Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Nov 22/99) - Giving up was never an option, Kirt Ejesiak says.

Ejesiak, president and owner of Uqsiq Communications, recently picked up the Business Development Bank of Canada's Young Entrepreneur Award for Nunavut.

Since creating the visual communications and graphic design firm in 1996, Ejesiak has seen sales grow annually. In 1998, Uqsiq, which employs two full-time staff and two part-time staff, posted sales of $375,000. The company is based in Apex, near Iqaluit.

"We're trying to establish ourselves as a Canadian firm. We're hoping this (award) will help us get some work outside Iqaluit," Ejesiak said.

"We see a healthy increase in business every year. We'd like to set up offices in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Toronto," he said.

Ejesiak, who has an applied science degree from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, is also president of Inuit Sea Kayaking Adventures.

About 85 per cent of Uqsiq's work is for Iqaluit clients.

As for client type, about 80 per cent of the communications company's business is with Inuit organizations. The rest is government.

Among the company's well-known work is a series of images for the Inuit Heritage Trust. The series featured uluit, ancient Inuit art and Inuksuit.

Circumpolar work is also on Uqsiq's agenda. The company is the agent in Nunavut for Above & Beyond magazine and also does ad sales for Suluk magazine, the in-flight publication of Greenland Air.

Ejesiak adds that the company often brings in expertise on demand -- writers, photographers and translators.

This is where the name of the company reflects its philosophy, he said.

On a dog sled, there is a ring to which the dogs' lines join together, that ring is an uqsiq, Ejesiak explains.

That's the company's approach; to connect "the best people in the field" to create the best product, he said.