Why Trade Matters
Success Stories
Canadians Build a Better Life for Others
Infrastructure, the foundation of our standard of living, is often
taken for granted in Canada. Not so in some parts of the world,
where dreams of clean water, efficient roadways, basic health services
or stable financial systems have yet to make the leap from vision
to reality. Canadian aid and Canadian entrepreneurs are helping
to bridge that gap in developing nations. Many contracts are facilitated
through Canada’s membership in multinational financial institutions
such as the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and the Inter-American Development Bank, to name a few.
Canadian companies have found significant opportunities, with the
aid of ITCan’s Trade Commissioner Service, in developing parts
of the world. This issue of Success Stories looks at a
few Canadian efforts at improving the standard of living in distant
lands.
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Re-Engineering Insurance Supervision
in Emerging Markets
Lawrie Savage & Associates
Inc.,
Calgary, Alberta
As a result of the widespread emphasis on private sector development
in Latin America and the Caribbean, the insurance industry in that
region of the world is continuing to expand. More and more countries
are undertaking reforms of their insurance industries—which
are often underdeveloped due to restrictive regulations or inadequate
supervision. This has opened a world of opportunities to Canadian
firms such as Lawrie Savage & Associates Inc.
(LS&A), a specialist in modernizing financial supervision and
staff training.
With a team of 17 consultants, LS&A assists emerging markets
to improve the quality of government supervision of insurance companies,
pension plans and banks. The Calgary-based firm has carried out
assignments for the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation
(IFC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) and the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) in countries such as Argentina, Bahrain,
Bulgaria, Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru, Serbia and Montenegro,
South Korea, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. LS&A’s
primary role consists of advising local government officials on
organizational structures, providing technical training and helping
to design the sound reporting systems that are critical to assessing
the viability of operations.
“It is recognized that sound government supervision of financial
institutions is an essential prerequisite to the development of
strong and resilient national economies,” says LS&A President
Lawrie Savage. “The globalization of financial systems makes
it all the more important to ensure that international core principles
and best practices are properly implemented and maintained. This
is necessary not only to maintain public confidence in the financial
sector, but also to encourage foreign investment.”
In 2004, LS&A completed its largest single project to date.
Worth more than $2 million, the IDB-funded venture in Trinidad and
Tobago entailed integrating banking, insurance and pension supervision
and drafting a new Insurance and Pension Act. However, it is some
of LS&A’s smaller undertakings that have had the furthest-reaching
ramifications on the local economy and beyond. For instance, a recent
US$300,000 CIDA-funded consulting project in Lebanon involved drafting
a completely new law in that country, while an extensive re-engineering
project carried out for the Mexican government in 1996 has led to
Mexico becoming a model for modern insurance supervision throughout
Latin America.
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Inspiring Learning
Worldwide
LearnStream,
Fredericton, New Brunswick
In a world of constant change, the World Health Organization (WHO)
needs its team to be able to respond and react effectively to global
health challenges. A prerequisite for this preparedness is a clear
understanding by staff worldwide of WHO’s mandate. So when
the Geneva-based organization went looking for a firm to develop
educational material about its new corporate strategy, it chose
LearnStream, an award-winning expert
in courseware design. The Fredericton-based firm was identified
as a potential supplier and then awarded the lucrative contract
thanks to some astute networking by its team and a powerful presentation
by its President and CEO, Ken Reimer.
It all started when a senior Canadian International Development
Agency official who knew about LearnStream’s work and reputation
suggested that they contact someone from WHO on their next trip
to Geneva. After just completing a successful project for the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), LearnStream was
able to secure an invitation to meet with high-level WHO staff.
The next step involved a lot of hard work and motivation. “After
months of research, late nights and very early mornings, our marketing
team was able to prepare us for the trip,” says Reimer.
“Understanding WHO’s corporate strategy and how it
links to the organization’s work on global health challenges
inspired us to create a curriculum that would inspire the learners
as well,” adds Cindy Seeley, LearnStream’s Lead Instructional
Designer. “Ken has often stated that only people who have
a true passion for their work and want to make a difference globally
should endeavour to enter this market. His genuine commitment to
international aid and development was surely felt during his presentation
to WHO staff.” According to Reimer, a key component in effective
training is genuine concern for the subject matter and the learners.
