and successful entrepreneurs there that made presentations about how to start a business and what was important to make new businesses thrive.

Crewe noted that there was a good variety of entrepreneurs and ideas, and that there was great community support. The seats for the audience were almost filled. There were six different entrepreneurs who made pitches to a panel of four business experts. The panel included Nikita Shaurette, Trent Clayton, Beth McMann and Paul Laliberte and these four decided on who would get the awards that were offered. Each entrepreneur got 10 minutes to make their pitch and five minutes to answer any questions that the audience or panel had for them. 

The first pitch was made by Rob Smith from Rapid City. His idea was for a casino for hire that only used fake money. It was called Lady Luck Funny Money Casino. He would offer his casino to businesses that wanted to put on an event and needed entertainment for it. His games would be set up in whatever venue the business wanted and his dealers would go there and run them. He said that his employees would be trained and able to help those who don’t know how to play the games. His business would be available to anyone in the area, including Brandon. There are already other casinos like this in Brandon, so he was hoping to make his more available to the smaller communities. 

The next pitch came from Doug and Hali Finlay, husband and wife from Rapid City. They planned to open a dealership called Oakview Equipment for MTZ tractors, which is a company that is just starting to come back into Canada. These tractors are non-computerized, which is an advantage for use in extremely cold weather.

Computerized tractors often malfunction in low temperatures. They would sell smaller, all-purpose MTZ tractors and used farming equipment. They would also offer repair services to all makes of tractors. They said they would be the only MTZ dealer within a 100km radius and that they would be good competitors with the other farming equipment dealerships because the MTZ tractors are offered at a lower price than other name brands. 

The third pitch was for the idea of an art gallery space being opened in Minnedosa. Marlies Soltys, the creator of Modern Mosaics in Minnedosa, wanted to have a space to showcase her art and give other local artists the opportunity to display theirs. Her gallery would be somewhat like the Viscount Cultural Centre in Neepawa, in that it would have local art for sale and it would offer different art classes and art clubs to anyone who was interested. Her Modern Mosaics business includes installing tiles, making mosaic artwork for display, making jewellery and painting artwork. She said that the art gallery would allow her to show off her products and give her more space, so that she can make more. The idea would benefit her already established small business and the town of Minnedosa and its artists. 

Another idea from Rapid City came next. Lisa Ballegeer of Innovative Hearing Technology had the idea for a mobile hearing centre. She already has a portable sound booth that she is using, but she would like a lighter weight booth and needed ideas on how to get attention for her business. She is able to test hearing in the booth and being a registered hearing aid practitioner, she would be able to fit patients with hearing aids right then and there. A free trial for a week would be offered to see if the hearing aids would work for the patient and then they would come back to her and get their own set if they wanted to. She would also offer support to her patients, teaching them how to use and maintain the hearing aids. Her booth would be able to come to care homes, businesses that operate loud machinery and even people’s houses. 

There was one pitch that came from Neepawa made by Darryn Cameron. His business would be called 4U Home Decor and Consulting. He currently buys or finds old furniture that he repurposes or refurbishes to create unique pieces for people’s homes. He sells them under his own name as of right now, but he wants to create a business out of it. He hopes to find a venue to store, display and sell his “upcycled” furniture. He can get the old furniture and materials for fairly cheap, so he would be able to sell his pieces for an affordable price to those who just moved in and needed furnishings or just those who wanted a unique piece to add to their decor. He said it would also offer convenience to the people of Neepawa, so that they didn’t have to go out of town to buy furniture. 

The final pitch came from Joyce Domeski of Riding Mountain. She called her business idea Prairie Mountain Transitions. The idea was to offer services to people who have just immigrated to Canada and are living in the Prairie Mountain area. She would offer pick-up from the airport, finding hotels for the immigrants to stay in temporarily, taking them to appointments and other places they needed to find, teaching them about the amenities in their area and helping them get in touch with employment services in case they needed a job or wanted to find a different job elsewhere. She said that they would get in touch with the immigrants through HyLife Foods, which is where many of them would be employed, or through local immigration services. The business is only in the concept stage right now, but Joyce said that they hope to develop it and return to “What’s the Big Idea?” next year with the business started. 

After the pitches were done, the panel took some time to select the winners of the different awards. They had to take into consideration the criteria for each award that was set by the agencies and businesses that were offering them. 

The award from Minnedosa and Area Community Development Corporation for $1,000 went to Marlies Soltys for her art gallery idea. Also won by Soltys was the RBC “Best Pitch of the Day” for $300 and the Minnedosa Chamber of Commerce award of $250. The BMO “Best Overall Idea” for $150 went to Joyce Domeski for her transition service idea. The $1,000 award from the Town of Neepawa went to Darryn Cameron for his home decor business. The award from the RM of Minto-Odanah for $500 for the idea that best benefited the residents of that municipality went to Lisa Ballegeer and her mobile hearing centre idea. The RM of Oakview award for the idea that best benefited that municipality for $500 went to Doug and Hali Finlay for their tractor dealership plans. There were also four awards that weren’t issued because none of the pitches met the criteria for them. The money from those awards went back to the groups that offered them. 

“What’s the Big Idea?” showcased new business ideas that will hopefully be established in the rural communities of Western Manitoba soon. Crewe said they are already set to start building the next one, which will be held in Neepawa. “We’re looking forward to doing it again next year,” she said. So if anyone has an idea for a new business or product, get in touch with Crewe or Vern May, the EDO in Minnedosa, to register for the event next year.