Cape Breton Partnership

Music lovers around the world call it the seat of Celtic music. Tourists, like those who read Conde Nast Traveler, know it as one of the top 10 islands in the world. And, according to Bruce Meloney, Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island deserves one more accolade: the place with the greatest potential for business people to compete and succeed in the global economy. Why? Because the island is, as the Cape Breton Partnership puts it, "East of Ordinary."

When he accepted the position of president and CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership, Meloney thought his job would be easy. After all, he knew the advantages the island had to offer, and he knew of the many businesses already thriving on the island. His task was to "connect the dots" by mobilizing the energy, expertise, and resources of private-sector businesses across the island and get everybody working toward a unified vision. But the number of passionate, innovative business people he met amazed him.

As Meloney discovered, the island was quietly filled with entrepreneurs who understood the value of diversification.

"They were diversifying before it became in vogue to do so." he says enthusiastically.

They were also taking full advantage of Cape Breton's unique geographic location.

"When you look on a map of the world, we're smack in the middle," he explains. "If somebody is coming from Europe, we're the first land base to North America. We have a deep water port in the Port Hawkesbury/Strait area. We have good rail and roads and we're always working to improve the roads. We can get product to the mid-U.S.A. easier and quicker than if it landed in Vancouver."

That strategic location is already helping island-based companies, such as Advanced Glazings, which develops technologies related to sunlight, and Protocase, which manufactures custom electronic closures and metal products. Both companies ship products around the world, within days.

Someday the location could also be sending people out of this world. In 2006, Nova Scotia signed an agreement with PlanetSpace to provide 300 acres of land for a massive orbital launch facility that could eventually be on scale with NASA.

"When you look at the flight paths the shuttles take, we're right on them," says Meloney. "It put us in a great position to get this business. It seems so far out there -- but the reality is, it's not."

Recently, the Cape Breton Partnership worked on another form of "space" travel - airlines.

"We have air service through Halifax, which is a major hub in Atlantic Canada and overseas," says Meloney. Major centres such as Toronto, Boston, and New York are only two hours away by air; European cities such as London and Frankfurt are just eight hours away. Thanks to the partnership's efforts, Air Canada proposed enhancements to their service and airfares to Sydney. It just goes to show the influence a group of like-minded business people can have when they combine their strengths.

While location and resources, such as available space in industrial parks and affordable construction, are important, Meloney believes there is yet another secret ingredient to the success of businesses on Cape Breton Island -- one you won't find anywhere else. The people.

"East of Ordinary is about telling the stories of extraordinary people," says Meloney. "It's about people across the island who have done remarkable things in their fields. They are people with passion, with strong beliefs. They've got an excellent work ethic and a real love of family and traditions."

And also, according to Meloney, a gift for being innovative.

They're people like Debra and Nathan Christiano who manufacture and sell fine wood, flooring and lumber throughout Canada and internationally. Like Richie Warren, the man who is responsible for one of the longest-running, most popular winter sporting events in the country: the Vince Ryan Hockey Tournament.

"It's a multi-million dollar economic generator," says Meloney.

They're people like Rosemary and Mac MacIsaac, who gave up life in Toronto, moved to Cape Breton and promptly broke down the perception that a "real kilt" could only be made in Scotland. Today they employ three full-time kilt makers and have tapped into the Australian, U.S., Belgium, German, Japanese, and U.K. markets.

These are the "everyday people," as Meloney calls them, of the Cape Breton Partnership. Their goal, as a group, is to inspire and support more business growth on the island, and maybe attract a few new ones along the way.

"When you have companies and people like these," says Meloney, "you'll get more who cluster with them."

The real advantage of the partnership is that it connects these everyday, extraordinary people, making it easier for fellow entrepreneurs to find each other. As Meloney describes it, in the past, each region or chamber of commerce acted independently. Now, there is a single point of access for business people across the island -- and a valuable networking opportunity for the members of the partnership themselves.

Work ethic and creativity may run high on Cape Breton Island, but another thing that makes the area so successful is the quality of life. As Meloney puts it, one of the biggest advantages of living in a smaller area is the balance you achieve.

"We tend to put work around our lifestyle." says Meloney.

As he says, it's all about getting enough of everything. Enough time with work. Enough time with friends. Enough time with family. Enough time with the community.

"That makes for better balance," he says. "On Cape Breton, you might even go home at lunch time to see your family."

Meloney and the partnership see only opportunity ahead for Cape Breton Island. He says that will be good for businesess already here, new ones who may choose to come, and, most importantly, for students and young people.

"We're teaching our children now what kinds of careers will be here, and that they will have their choice."

They'll be able to enjoy all the challenges of creative, satisfying work, and that special lifestyle balance that really does make this part of Nova Scotia "East of Ordinary."

http://www.capebretonpartnership.com/

<< Back to list of Charter Members