Cambridge Bay (Feb 13/06) - Mona Igutsaq had barely finished setting up Taloyoak-based Taluq Designs' collection of handmade crafts at the 2006 Kitikmeot Trade Show when a stranger approached her to talk.

Wolfden Resources chief operating officer John Begeman, left, discusses his firm's High Lake base metal property and the business opportunities which could be created through its development. He is speaking with Kitikmeot Cleaning Services retail manager Adam Egotak and company owner Annie Egotak, both of Kugluktuk, at the Kitikmeot Trade Show in Cambridge Bay. - John Curran/NNSL photo

"You have some very beautiful things here. I've been looking for new lines of handmade Nunavut goods," said Edmund Chewng. "I represent Crystal Sensation in Yellowknife. Would it be possible to get some wholesale rates on your dolls and mitts?"

It can happen that fast at this annual Victoria Island networking event. People meet, new markets emerge and that could be good news for all of Taloyoak in this case.

"I have 20 residents producing dolls, mitts, carvings and jewelry for Taluq," said Igutsaq. "It has brought employment to ladies who might not otherwise find work because of education or language barriers."

This opportunity might never have knocked without a little help from the Nunavut Development Corporation.

It, along with the Kitikmeot Development Commission, sponsored a total of seven businesses from around the region so they could attend the show - many of them for the first time.

Another such firm was Kitikmeot Cleaning Services out of Kugluktuk.

"I started this business in 1996 to help Inuit get jobs and be more independent," said owner Annie Egotak. "It was hard at first, but it is paying off now for us and the community."

With cleaners now based in Egotak's home community and Cambridge Bay, retail manager and Annie's husband Adam Egotak said the only thing standing in their way is finding new clients.

"It's important for us to be here promoting our business to potential commercial, industrial, residential and government clients," he said.

"It is exciting to talk to some of the mining companies, like Wolfden Resources, which could one day end up building a mine not too far from Kugluktuk."

Thanks largely to newcomers such as Taluq Designs, Kitikmeot Cleaning Services and Wolfden Resources, the 2006 trade show smashed attendance records with 44 exhibitors filling the gym at Cambridge Bay's Kiilinik high school. And they had lots for the 155 delegates and invited guests to see.

"We're very pleased with the turn-out," said Brenda Mercer of Mercer Business Support Services, which is contracted to co-ordinate the event.

"We're attracting people from across the country in a wide range of sectors from mining and transportation, to government services and country foods," she said.

While the final numbers were still being tabulated, Cambridge Bay community economic development officer Chris King said the direct effect of the visiting firms and delegates would likely be at least as big as 2005, which was estimated at $200,000.

It will also take a while to learn of all the deals Kitikmeot businesses signed or initiated during the show, which last year was pegged at $300,000-$400,000.