BRE officer seeking information about business challenges

BRE stands for Business Retention and Expansion, a project administered by the South West Shore Development Authority, that focuses on listening to business owner challenges so they can be addressed to make operating easier, cheaper, more efficient, or create a greater job base.

It also focuses on any opportunities they want to discuss for growth, expansion, accessing new markets, and customers, and reducing operating costs, etc.

In the past few months, Gaudet has met with many businesses in Shelburne County and is looking forward to hearing from more.

He sees the fabric of small communities as a network of closely related businesses, many of them very small with only one or two employees but still very important.

“These small companies are often the ones that are embracing globalism and aggressively going after world markets and exposing the names Yarmouth, Shelburne, Barrington and Clare to the rest of the world, and in a very positive way, one step at a time and one contact, company and network at a time,” said Gaudet.

“Do you think the New York Islander fan that saw the spring training camp ever knew where Port Maitland Beach, where they (the team) went to run was? The Italian that is playing his exquisite wooden flute (crafted in Shelburne) to audiences from around the world... this person may never have known where Shelburne was.

“My point is that too often, as a nation, culture etc. we look at terms like "the most winnable" company etc.,” said Gaudet.

He added that there’s a need to rekindle the idea of brainstorming and to try out ideas so at least one is workable out of ten.

“We need to foster the same enthusiasm that so many of these local companies apply everyday as they survive regulations, market changes (drastic ones lately), etc, currency changes, new trends, etc.

Some of the common challenges faced by businesses in Shelburne County include: reduction of market size, loss of market, global competitiveness, market information, financial advice or needs.

For more information on BRE contact 902-742-3504 or 902-740-3404