grrr corr as Van ambitious proposal to de- velop a world-class tourist: at- - traction in the area of the Seven .Sisters mountains near Kitwan- ga is still alive, but the principals in the company are presently engaged in an effort to put together financing for the. pro- ject. 7 Art Bates, a former resident of the Northwest who is now vice-president of Seven Sisters Ventures Inc., said last week the company is eager to get out in the field and start the develop- ment going. It will involve the Business Beat ~ . we a — ee ws Sc lia aga laa RTS pe Lo an i a Seven Sisters Ventures seeks financial backers — construction of a network of “hiking trails and lodges from Doreen on the Skeena River through the alpine country west- ward to Kalum Lake. One of the unique features of the proposal is the use of lamas as pack animals, St. The project is expected to cost about $6 million to complete and employ a workforce of more than 100 people in the’ construction phase.. About 35 miles of hiking trail are planned. Seven Sisters president Titus Nelson expects the operation to Management for by Phil Haril, Manager, Terrace - Federal Business . Development Bank _ recovery — part II In the preceding column, we discussed preparations the small and medium business managers should now be mak- ing to capitalize on economic recovery. We mentioned the need for growth ‘ strategies and touched on some of the problems that must be overcome in _ preparing and implementing them. Final- ly, we briefly described the CASE pro-- gram which is available to small and medium businesses through the Federal Business Development Bank. The CASE program is, quite simply, a business management counselling pro- gram: The counselling is done|by, retired business people who have been selecteti for their experience in © and knowledge of various aspects of management. Some 1,600 counsellors are enrolled in the program and their services are available, for a modest fee, anywhere in ‘Canada. - Let’s return to the example given in.the preceding column of the retailer who thinks the way to make the business grow is to add new lines of merchandise. The retailer, however, has first to determine how large a market is available for the new mer- chandise. In this instance, the retailer has never had to do a market survey before and isn’t sure how to go about it. The retailer has sought outside advice from others, but still has doubts about whether adding new lines of merchandise is the right strategy. Possibly, the retailer now thinks, the better strategy might be to relocate the store or redesign its layout. Or the investment in new lines of merchandise might be better. employed in an advertising campaign, The more the retailer . thinks it over, the more choices are opened. - The retailer applies for CASE counselling to help determine what the right growth strategy should be. A CASE counsellor with marketing experience is assigned to the retailer, The counsellor reviews the retailer’s situation and concludes the retailer was correct in thinking the best strategy is to add new lines of merchandise. But there is still the problem of a market survey anid all it entails. The counsellor can guide the retailer through the: steps needed to do a thorough survey. When the results of the survey are in, the counsellor can then help the retailer analyze them and deter- mine whether there is indeed a market for the new merchandise and, if so, how large. With this information in hand, the retailer is now ready to order the new merchandise and to carry through with the business of moving. it over the counter in a profitable way. Supposing, however, the market survey shows that there isn’t now sufficient potential demand for the new merchandise to. justify carrying it, Should that growth strategy be abandoned? Poe SAEs a ear ret ternal ; Not necessarily. A detailed market survey might show instead an j unsuspected demand for a different type of merchandise. Or the ! counsellor may be able to show the retailer where more attractive | growth prospects are to be found within the present operation, The consideration here is that CASE counselling need not be a one-time contract. It can be as often or as continuing as the ap- plicant wishes. Nor need CASE counselling be confined to one ‘particular area of concern. It can be directed towards the resolu- tion of any type of management problem or to identify new op- portunities for the business to pursue. _ All that is required to set-CASE counselling in motion is for the small and medium business managers to recognize there are { managéiment problems or aspects of matagement which may be — beyond their ability to resolve on their own, and that CASE :. counselling has been devised to help in. precisely these, kinds of. pee: “ Jel - 7 situations. hit full capacity by 1995.. ‘He says the revenue potential could be as much as $14 million an- nually from 15,000. visitors, It -would take 450 employees to run the business. Bates said that in the course of attempting to secure start-up financing he has gotten the at- tention of “some major inter- ests”’. The government has appar- ently been supportive toward the _ project, and Bates said he has good rapport with both the Min- istry of Parks and the Ministry of Forests. ‘‘We’ve also had some dialogue with the logging “interests,” he added. Skeena Cellulose was recently granted a Forest License adja- cent to the trail development area, The North by Northwest tour- ism organization has also given the project encouragement, he said. ‘‘I’m quite pleased. We’re going full bore, and even doing | some design work.” . Subject to arranging the fi- nancing, he said, Seven Sisters ‘Ventures hopes to begin work on the project this spring. MAY 1-7 | Spc appt te Oe ey nee mage sie sstette On behalf of the Terrace Regional Museum Society, treasurer Norma Kerby received a donation from Tall Totem Division district guide commissioner Marg Cooper (right), and district scout commissioner Sandra Wilson (left) last week. The money was raised during Heritage Week in - February by local Guides and Scouts, who ran the conces- sion at the “Toys and Games of Yesterday” display at the Terrace Arena. They sold over 900 donuts during the event to raise the money. a om“