Kingston Business Today, April 2015 edition

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By Hollie [email protected]

Business - These days, small business owners are expected to be skilled at a great many things in order to remain competi-tive, not the least of which is technology.

Here in Kingston, Ahsen Basit is on a mission to make it easier for businesses to connect with customers through social media. His new app, Opprox (“opportuni-ties in proximity”), has already been hailed as giving small local businesses “the Star-bucks-like experience” according to the owner of Fuel Kingston nutrition house.

“Basically it’s an app that allows you to get deals from local businesses in Kings-ton and allows you to collect loyalty points with them without carrying a card with you,” Basit says. “So it’s like an electronic rewards program.”

Businesses in turn are able to promote their products in a manner that is more di-rect and reliable than traditional forms of social media.

“Facebook’s organic reach is going down so much,” explains Basit. “Now if you have more than 1,000 likes on your Fa-cebook page your organic reach goes down 3-4 per cent, so you have to buy into it.”

So far over 40 local businesses, such as Windmill’s, Moksha Yoga and Ali Baba Kebab have signed on. Businesses are di-vided into four categories: food, health and wellness, lifestyle and entertainment. After clicking on a category, customers scroll through a series of deals attached to attrac-tive photos of products and services. Basit says that the idea is to give customers an Instagram-like experience.

Current deals include two-for-one ap-petizers and a Corona special at Merchant Tap House, five per cent off your first visit to Fix My Pod, a free coffee at K-Town Kups and rewards programs at places like Ali Baba Kebab and Fuel Kingston. Cus-

tomers scroll through and add the deals they want to their “wallet” until they’re ready to redeem them.

“When consumers get free stuff from a brand, they get great feelings about it and the brand starts turning into a lot more,” Basit says. “They tell their friends about it and that increases word of mouth, which is the most important marketing tool out there.”

Eventually, Basit hopes to expand Op-prox nationally and then globally. For now, though, he’s still at the phase of testing it out; he says that Kingston, a city he ini-tially came to in order to study business at Queen’s and is now home, is the perfect place to do that.

“Kingston is considered the best test market in the world. McDonald’s I think even piloted their pizza here back in the ‘80s. We have the most restaurants per cap-ita and we’ve got this amazing tech savvy millennial demographic of around 30,000 students, which is great. And it’s a small town, very community focused.”

Indeed, Basit believes Opprox will help build upon this sense of community.

“This is a digital economy being created where businesses will make use of each other’s customers, so it’s very community focused.”

He also hopes it will become a launch pad, of sorts, for sales and marketing savvy entrepreneurs who would like to have their own mobile advertising franchise.

“If they would like to get involved with us, we have a very aggressive rev-enue sharing program with our sales people. If they get it out there and get merchants to sign up, we give them a significant percentage of the revenues they bring in. I wanted to make it a platform that helps that – not every-body knows how to make a mobile app.”

To learn more about Opprox, visit www.opprox.com or contact Basit at [email protected].

The app can be downloaded from both Apple and Google stores.

Kingston based e-rewards app takes off locally, sets sights globally

opprox creator Ahsen Basit. Photo/Hollie Pratt-Campbell

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2 Kingston Business Today - Tuesday, April 14, 2015

By Bill Hutchins

News – Kingston’s airport con-tinues to lose ground to cheaper and more convenient transportation op-tions, despite ongoing efforts to bol-ster service.

City officials aren’t giving up hope that Norman Rogers Airport can grow its passenger base by embarking on a $16 million expansion of its terminal and main runway.

About 90 per cent of local air trav-ellers are using airports other than Kingston as the starting point for their journey. Local airport passenger travel declined from 75,800 in 2009 to 67,600 in 2014.

“It is estimated that 2,000 passen-gers a day are diverting to airports such as Syracuse, Ottawa and Toron-to,” according to the latest report on airport service.

The status report outlines a vari-ety of counter measures underway to try and woo more airlines and pas-sengers.

