P R I N C E G E O R G E
S P E C I A L F E A T U R E
Where it
All Starts
Young entrepreneurs are inding
Prince George to be the ideal location
to turn their business dreams
into reality
O
nce a city dependent on
forestry, Prince George is being
recognized for its growing
products and services sector,
as well as becoming arguably
one of the hottest technoloy
centres in North America.
"We are the small but growing Silicon
Valley of the North," says Will Cadell,
CEO and geospatial web director at
Sparkgeo, a company building cutting-
edge geospatial technoloy for companies
across the globe.
There is a consensus in business that
qualities such as a†ordability, availability
of a talented labour pool, the existence
of a thriving business community and
quality of life factor into where to locate
a startup: Prince George has all of those
attributes and more.
Compared to other cities in B.C., it is
relatively inexpensive to start and run
a business in the Prince George region.
Moreover, "we are in the same time zone
as Silicon Valley and the access to talent
from the University of Northern B.C.
(
UNBC) is tremendous," adds Cadell, who
moved to Prince George because of the
great lifestyle it o†ered him.
According to statistics, its economy is
growing at nearly double the rate of the
rest of the province. Add to that a low
cost of living and higher than average
incomes, and this makes Prince George
extremely appealing for young startup
companies, believes Bryan Lockhart,
general manager, Winton Homes Ltd.
"We are seeing growth pick up
momentum," adds Lockhart. "We have
a new courthouse, a new RCMP building
and we have
UNBC's award-winning
Wood Innovation and Design Centre.
There's a growing con—dence here and
we are seen more and more as a central
hub of B.C."
Geographically, Prince George
has the wherewithal to become the
province's startup city. As Lockhart
points out, it has high-quality land,
relatively low startup costs, an
availability of skilled labour and excellent
connectivity. It also has nearly 10,000
students based at its two prestigious
post-secondary institutions—The College
of New Caledonia (
CNC) and UNBC, which
ranked second-best small university
in Canada.
Furthermore, Innovation Central
Society was founded three years ago to
help support technoloy entrepreneurs
in starting and growing successful
companies.
"Once a month, about 30 of us come
together for Innovation Central Society's
Startup PG Drinks meetings to liaise
and bounce ideas o† each other," adds
Lockhart, whose company's engineered
wood division provides structural
components for major projects in
Northern B.C. and Alberta.
It seems that Prince George has many
of the characteristics that successful
entrepreneurs need: pride, passion,
determination and drive.
