Family business reaches one - year milestone, more growth planned
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Simpson (May 18/01) - The Menicoche family has grasped the Zen of doing business.
The philosophy that has worked for them over the past year, since the inception of Xah Ndah Resources Ltd., is to take things one day at a time and set attainable goals.
"We're not going all out and trying to get too big too fast," said Kevin Menicoche, the majority shareholder of the family business, which has seven proprietors.
Xah Ndah, based in the Deh Cho Business Development Centre trailer, offers a variety of services such as motor vehicle registration and licensing, reforestation, special events planning as well as temporary labour and secretarial services.
It started out as a business in Kevin's home, but has grown considerably since then, and they continue to calculate expansion gradually.
"We've achieved some success in some contracts, but lost others. But our healing journey teaches us to let it go and just move on," he explained. "That's how we learn."
Reaching the one-year mark is often a turning point for small businesses.
Xah Ndah Resources Ltd. has arrived at that milestone, and Kevin is tickled pink about it.
"One of our successes is our ability to manage the company in a professional manner," he suggested.
Eric, Kevin's brother, is the vice-president of operations. Shermayn Moses, a niece, staffs the office. David Gerrie oversees the seniors security contract.
Although they've been around for a year, pronouncing the business' name correctly is a stumbling block for many people (it sounds similar to Honda, the auto maker). In Slavey, the name means Geese River, which is where the Menicoche clan once lived, approximately 130 kilometres north of Fort Simpson.
The promise of returning to that traditional hunting and trapping area was one of the inspirations for the business, according to Kevin.
"One way of doing that is to be self-sufficient," he said, adding that there's talk of building a family cabin on those lands.
The other motivation was to offer more jobs and opportunities to local residents, he added.
Having never run a business before, Kevin admitted that he was somewhat apprehensive about diving in.
"The idea sat with me for a while. Then I talked with the others, and from there it was about a four month process to get incorporated," he said.
"We set up because if there's increased development in our region, an existing company will certainly benefit as opposed to someone just setting up."
