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There are lots of reasons why Chuck Cartmill should be smiling, and I’ll put a few on the table. First of all, his company, C-Vision, is a lean, green, manufacturing machine. For his success in taking it from zero to 60 in four years and without a dime of government money, Chuck has been named the 2006 Atlantic Entrepreneur Of The Year by Ernst & Young.
There aren’t many among us who, with a comfortable retirement on the horizon, would pour their life savings into an empty factory situated a two-hour drive from one’s home. But not only is Chuck Cartmill an early riser who likes the open highway, he also can’t resist a challenge. Call it the entrepreneur’s curse, if you will. He explains that after a 30-year career in the electrical business, he wanted to see if he could learn from others’ mistakes and build a lean manufacturing operation with a competitive environmental edge. In simple terms, he got the lead out. Knowing the EU had introduced hazardous-waste regulations that would ban electronics products containing lead solder by 2006, Chuck rightly figured that he could beat his competitors in that market if he became an early adopter of a lead-free manufacturing program. Now C-Vision is a North American leader.
I like to tease Chuck that a year ago, he had to be cajoled into having his photo taken for an article we were preparing on C-Vision’s strategy. Now he’s a business superstar with more awards than he can fit on his office wall. But guess what really makes him smile? First, both of his well-educated sons have returned from high-flying careers elsewhere in Canada to help him take the company to the next level. And second, his wife, Claire, is perhaps a little less nervous about their delayed retirement plans. But with
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Chuck’s threat to keep building the business until he’s 95, she’s going to have to be patient for a few more years. Check out Chuck Cartmill’s frank words of wisdom and those of his fellow EOY winners starting on page 25. I guarantee you’ll be smiling too.
Since this is our annual entrepreneur issue, it seemed like a good time to take a look at some of the region’s mining ventures. Mark O’Dea, the 38-year-old whiz kid who runs Aurora Energy Resources, is a classic globe-trotting geologist who got his street cred in the famous Goldcorp Challenge. Originally drawn to Labrador on the hunt for more of the precious yellow metal, he realized that uranium would be the better play, and he’s hoping that by 2012 his company will be one of the world’s dominant producers of uranium. Its target market? Utilities that use nuclear power to generate electricity.
Nuclear energy has its detractors and its fans. But one thing is for sure, and that is that renewable emission-free energy sources are only going to be more in demand. It’s possible that another energy motherlode is right under our noses in the form of tidal power in the Bay of Fundy. CBC journalist Jennifer Hendersen spent some time during a sabbatical last summer investigating the subject and met with several of the prospective entrepreneurs who want to take tidal power from concept to reality. There is a complex web of players and issues involved, and much of the technology is still in the development stage. But it’s still worth asking the question: What’s taking so long to make progress on what could be one of the world’s best sources of clean energy? As Chuck Cartmill might say, let’s get the lead out!
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