This includes ongoing discussions to land WestJet’s regional carrier, Encore, when the airline expands its short-distance flights into east-ern Canada this year. WestJet is cur-rently studying the local demograph-ics – including students, seniors and business attractiveness – before de-ciding to commit to making Kings-ton a regular stopover. But there are

positive factors such as the fact that 95 per cent of local air travelers will fly to broader destinations served by WestJet. “Kingston has the largest population of any city in Canada not within 150 kilometres of a WestJet service.”

The city has also met with some success in convincing Air Canada, the airport’s main regional carrier, to lower some passenger fares in its seven daily flights to Toronto’s Pear-son International Airport. Air Canada is targeting the connecting flights to Canadian destinations and is offer-ing up to half of the available seats on most departures at a lower price. “This resulted in a revised fare struc-ture that lowered the incremental

airfare to fly in/out of Kingston to a base level of $75,” the report noted.

One major drawback, though, is Air Canada’s reliance on the small-er 18-seat Beechcraft planes on the Kingston-Toronto flights, which can’t hold as much luggage. “The luggage capacity of the aircraft is severely limited and is resulting in a very high number of delayed bag-gage deliveries and inconvenience to passengers.”

Air Canada says it will press its larger 37-seat Dash-8 aircraft into Kingston to accommodate sport tourism, group travel, conventions or other big draw events if it has sufficient notice, but it’s not ready to use the larger planes on a regular

basis.Airport officials admit the busi-

ness case to justify expanding the passenger terminal and lengthen the main runway remains a work in progress. “Air passenger usage can-not be developed to generate suffi-cient return to finance this project; however it is a requirement for eco-nomic development, regional trans-portation and community vibrancy.”

The current plan’s first phase calls for the city to spend $9 mil-lion to lengthen the north-south runway from 5,000 to 6,000 feet in 2016/2017, and to spend a further $7 million in the second phase to ex-pand and reconfigure the passenger terminal in 2019.

Mayor Bryan Paterson says he is behind the ‘build it and they will come’ argument, noting airport ex-pansion must occur in order to at-tract more carriers and passengers.

The report to council also noted: “The implementation of expansion plans will indicate to carriers that Kingston Airport is fully supportive of improvements to allow develop-ment of their air services.”

Airport officials went to coun-cil March 24 to seek an additional $37,500 to retain LPS AVIA, its consultant for the past few years, to continue to lobby airlines by gather-ing and providing market research, and to act on emerging opportuni-ties.

Passenger travel down, but airport builds case for $16M expansion

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Kingston Business Today - Tuesday, April 14, 2015 3

By Mandy [email protected]

News - Looking for a summer job can be stressful for students. Ideally, most want the perfect mix of fun and earning potential and in many cases there is nothing that even comes close to that available. That is where KEDCO’s Summer Company Program comes in; run by the government of Ontario, the youth entrepreneurship program has been running since 2001 in Kingston and aims to help students between the ages of 15 and 29 run their own summer business.

Last summer, Alexandra Zemba participated in the program and al-though she had no business experi-ence when she began, she now runs a successful and expanding busi-ness.

“It was really hard to find work so I thought I would apply and see where it took me and it has been really good for me,” said Zemba. “My idea was a led free and zinc free fishing tackle company. Sum-mer Company helped to guide me through the whole process of start-ing a business and really getting things going.”

Now Zemba’s business, SeaCan-

dy Enviro-Jigs, sells products to Bass Pro Shops in Ontario and she recently competed in the Dragon’s Den NextGenDen competition. She has also purchased manufacturing space in Kingston and plans on ex-panding her product line to the U.S. later this year.

“The Summer Company gave me the push I needed and there is no way I would have been successful or maybe even started the business without Summer Company and KEDCO,” she said.

Jordan Zelt also participated in Summer Company last year. Zelt, who was a Science student at Queen’s when he began, always wanted to start a business but never really knew how. He learned about Summer Company and decided to apply.

“The program offered financing in the form of $3,000 to start the company and that was one of my biggest challenges,” explained Zelt. “I didn’t have the money to register the business and I didn’t know how to register a company and Summer Company gave me the knowledge to move forward.”

Zelt started Kingston Marine Service, a company focused on ma-rine and boat service, in March of 2014 and has been running it ever

since. He even had enough busi-ness and success to hire another employee last fall. He also started working for Launchlab, a company that specializes in helping technol-ogy based startups.

