AGM 2018 : a positive look toward the future

From left to right, back row : Josée Croteau, administrative assistant,  Nathalie Patry, financial analyste, Julie Bénard, monitoring officer, André Lanthier, administrator, Kerry Ann Gorman, administratrior, Pierre Monette, general manager. Gront row : Daniel Chalifour, André Galipeau eand Maria Brennan, administrators.

Review of the last three years

The end of a three-year agreement with Canada Economic Development provided the Gatineau Valley SADC an opportunity to take stock of its achievements. The triennial results were presented at its annual general meeting.

The investment fund

First of all, investments for the year ending March 31, 2019 in the territory’s businesses came to $541,295, which raised the three-year total of investments to $2,742,714. These investments by SADC generated total investments of close to $5 million from 2016 to 2019, enabling 48 companies to create or maintain close to 400 jobs. These results are all the more convincing when they are compared with the results of a Statistics Canada survey, showing that companies dealing with a SADC or a CAE (Business Assistance Centre) in Quebec have a better survival rate, create more than twice as many jobs and raise their wages and sales more quickly.

Small Business Support

In the past three years, SADC also supported 33 companies on its territory with its SAPE (Small Business Support) program through contributions totalling $84,049 for projects dealing with innovation, succession, information technology, sustainable development and female and Indigenous entrepreneurship, which brought in investments by SADC and participating companies totalling $132,038.

Local economic development

In keeping with its desire to support business development in the Valley, various developmental workshops on Facebook, human resources, succession, information technology, and so on, were offered. Over the past three years, 449 persons attended the 22 activities that were held. These activities generated total investments of $210,861 by SADC and its partners. 

Consulting service continues

To complete the services offered to businesses on the territory, SADC has continued to offer consulting services over these three years to entrepreneurs requesting their assistance by offering them advice on various aspects of the management of their companies, which allows for a knowledge transfer that is useful and necessary to ensure the growth of their businesses.

The president of the Gatineau Valley SADC, André Galipeau, said he was proud of the results achieved over the past three years and indicated that the organization is ready to take on development changes in the coming years.

And next up

The SADC team has done a great deal of work in the past few years. The future will be replete with many challenges and efforts to spur local economic development. According to Pierre Monette, the general manager of SADC, the next year should focus on research and oversight first as part of a project designed to develop more business relations between our territory and the nearby urban area of Ottawa-Gatineau. The start of the year will involve structuring this project which, it is hoped, will have a positive effect on the Gatineau Valley and bring in additional business investments.

In another connection, the Chantier relève (successions) project, which began last year, will continue and provide, among other things, information workshops for small groups on various concrete labour-related subjects and the publication of a guide on the human aspects of a business transfer.

Gatineau Valley SADC held its thirty-eighth annual general meeting against the backdrop of these accomplishments and looks positively toward the future.