CHARLOTTETOWN – Oct. 11, 2017 – Seven Island businesses will be heading out on a sales mission to Montreal Oct. 23-27, hoping to sell a good quantity of their PEI products or services: hand-made jewelry, steel-toed boots, bamboo bicycles, blueberries, hands-free doors, vinyl record pressing and fresh vegetable baskets.
This is the third time that RDÉE Prince Edward Island is organizing such a mission for businesses that have a Francophone capacity. “We are continuing these missions for one reason only: our participants mostly all end up signing sales contracts that diversify their markets and contribute significantly to the Island economy,” says Robert Maddix, the economic development officer coordinating these missions. “The average sales racked up during our first two missions were about $28,000 per participant.”
He explains that each time, a Quebec company is hired to organize business meetings between the PEI participants and potential Montreal buyers, often wholesalers. Since the RDÉE has had great success with a matchmaker called Clientis the first two times around, it decided to once again hire that firm. This time around, Clientis agent Véronique Paquignon has organized meetings with a total of 64 potential buyers.
“We are therefore extremely confident that our seven businesses will once again end up making great sales,” adds Maddix.
These missions are organized in collaboration with Innovation PEI and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
PARTICIPANTS
Businesses participating in this year’s mission are:
PAM AND JOE HANDCRAFTED INC. – Pam Arora from Charlottetown offers a variety of hand-made pieces of high-end jewelry.
KANESHII VINYL PRESS – Ghislaine Cormier of Charlottetown offers a vinyl record pressing service.
DANSO BIKES – Mathieu Arsenault will represent this bamboo bike manufacturer from Charlottetown.
GAGNÉ BLUEBERRIES – Sylvain Gagné of Morell will return to Montreal for a second time to sell his fresh blueberries to Québec supermarkets.
ATLANTIC SAFETY WEAR / RJ DISTRIBUTION – Ritske and Jacintha Deboer of Montague will offer a variety of steel-toed work boots.
TOP FEED – Rafaël Aguirre and Vaughn Murphy of Charlottetown will be seeking investors and sellers for its fresh vegetable baskets in the Montreal market.
ÜBERLOO – Ray Brow of Dundas will offer his hands-free door handles for sale.
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CUTLINE: Jacintha Deboer from RJ Distribution and sales mission coordinator Robert Maddix look over some samples of the Atlantic Safety Wear steel-toed boots that Deboer will be bringing to Montreal.
For more information:
Robert Maddix
Montreal Sales Mission coordinator
RDÉE Prince Edward Island
(902) 370-7333, Ext. 403
Robert@rdeeipe.org
Jamie Blanchard, Global Trade Officer
Innovation PEI
94 Euston Street
Charlottetown, PE C1A 7L9
902 368-4474
jrblanchard@gov.pe.ca