At a seasonal beveraging session, some of our city’s finer business minds unofficially gathered and weighed in on local business life.
We examined why B.C. seems to lack large world-class companies and the other classic whine that we simply “build to sell to outsiders.” The technology sector, where companies are often purpose-built for acquisition, is particularly prone to this criticism.
I mused that great entrepreneurs are like bumblebees: technically, they’re not supposed to be able to fly, but buzz around quite successfully anyway.
The comment won me a drink and launched deeper musings about the role that entrepreneurial attitude plays in our economy. I started looking for local “bumblebee” business examples.
Though we tend to watch for the latest thing, vast fortunes have historically sprung from meeting basic needs in innovative ways.
Few human needs are more basic than shelter, and few can claim greater success at meeting the global need for portable shelter than two Vancouver-area companies.
Both Weatherhaven and Tentnology have earned international recognition, and profit, by constantly innovating to meet the need for portable shelter – housing everything from rock bands and assorted events to sheltering soldiers, refugees, portable hospitals and emergency workers.
Burnaby-based Weatherhaven is a leading provider of portable shelters, camps and systems – typically situated in remote locations and harsh climates. The company engineers, makes and installs survival and shelter systems for commercial, medical and military uses.
From its 1981 start supplying practical, comfortable remote-site camps in Canada, Weatherhaven found its sweet spot supplying expedition and mining exploration camps. It now deploys shelters to seven continents and 50 countries.
Later, customer needs for mobile and specialty projects drove product innovation focused on cost control and transportation logistics.
According to CEO Ray Castelli, Weatherhaven and other companies such as Coast Mountain Sports and Mustang Survival Corp. sprang from Vancouver’s strong expeditionary community.
Then, because Vancouver hosts most of the world’s exploratory mining companies, Weatherhaven focused its expeditionary energies on mining applications, thus funding product development.
Castelli said that when Canada’s military sought shelters for peacekeeping in environments ranging from sub-Saharan Africa to the Arctic, it shopped worldwide and chose Weatherhaven. Then came large turnkey contracts with government and militaries for re-deployable, portable shelters.
Castelli reports Weatherhaven now sells $80 million annually and will top $100 million in revenue next year. He said the company now sells to 20 militaries worldwide.
Though in the same industry as Weatherhaven, design creativity, style and customized service are differentiators for Surrey-based Tentnology. It’s the world’s top maker of event and party tents. It also makes the uber-cool “SaddleSpan” tensile membrane structures.
The 20-year old company employs 75 people worldwide and exports to Europe, the Caribbean, the Americas, the Pacific Rim and Arab nations.
Its gorgeous tents – all swooping lines and sinuous curves – are worthy of being in the movies. In fact, the hit film Twilight featured a Tentnology hexagon marquee tent in a pivotal scene.
The company has supplied more than 20,000 tents worldwide – from housing the Prince of Bahrain’s wedding to a unique structure for BMW’s Miami Beach E90 launch to various Olympic Game tents.
According to Tentnology founder Gery Warner, geographical isolation is but one factor driving exports.
“We had to roam far and wide to find enough business. What drives me today is curiosity about the world. I truly enjoy serving people worldwide; it’s fascinating.”
Robert Megeney is president of Event Labour Works, an established company that builds North American installation teams who provide the vital link between Weatherhaven and Tentnology and their customers.
According to Megeney, Weatherhaven and Tentnology built a foundation of made-in-Canada expertise then deployed high-quality products to worldwide locations.
“In Canada, we have to deal with the rigours of the Canadian environment and keep refining how we deal with that adversity.”
Both Weatherhaven and Tentnology prove that Canadian environmental solutions enjoy the same desirable brand reputation as German car engineering. Their products perform brilliantly in global locations; both enjoy brand-building through sheer field exposure.
Finally, both illustrate how being innovative in a specialty – and focusing narrowly on delivering its value worldwide – can yield success, profit and defensible competitive advantage despite being located in a relative backwater. Busy bees, indeed!