“My whole background was sci-ence based before and I never really thought about the entrepreneurial world or anything like that, but af-ter Summer Company I wanted to do more,” Zelt said. “The program made me realize my career aspira-tions of wanting to go into business and since then I have applied to MBA programs too.”

Applications for the 2015 Sum-mer Company Program are now being accepted; with only 25 spots available competition could get a bit stiff, but Rebecca Darling, a senior business consultant at KED-CO, encourages all students inter-ested to apply.

“There is an eligibility check-list that students go through and the best thing for those interested in the program to do is check out the web-site,” she said. “Applicants can

certainly reach out to us too if they want to bounce some ideas off of us and see if their idea is a fit for Sum-mer Company. We certainly want to help as much as we can.”

Zemba also encourages students to apply and she hopes that they get as much out of the program as she did.

“The program and workshops al-lowed me to gain confidence in my product and they brought me out of my shell a bit,” she said. “Before Summer Company I wouldn’t have been comfortable doing a trade show or approaching people and getting them to come to my booth. The program really gave me more confidence and skills.”

For more information or to fill out an application visit www.ontar-io.ca/summercompany Applications will be accepted until April 30.

Students become their own boss though KEDCO’s Summer Company Program

Alexandra Zemba (left) and Jordan Zelt participated in the Summer Company Program in 2014.

Photo/Mandy Marciniak

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By Bill Hutchins

Kingston Heritage – A new community centre serving resi-dents of Pittsburgh District is one step closer to reality.

Despite concerns from neigh-bours over the location, council-lors have selected Grenadier Park as the future site for the $9 million to $12 million community centre.

“The positives outweigh the negatives. This is the right spot,” said Pittsburgh district councillor Ryan Boehme.

The park’s location, one of four sites evaluated by city staff, was chosen because it is easily acces-sible to motorists and public tran-sit and is central to high density

neighbourhoods in Greenwood Park. The proposed 20,000 square foot facility, including gymna-sium and public meeting rooms, will be situated just north of La-salle Secondary School off High-way 15.

City officials say this site also allows the city to partner with the Limestone District School Board for programs and activities.

“This is truly going to be gain-ing an asset in the east end,” said Coun. Boehme.

Some nearby residents collect-ed a 55-name petition objecting to the loss of green space and the lack of advance notice over the final site selection.

However, councillors voted

13-0 at their March 24 meeting to proceed with the location and launch a new round of public con-sultation to finalize the building design and amenities that will be offered. The community centre could include indoor and out-door recreation facilities, class and conference rooms and on-site daycare, depending on what feed-back the city gets from residents.

The city will also proceed with the closure and demolition of two aging and more remote east end community centres, Meadowcrest on Kingston Mills Road and Ma-doma on Highway 2, at a cost of $230,000.

“(It) will then enable the devel-opment of the properties for other

types of recreation and park uses that will better serve the residents in the area,” said a report by com-munity services commissioner Lanie Hurdle.

Three other city-owned sites were considered for a community centre - MacLean Trail Park (site of Pittsburgh Library Branch), Innovation Drive (St. Lawrence Business Park) and John Marks Avenue (St. Lawrence Business Park) – but were ruled out.

The decision to build in Grena-dier Park caps a two year search for a new community hub to serve the fast growing east end. The lack of public amenities in Pitts-burgh was also cited as a reason for amalgamation frustration dur-

ing the last council when some complained the east end district wasn’t getting its share of tax-funded services.

“I think this will answer the good intentions of council,” said Coun. Rob Hutchison.

City staff initially looked into repurposing the mothballed J.E. Horton Public School in Bar-riefield for a community centre, but the remote location was later ruled out and a more extensive site selection process began.

Officials admit the selection of Grenadier Park may increase traf-fic congestion on Highway 15, but say this section of the high-way will be widened to four lanes within the next four years.

Kingston’s east end to get community centre in Grenadier Park


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By Bill Hutchins

News – The number of doctors, teachers, public administrators, fire fighters, police officers and other provincial civil servants on the Sunshine List continues to grow each year.

