PJILA’SI! – THE PERFECT INVITATION TO ANY TRAVELLER North Cape Coastal Drive KNUCKLING DOWN, SPRUCING UP, AND GROWING BETTER EACH DAY City of Westland, Michigan WASTE NOT – KEEPING FOOD COLDER AND FRESHER FOR LONGER Deepchill® BUSINESSINFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM SE PT EMB ER 2 02 3IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE? Is Your Organization... READY to include Canadian Women Business Enterprises in its supply chain? INTERESTED in developing your own supplier diversity program in the upcoming 12 months? EAGER to benefit from resources and support to streamline and shorten the implementation process? Inclusion of women-owned businesses in your supply chain is a smart business choice! IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE? Is Your Organization... READY to include Canadian Women Business Enterprises in its supply chain? INTERESTED in developing your own supplier diversity program in the upcoming 12 months? EAGER to benefit from resources and support to streamline and shorten the implementation process? Inclusion of women-owned businesses in your supply chain is a smart business choice! EDITOR’S CORNER IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE? Is Your Organization... READY to include Canadian Women Business Enterprises in its supply chain? INTERESTED in developing your own supplier diversity program in the upcoming 12 months? EAGER to benefit from resources and support to streamline and shorten the implementation process? Inclusion of women-owned businesses in your supply chain is a smart business choice! IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE? Is Your Organization... READY to include Canadian Women Business Enterprises in its supply chain? INTERESTED in developing your own supplier diversity program in the upcoming 12 months? EAGER to benefit from resources and support to streamline and shorten the implementation process? Inclusion of women-owned businesses in your supply chain is a smart business choice! 3 In North America, it can be diffi- cult to talk about Indigenous issues no matter what angle one takes, or what message is intended. The story is not a happy one, in the USA or in Canada, and the linger- ing effects of colonialism persist today. I grew up adjacent to a reserve in Canada, and some of my in-laws are First Nations people. Through a child’s eyes, there was no big difference between us except hair colour. We all played the same games and had similar goals and dreams and worries and problems. But as I got older, my friends on the other side of the street did not succeed as I did. Opportunities that I took for granted never existed for them. It took me a long time to realize this, and that my success over theirs was not due to any exceptional effort on my part—it was just how things were. In Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was key to understanding the intergenerational effects and harm wrought over the years by residential schools. My personal hero (a hero to so many Canadians), Gord Downie, was dedicated to reconcil- iation and pushed for real change on this front. I recall his lyrics: “Now the struggle has a name, it doesn’t fade, it hasn’t changed.” But we are seeing positive change. We asked Margaret Eaton to look into the economic participation of Indigenous people in Canada, and she has delivered a very encouraging piece. Please take the time to read her story in this issue: 60,000 Enterprises and Counting - Celebrating Canada’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship. Tim Hocken Editor Suite 300, 7071 Bayers Rd. | Halifax, NS | B3L 2C2 | Canada P: 1-647-479-2163 | E: EDITOR Tim Hocken DEPUTY EDITOR Jaime McKee COPY EDITORS Thora Smith | Allister Havercroft CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Allison Dempsey | Claire Suttles Jessica Ferlaino | Margaret Eaton | Nate Hendley Pauline Müller | Robert Hoshowsky DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS James Corbett OPERATIONS MANAGER Severina Gachparova CONTENT DEVELOPMENT TEAM LEAD Scott Forbes SENIOR CONTENT DEVELOPER Wendy Hood-Morris CONTENT DEVELOPERS Erin McWhinney | Lily Mitchell | Taylor Dunne SALES TEAM LEAD Pamela Taylor SALES TEAM Morgan Culpepper | Dean Lucas GRAPHIC DESIGN TEAM LEAD Laura Pratt GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Ashley Dowling | Ebic Tristary Isaac McWhinnie | Yoana Ilcheva OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Julia MacQueen IT ADMINISTRATOR Rebecca Sanford CONTROLLER Jen Hamilton SENIOR ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN Christi Lingard PUBLISHER Jeff HockenINSIDE SEPTEMBER WORKFORCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT 4 Celebrating Canada’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Canada’s two million Indigenous people—First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, who make up about five percent of the total population—are reclaiming their rightful place at the economic table, a place from which they were excluded for far too long. COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY 5 BUSINESS IN FOCUS ASCM 2023 - THE ASSOCIATION FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 11 – 13 September, Louisville, KY The ASCM CONNECT Annual Conference is one of the largest shows for supply chain professionals. The premier supply chain educational event brings together the best content, networking, and presenters—experts from around the world will explore sustainability; planning; procure- ment; talent and leadership; diversity, equity and inclusion; and so much more. Exhibitors will have the opportunity to connect with supply chain professionals from all over the world at the Annual Conference, the flagship event from the leader in supply chain education. For more information PACK EXPO LAS VEGAS 11 – 13 September, Las Vegas, NV Every two years, PACK EXPO Las Vegas brings together packaging and processing solutions suppliers and end users from more than 40 vertical industries. Exhibitors launch products, showcase their latest innovations, and problem-solve with customers. Attendees explore thousands of packaging and processing technologies on display and discover game-changing solutions to their packaging and processing challenges. For more information BIOMEDEVICE 20 – 21 September, Boston, MA BIOMEDevice Boston brings engineers, business leaders, disruptive companies, and innovative thinkers from the region’s top startups and medical device OEMs together to inspire the next life-changing medical device. Enjoy live demos and uncover the latest technologies, solutions, and market-ready products from more than 200 biomed suppliers, and gain access to the experts with