SUCCESS STORIES

Robin Turner, Frog Pond Design
Designing a Future in Entrepreneurship

It is not very often that one associates traditional farms and agriculture with the world of advanced technology and Internet marketing. Farming is one of the last sectors of our economy that does not rely on a cellphone, blackberry, or a number of other high-tech gadgets that are supposed to increase the efficiency of business. That is not to say that agriculture has resisted some of the advantages of technology. In fact, for one area student, farms and the Internet are a perfect match to increase business, and promote the natural products that only farms can produce.

Robin Turner, a student at the University of British Columbia, has recently been accepted into the Summer Company program with Enterprise Renfrew County. Robin is an agricultural sciences student, and he specializes in sustainable agriculture. He is very interested in promoting farms and farming in Renfrew County, and to that end he hopes to help farmers and other small businesses market their wares through the World Wide Web. Robin has already built a direct marketing website for area farmer Bob Dobson. It has already brought several new customers to the Dobson farm looking for chemical-free, grass-fed beef and other natural products. Aside from web pages, Robin also designed the brochure and other marketing materials that the Dobsons use in their farmers’ market initiative.

As Robin points out, “my goal is to build my business while helping the farmers and small businesses in Renfrew County build up theirs. Times have been hard lately for farmers, but there is a new opportunity in selling locally grown and produced food or crafts. I can help people find those markets.”

Robin is one of only seven students in Renfrew County to successfully qualify for the Enterprise Renfrew Business Program. The competition is a program of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. It is organized by Enterprise Renfrew County, a non-profit governmental business development agency funded by the Ontario Government, the County of Renfrew and the Town of Renfrew. The Pembroke Campus of Algonquin College is the major sponsor of the 2004 Business Plan Competition. Robin can be reached 735-5549.

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