Duane Hicks
The Naicatchewenin Development Corp. (NDC) continues to diversify its business investments, recently partnering with local “World of Water” franchisees Brian and Pia Beers.
“We’re very happy to partner with Brian and Pia and World of Water,” Tony Marinaro, chief business development officer for the NDC, said during an interview Monday at World of Water (990 McIrvine Rd. N.)
“We think that they’ve got a fantastic management team here, and we see the opportunities in water filtration and water supply for remote areas, be it construction sites, mining sites, or even for that matter First Nation communities in the north that are experiencing boil-water advisories or that have ongoing water issues,” he explained.
“We think we can provide solutions for them,” Marinaro said. “That’s some of the drivers for the relationship.”
“I think this follows along with our original game plan of teaming with solid partners with a proven track record, and doing our part to make the company better,” reasoned NDC CEO Jeremiah Windego.
“We feel we all can play our roles in this,” he added. “NDC has a proven track record of marketing companies and soliciting new business and new clients.
“Pia and Brian have a very long track record of providing a very professional service, and I think there’s opportunities when people from this area work together.
“We look forward to working with all municipalities and all other First Nations with this venture, providing employment opportunities and providing a high-quality product,” noted Windego.
The Beers started as World of Water franchisees in 2006, and over the years have expanded the operation from bottling and delivering water to also include water filtration, the latter of which now comprises between 35-40 percent of their business.
They currently serve Rainy River District, from Nestor Falls to Rainy River to Atikokan, but could expand eastward down the road.
“One thing I am really excited about is they really give us an opportunity to expand the business to other areas,” said Brian Beers.
“We get competition from Thunder Bay, but we don’t give Thunder Bay any competition,” he noted. “So they come in and try to squeeze the little guy.
“It would be nice for us to be able to go to Thunder Bay, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without the help of NDC.
“We would be a lot more ‘greener’ and ‘friendlier’ because there’s a lot of businesses and office buildings in Thunder Bay, and they don’t even need coolers and bottled water,” Beers added.
“We can put in point-of-use coolers and take the market that way, or at least expand the market.”
Windego said World of Water’s philosophy of being a “green” company also falls in line with Naicatchewenin First Nation’s position on environmental stewardship.
“We think water filtration is the most responsible way of consuming water,” he noted. “It’s not using water bottles that end up in our landfill.
“There’s way less pollution from that method.”
Beers said the partnership with NDC will help them expand the market and get into areas where they previously were unable to go, especially northern communities.
“We have the expertise to fix some of these water problems but we didn’t necessarily have the connections,” he explained.
“This gives us the opportunity to grow, and most importantly, create some jobs in this area.
“Sixty to seventy percent of new jobs created are through small businesses,” added Beers, noting he has two full-time employees and recently placed a third employees through NCDS.
“The more opportunities we get with NDC, obviously the more we can expand and the more we can create new jobs in this area, instead of people from other areas coming here,” he said.
“We are excited,” Pia Beers enthused about the partnership, adding that teaming up with NDC is allowing them to open the World of Water location at 990 McIrvine Rd. N. as a store in January.
“Lots of customers come here and knock on the door,” she noted. “I think it would be beneficial to open up the doors and have set hours where people can buy their filters and water systems, or pick up water themselves if they wish to.
“Being a small business, I’ve never really opened up the doors simply because you’ve got to do it at the right time,” Brian Beers stressed.
“But now with joining up with NDC, we plan a soft opening in the new year and then a grand opening in early spring,” he noted.
“That’s when the busy time is for the filtration side.”
Beers said World of Water will be a retail store, open five days a week, and they’ll also offer a “technician’s day” when the public can come in and talk water with a technician.
In the past, Beers said it has taken three or four weeks for people to get their water problems solved. But World of Water here will have all the water equipment available to quickly identify and solve issues.
The local World of Water location also has a lab for water testing. The only thing they don’t test for is bacteria. (This type of testing is through the health unit and sent to ALS Labs in Thunder Bay.)
Beers said there’s two sides to their business: bottled water delivery to businesses and water filtration.
With bottled water delivery, they deliver two of the purest forms of water possible—reverse osmosis water and distilled. With water filtration, they can go into a house, a cottage, a mining camp, or other location, take bad water, and make it pure.
Beers conceded this probably is the most complicated part of the job because you have to do in-depth analysis of the water and figure what you need to do to clean it.
Fortunately, they have on staff water filtration technician Richard Piotrowski, who has been certified by the Canadian Water Quality Association.
The filtration side of the business has expanded quickly in the last year-and-a-half, and Beers feels this is where the majority of business growth is going to take place in the future.
“There’s still opportunities on the water side, but it doesn’t make logical sense to be going up north, trucking in hundreds of five-gallon bottles of water,” he remarked.
“We can go up there with two skids of equipment, take their water, and turn it into pure water.
“Hopefully, we get some opportunities with INAC or different places to prove that we can do it,” he added.
Marinaro said clean water is something many of us take for granted as a basic necessity every day, but that’s not the case for everyone—especially those living in Northern Ontario or other parts of the world.
“It’s nice to be able to provide the service; to be able to make people’s lives better and to make a living at it also,” he noted.
“It’s three-fold.”
This latest venture is just one of several the NDC has taken on this past year, with the others including NDC Food Services, NDC Synterra Security Solutions, and Arrowhead Gold Drilling.
NDC also has teamed up with Saulteaux Consulting & Engineering, opening an office at 242 Scott St.