The province has published its financial disclosure list of those public sector workers who made more than $100,000 a year. More than 100,000 provincial employees are on the expansive list.

In Kingston, the top three hos-pital administrators pulled in com-bined annual salaries of more than one million dollars in 2014.

Once again, it appears Leslee Thompson tops the so-called Sunshine List. The president and chief executive officer of Kings-ton General Hospital had a salary of $511,377 in 2014. Thompson’s pay cheque was more than double the $255,493 earned by Dr. David Pichora, chief executive officer of Hotel Dieu Hospital, while Cath-erine Szabo, president and CEO of Providence Care, earned $243,766 as Kingston’s other top hospital administrator.

The list also shows several local doctors earning six figure salaries that are much higher than hospital chief executives.

On the education side, Daniel

Woolf, who is into his second term as principal of Queen’s University, earned $364,500 last year.

Brenda Hunter, who will soon retire as director of education with the Limestone District School Board, was paid $221,440. Her counterpart at the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board, Jody DiRocco, made $203,650.

Most of the 125 Limestone school board earners on the Sun-shine List are principals, vice prin-cipals and teachers at elementary and high schools.

St. Lawrence College president and CEO Glen Vollebregt made $268,547.

More than 185 employees with the City of Kingston, including police officers and fire fighters, also appeared on six-figure list in 2014.

The highest paid municipal em-ployee was City Hall chief admin-istrator Gerard Hunt, who made $214,343. Police chief Gilles Laro-chelle had the city’s second high-est tax-funded salary at $197,716. Police Inspector Michael Fleming was the third highest earner with $162,543. Fire chief Rheaume Chaput made $144,587.

Other notable police department and City Hall bureaucrats on the list; deputy police chief Antje Mc-

Neely made $159,649, transporta-tion, facilities and emergency ser-vices commissioner Denis Leger made $157,471, corporate and strategic initiatives commissioner Cynthia Beach earned $156,416, community service commissioner Lanie Hurdle made $151,281, and treasurer Desiree Kennedy earned $150,756.

The annual disclosure of public sector salaries is based on a 1996 provincial law that’s been in place since Mike Harris was premier. It requires hospitals, schools, munic-ipalities, judiciary, crown corpora-tions and other public sector em-ployers to disclose the salaries of those earning more than $100,000. The annual list is published at the end of March.

City councillor Rob Hutchison, who barely made $30,000 last year as an elected official, has no prob-lem with the high-end salaries of dozens of municipal employees, police officers and fire fighters. “I think it’s justified by competition in the market. If you want good people who are highly trained and experienced then you have to pay for it. And there’s just no getting around that.”

Coun. Hutchison acknowledges a certain amount of public envy and curiosity with the Sunshine List - along with privacy concerns

of those individuals with listed sal-aries - but says the nearly 20 year old financial disclosure law is still important to show transparency to taxpayers. “The public has a right to know where its money is going,

so this is part of it.”There are many comparable po-

sitions in the private sector that probably pay much more but com-panies are not required to disclose their salaries, he added.

Over 180 Kingston city employees made the Sunshine List in 2014

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A business owner or pro-fessional has 2 choices for the ownership of his or her life insurance policy: corpo-rate ownership or personal ownership. Using corporate dollars to pay the premium is an attractive opportunity.

The main advantage of a corporately owned life insur-ance policy is that a business owner can realize significant annual savings by having their corporation own the policy and pay the premiums. Life insurance premiums are generally not deductable for tax purposes. Often the cor-poration is at a lower tax rate than the business owner’s personal income tax rate.

With corporate owned life insurance, the death benefit can be paid out of the cor-poration as a tax-free capital dividend. Life insurance pro-ceeds received either person-ally or corporately are usu-

ally not subject to tax. When a private corporation owns a life insurance policy and receives the death benefit proceeds, there is a mecha-nism that allows proceeds to go tax free to sharehold-ers or the deceased’s estate through the corporation’s capital dividend account. The capital dividend account credit is unique to life insur-ance. Upon death of the life insured, a private corporation receives the death benefit tax free and that amount, less the adjusted cost bade of the policy is added to the corpo-ration’s capital dividend ac-count. The policy’s adjusted cost base is generally the sum of the premiums paid minus the cumulative net cost of pure insurance.