exciting keynote sessions, expert-led panel discussions, the Master Class Startup Series conference program, and more. For more information NATURAL PRODUCTS EXPO EAST 20 – 23 September, Philadelphia, PA With a focus on innovation and what’s new in natural and organic, Natural Products Expo East is the event to attend if you wish to discover emerging brands, products, ideas, and markets. Enjoy educational content, networking opportunities, exciting exhibits, the Harvest Festival on Sept. 20, and the newly co-located Innovation Experience on Sept. 22, featuring innovative exhibits, experiential education, networking, and discussion. For more information MARKETING ANALYTICS & DATA SCIENCE (MADS) 26 – 28 September, Washington, DC Join the premier event for marketing insights, analytics, and data science professionals. If you’re responsible for the data-driven insights critical to improving marketing ROI, there’s no better place to find new tools, ideas, and thought leadership. At the Marketing Analytics & Data Science (MADS) conference, you’ll uncover inspiration to think more strategically, better understand customer sentiment, and advance marketing effec- tiveness for your organization. For more information visit: INDUSTRY EVENTS 6 Are you planning an event relating to North America’s growing Business Industry? To get your event listed in Business in Focus, please contact us at least six to eight weeks before the event takes place at or call 1-647-479-2163INDUSTRY NEWS LACK OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE COULD THREATEN FROZEN FOOD SUPPLY The pandemic changed the market in many ways. First, it changed consumer behaviours. Second, it highlighted the inadequacies of the global supply chain, and the volatility supply chain interruptions can cause. Paired with rising food costs and inflation rates, there are countless implications, one of which is a strain on critical cold storage supply chains. As consumers seek more affordable and convenient food options, they are likely to find themselves in the frozen food aisles. American consumers love frozen foods, demand for which only grew during the pandemic as these items were easy to stockpile, but this $265 billion market is at risk due to insufficient infrastructure. According to the American Frozen Food Institute, frozen food sales totalled $72 billion in 2022, and this growth in demand is stretching the cold storage supply chain’s capacities thin. Poor cold storage supply chains are already responsible for 13 percent of food loss around the world each year, capacity that is greatly needed to meet rising demand. Similarly, the market is also being impacted by the lack of skilled labour, inflation rates, and high material costs. The cost to invest in the construction of new facilities is enormous, par- ticularly where labour shortages are dire. This will also have an impact on the optimal functioning of critical cold storage supply chains throughout North America. 7INDUSTRY NEWS TELUS CUTS 6,000 JOBS A drop in second quarter profits has led Telus to cut 6,000 jobs from its over 100,000-person strong workforce, in an attempt to restructure and streamline its operations and free up cash flow to remain competitive amid an evolving regulatory environment. The cuts will impact 4,000 employees at its main Telus business and 2,000 across its global operations. These figures include offers of early retirement and voluntary departure packages. The company offered 2,000 buyouts to employees in May, spe- cifically targeting customer support roles in its wireless, internet and cable business. The cost of this restructuring effort will total $475 million in 2023 but is expected to save Telus $325 million or more annually, while it focuses on its strategy to build out its broad- band networks and digitize operations. PORSCHE EYES NORTH AMERICA FOR FIRST EV PLANT German luxury car maker Porsche is weighing its options when it comes to where to build its $3.3 billion electric vehicle plant. Frontrunners include Germany, the United States, and Canada, a decision that will likely depend on energy costs, among other considerations like supplies of materials and labour. Talks with investors are underway, as are efforts to construct its 1 gigawatt-hour plant, which is located just outside of Stuttgart, where it is based. While Germany would make sense given proximity, the U.S. market is leading the way, with Canada in a distant third in the running for preferential location. BLACK-OWNED BRANDS SEE MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR BOOST Through an initiative called the Fifteen Percent Pledge, Black- owned brands are getting a boost from major retailers. The program, which has been active since May 2020, has helped inject $14 billion dollars into the market for Black-owned brands since that time, asks companies to reflect the Black community which represents fifteen percent of the U.S. population by ded- icating fifteen percent of its shelf space to Black-owned brands. Major retailers like Nordstrom, Macy’s, Sephora, Gap, and Ulta Beauty are among the list of companies that have partnered on this initiative, which forecasts upwards of $14 trillion of wealth generation taking place for Black entrepreneurs by 2030. 8INDUSTRY NEWS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2023 SEATRADE CRUISE AWARDS Finalists for the 2023 Seatrade Cruise Awards have been announced, with the province of New Brunswick, Canada finding recognition on the world stage. Port Saint John has been nomi- nated for Port of the Year, alongside Port of Haugesund (Karmsund Port Authority) of Norway and Port of Thessaloniki, in Greece. An international lineup of 16 independent judges will select the winners of the seven different categories, with winners announced and trophies presented during an evening recep- tion at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg, Germany, on September 6. Oracle Hospitality and Ocean Technologies Group are joint principal sponsors of the 16th Seatrade Cruise Awards scheme. NEW U.S. FASHION GIANT IN THE MAKING Tapestry, the name behind brands like Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, will acquire Capri Holdings, parent company of Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, for $8.5 billion, a move that will position it to better compete with luxury fashion houses around the world. The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. This effort will help Tapestry better appeal to a new genera- tion of consumers by elevating its brand position to better compete with luxury markets globally, but particularly in the European market, as a direct response to weaker sales in the North American market. 9Next >