Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Feb 04/02) - Hitting the $1 million annual sales mark was a huge milestone for Kivalliq Arctic Meats, one of the Nunavut Development Corporation's 11 projects.

"Its obviously hard to get to that one," said the Rankin Inlet meat processing plant's manager, Brian Schindel of crossing the $1 million revenue threshold in less than a year. And it isn't over yet. The company's fiscal year ends March 31.

Nunavut Development Corporation is the 100 per cent shareholder of Kivalliq Meats. And the meat shop fits the corporation's mission statement perfectly. It is community-based, provides local jobs and uses the natural resources of the area for export.

The company has been on a roll ever since it received European Union certification last August.

"What it means is that you're able to export globally -- the market of the world is open to you," said Schindel. In order to acquire that special status, the meat company, which specializes in caribou, had to upgrade its plant and document all of its procedures.

"We are still developing markets," said Schindel. A good portion of Kivalliq's product goes to the U.S. and it looks like that business will increase following a fall trade mission to California. "When we were in Los Angeles we got a big order for $14,000," said Schindel. The order was for caribou denver legs -- cut and wrapped and on their way to ski lodges and high-end markets.

A trip to Germany, part of a Team Canada economic trade mission next month, will be in line with the development corporation and Kivalliq Arctic Meats' plan to market outside the community.

"We hope to wrap up a deal with potential contacts and customers that we have talked to over the years," said Schindel, who has been negotiating with German suppliers of game meat for years, "It's to make that final sale."

More staff are going to be needed to support the business' operations. It will increase from 12 people to as many as 17 in March. "We will start hiring in the next few weeks," said Schindel. He will be looking for potential meat cutters and trainees in quality control and office procedures, he said.

The company used to be called Keewatin Meat and Fish but a name change was decided as part of the marketing strategy. That's in line with the development corporation's move from being product-driven to being market driven.

"We thought we would identify our company with arctic foods and that gives it a broader sense of the products that we process here. It could be caribou but it could also be arctic char and if we have the opportunity to get some other products under our marketing wing, let's incorporate that," said Schindel.

Sales and financial success are important to Kivalliq Meats and the corporation, but local jobs and encouraging the local economy through export are the primary goals.

"Kivalliq Meats is a good example of that because we utilize the harvesters talents to go out and hunt, we use the natural resource of the area. What we import are the managerial skills and capital but we export the finished product with value added," said John Hickes, development corporation president and chief executive officer.

Kivalliq Arctic Meats isn't the only success story for the corporation, whose projects are chosen by the amount of community interest they will generate.

About 700 Nunavummiut are employed either directly by the corporation or indirectly as harvesters or cottage workers.

"We get 300 requests a year but most of them don't get past the first door," said Hickes, who redirects many entrepreneurs to other institutions.

"The arts and crafts centre has come a long way," said Hickes, referring to the Centre for Arts and Crafts in Panniqtuuq. The corporation was initially involved in providing capital infrastructure. But over 15 years the community re-acquired the assets by repaying the expenditure from their generated revenue. "The community, the artists association, in Panniqtuuq own the plant," said Hickes.

So the roles have changed and one of the corporation's projects is closer to independence.

"Now they are the shareholders and we are involved in assisting them with marketing and administration," said Hickes. "In this case, in Pang, the community owns most of the assets and we are providing expertise in terms of subsidiary financing for management and marketing."

Of course, the projects require capital to build the initial infrastructure. That's where the corporation's expertise comes in. It can become a partner-owner, or it can take on an investment position and become a preferred shareholder. The corporation works under guidelines outlined in the NWT Development Corporation Act.

Hickes estimated the corporation's budget costs between $2 million and $3 million. That amount covers capital and operational costs tied to the retail and wholesale businesses, operational subsidies that go to companies and the capital subsidies that go to businesses it is involved in. As well, the sum includes the costs of running the five-person office.