The Pictou County Chamber of Commerce will welcome a guest at this year’s AGM whose focus is creating local prosperity, and building up a community economically from the inside.
Andy Horsnell, director and president of the Centre for Local Prosperity, will be speaking at the annual general meeting on April 26 at the Pictou County Wellness Centre, with a focus on communities, and “innovative ways to look at creating business,” said Chamber CEO Jack Kyte.
“We’re looking at what we’re importing into Nova Scotia to see if those products can be made here.”
Kyte said that Horsnell will focus on “taking our destiny into our own hands, as a community, instead of waiting for something wonderful to happen.”
Horsnell has a history of working with small businesses across North America. He is vice-chair of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada. Kyte said Horsnell will be speaking specifically about the dynamic of “import replacement,” focusing on the results of an Atlantic-wide study on the subject.
Horsnell has a particular interest in studying what sort of things a community imports – things that could potentially be generated locally, and possibly made into exports once local needs are met.
“(Horsnell has) worked with small businesses and non-profits and their enterprises, and is the founder of an organization called Common Good Solutions in Halifax,” said Kyte. “His life’s work has been with smaller businesses and non-profits, and his subject matter is import replacement.”
Horsnell will be sharing results of his study with guests at the AGM.
“Import replacement is something that could stimulate our thinking here, and maybe some individuals in the community will be interested in seeing import replacement at work,” said Kyte.
In information from the chamber, Horsnell is quoted as saying, “import replacement ‘plugs economic leaks,’ keeping money circulating close to home through more local procurement with local businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue.”
For more information on the upcoming AGM or Andy Horsnell, contact the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce at 902-755-3463 or [email protected].