Business owners will of-ten accumulate excess wealth within their corporations be-cause they don’t need to use the income personally. These retained earnings are often invested in GIC’s that gener-ate income taxed at the top corporate tax rate. A life in-surance policy can be set up

to transfer the interest bear-ing assets annually into a tax advantaged life insurance policy which is not subject to annual accrual taxation. Life insurance has 2 unique tax advantages compared with traditional investments – tax advantage growth and tax free distribution from a private corporation. Life in-surance can be an excellent financial tool for maximizing a life insured estate.

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kingstonregion-news/

Employee turnover, downsizing, an econo-my in flux, and many other factors contribute to the ever-changing face of business. While men and women might once have hoped to grow old with a company, today's workers are more inclined to switch jobs several times be-fore they retire.

Companies routinely evolve to serve their customers, a learning process that will in-clude some trial and error. Companies should be willing to try new strategies as they adapt to ever-changing markets. Workers who are flexible and able to adapt to adjustments in the workplace are among the most desireable employees.

What defines adaptability varies depending

on the profession, but taking the time to learn how to accommodate the needs of bosses and other workers can be a great way for men and women to ensure their long-term success.

· Recognize the likelihood of change. Pro-fessional environments are fluid, and employ-ees who resist change may find their employ-ers deem them expendable. Employees must recognize that change is part of the business world and must go with the flow to maintain their good standing with employers.

· Look for benefits. A willingness to be flexible can benefit employees just as much as it benefits employers. Employees may find that a flexible schedule or the ability to tele-commute presents new opportunities that can make life easier.

· Keep lines of communication open. Many men and women like working for companies that are willing to try new things. Keep lines of communication with supervisors open to ensure your ideas are heard, and encour-age subordinates to offer their ideas at every turn.

· Don't equate flexibility with being a push-over. Flexibility should not go so far that an employee feels taken advantage of. As com-panies change, the process is best if it in-volves give and take on the part of employees and their employers.

Adaptability important in the workplace

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Business Marketplace


Today’s consumers have more shopping options at their disposal than they did in years past. Though the Internet may put the world at one’s fingertips, more and more shoppers are discovering that buy-ing locally makes for a superior shopping experience.

The benefits associated with shopping locally are many, and the following are just a few reasons why shoppers may want to look no further than their own communities when planning their next shopping excursions.

Keeps money in the local economyLocally-owned businesses often

put a larger share of their revenue back into their communities. Small business owners may be more in-clined to employ local residents, giving more people in the commu-nity solid employment. Business owners may reach out and support other neighborhood efforts, such as fundraising initiatives for charities and schools. By shopping at local stores, you have a hand in support-ing these efforts as well.

Save moneyWhen factoring in travel time

and the cost of fuel, shopping lo-cally makes more sense than driv-ing to a faraway mall. In addition,

repeat customers who establish a rapport with a local business owner may find that such owners are more inclined to price match or work with loyal customers to find lower prices through suppliers.

Diversify your home and lifestyleShoppers who prefer more unique

styles may find local businesses ca-ter to their needs better than large chain stores. Larger retailers offer the same products to customers re-gardless of where those customers live, so a person in California may be decorating his or her home with the same furnishings as a person in North Carolina. But local shops tend to produce more unique items that are not available nationwide.

Promote entrepreneurshipSmall businesses are an essential

element to the country’s economic growth. By shopping locally, con-sumers are showing their support for this important segment of the national economy.

Help establish local prideIndependent shops contribute

to the fabric of a community and what makes it special and unique. Tourists and other visitors will be much more inclined to remember a local shop rather than a big chain

in a particular neighborhood. When travelers want to get a feel for a community, they seek out small, local stores that are much more likely to stock a high percentage of locally-sourced goods.

Attract other businessesPrivate and public sector busi-

nesses tend to gravitate around anchor stores. Should a local store be successful, banks, restaurants,

salons, and other businesses may move in as well.

Shopping locally benefits con-sumers in various ways, many of which contribute to a healthy local economy.

How shopping locally can help you and your community


Documents

Kingston Business Today, April 2015 edition