Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency

It’s one thing to tell people that the quality of life in Nova Scotia is good.

 
But to really make them believers, it’s even better if you give them all of the sensations this province has to offer: sight of the green Annapolis Valley, sound of the stillness in a rural environment, taste of Jonagold apples, or lobster from the Bay of Fundy.
 
That’s the idea behind the Test Drive the Community, a program of the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency (ADEDA). The agency is encouraging small entrepreneurs to move to the area, and it’s offering all of its resources to pave the way.
 
“What you’re looking for is somebody who’s built up some equity and they’re looking for a change of lifestyle,” says Mike Gushue, ADEDA’s managing director. “They’re saying, ‘There must be a better way to do this. I’m tired of the daily grind of traffic. I’m tired of living in an urban environment. I’m tired of the pressures on family through crime, and I’ve always wanted to do this.’”
 
In early May, the agency went to Calgary to host an evening that showcased the Annapolis Digby area. It pulled out all the stops with listings from local realtors, business owners and artisans, an art auction, and a tasting menu using local ingredients created by an award-winning chef.
 
The night garnered significant media exposure and a lot of praise from Calgary residents, and by late May, the agency already had a list of over 20 business owners contemplating a Nova Scotian move.
 
“I’d say there are a number of very serious people looking to relocate to our area,” says Dan Harvey, business development officer at ADEDA. Another major success that came out of the Calgary event was ADEDA’s first official Test Driver, who came specifically with a business plan and an idea about how he might move his family to the Annapolis Digby area.
 
Harvey can’t name the IT and energy entrepreneur from Calgary until the plan is firmed up. But during the time they spent together, Harvey says that a lot of focused and efficient work was accomplished.
 
In a jam-packed two days, there were meetings with the leaders of local communities and businesses, the local MLA, funding partners such as ACOA and the Department of Rural and Economic Development, and Nova Scotia Business Inc. The whirlwind schedule also included a real estate tour for both business locations and a new home.
 
“If it wasn’t for our contacts, our relationships with these funding agencies, those meetings likely would not have happened,” says Harvey. “The Calgary entrepreneur really was very appreciative of the support and information that our agency had provided, and secondly, he was most impressed with the quality of life that our area had to offer.”
 
That quality of life is what Jodie Moase, a realtor with Royal LePage Atlantic, wants to introduce to her clients. Moase is one of the Test Drive partners who has offered her resources to help draw people to the area.
 
“I figure if I am able to introduce one or two people to the province, and to the valley, I’d be happy with that result,” she says. “In the long run, if I don’t have any direct business come of it, it is for me an experience that opens my eyes to other people’s feelings about when they’re coming to Nova Scotia.”
 
Mike Gushue says that ADEDA is particularly interested in attracting people with an interest in IT and geomatics, since the community already has resources in these areas. He lists organizations that the area already has, such as the Nova Scotia Community College and the FUNDYweb broadband Internet connection, which a potential entrepreneur could use to get a business off the ground.
 
ADEDA is ready and willing to accommodate anything that its Test Drivers might need, Gushue says. The Test Drive program will be tailor-made to each test driver’s personal needs, whether that be investment opportunities, real estate, schools, municipalities, doctors, medical services, or banks.
 
“Anything that they’d need to know about moving, we’ll make the connections for them,” Gushue says. “We just want to put that thought into people’s heads: to think about Annapolis Digby as a place you could live.”
 
ADEDA wants to show that it’s possible to combine good business sense and an emotional connection to the place you live, Dan Harvey says. Harvey says that his Test Drive guest loved the business connections, but also loved the heritage he found in the Annapolis Digby area.
 
“I think his words were, you can’t fabricate that.”

Feature story written by Shaina Luck