“When you see that what you’re doing is actually teaching
people to be more efficient in, let’s say, getting food into
places where there are hundreds of thousands of refugees flowing
across a border, you know that you’re having an impact on
those people’s lives,” he explains.
The three-month project, which wound up in 2000, involved developing
an interactive and engaging multimedia CD-ROM for dissemination
to a diversified group of 3,000 WHO staff members. Two more courses
were subsequently created to explain WHO’s move to results-based
management and how to use the new performance management and development
system.
With a client list made up of U.S. companies (about 70 percent),
Canadian companies (20 percent) and international firms and agencies
such as WHO, LearnStream has taken full advantage of Team Canada
Atlantic trade missions to penetrate the huge U.S. market. “We
participate in these missions because we believe a continued presence
in the U.S. is important for growing our business,” says Reimer,
who has attended trade missions and conferences throughout North
America, including in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; New York;
and Los Angeles.
As part of its growth strategy south of the border, in 2004 LearnStream
opened an office in the metro D.C. area. “We will benefit
from having a presence in the Greater Washington Area,” says
Reimer, citing $6.4 billion in contracts that the White House Office
of Homeland Security promises to award to first-responders in the
areas of training, communications and outfitting. “It is estimated
that 12 percent of the total U.S. training market resides in the
mid-Atlantic region.”
Since starting off in 1993 with a team of seven people, LearnStream
has grown to become one of Canada’s largest and most successful
training solutions providers. Among its high-profile clients are
Apotex, Sybase, SkillSoft, Royal Caribbean Cruises, MacDonald Dettwiler
& Associates, Nortel Networks, Royal Bank, Clarica, the World
Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations.
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Eliminating Heavy Metals
from El Salvador’s Drinking Water
Water and Earth Science Associates
Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario
With thousands of environmental consulting projects in more than
25 countries to its credit, Water and Earth Science Associates Ltd.
(WESA) specializes in the fields of water supply and contaminant
hydrogeology, waste management, renewable and alternative energy
development, wastewater treatment, environmental business planning
and industrial health and safety.
In February 2005, the Ottawa-area company was awarded a $640,000
CIDA-funded contract to conduct a study focusing on removing arsenic
and other naturally occurring heavy metal contaminants from the
potable water supply of 45 communities in El Salvador. This project—the
first of its kind to be undertaken in the region—is designed
to improve the country’s water supplies and thus the health
and quality of life of many thousands of Salvadorans. “Once
we properly define the scope and nature of the contamination, Canada
can provide the most appropriate technologies available, which will
then be adapted to El Salvador’s cultural and institutional
context,” says Bill Touzel, WESA President.
Also in Central America, WESA recently completed a loan policy development
project for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).
Funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the Global
Environment Fund (GEF), the project is aimed at improving the economic
climate for renewable energy projects in the region. Its success
can be measured directly by the fact that a new loan-guarantee funding
mechanism instituted by GEF and administered by the CABEI directly
incorporates many of WESA’s ideas. “As a result, it
is now easier for small and medium-sized environmentally and socially
appropriate energy developments to compete with less costly but
often highly damaging fossil fuel-based electricity generation projects,”
explains Touzel.
WESA’s work with the CABEI is an extension of several hydroelectric
planning projects that the firm undertook over the past half-decade
in Guatemala, El Salvador and elsewhere in the region, many of which
were supported by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service. “Dealing
with Central America takes patience and perseverance, but it is
highly satisfying to see how a clear understanding of development
needs and barriers can lead to real progress in the area of socio-economic
and industrial policy,” adds Touzel. “We are committed
to continuing to bring enlightened environmental ideas to practical
application in the region. Trade staff at the embassies have been
very helpful, and once you become known as a consistent player in
a region they will bend over backwards to be of assistance.”
WESA is currently active in several other Caribbean and Latin American
countries, notably Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The
company employs approximately one hundred people in eight offices
in Ontario and Quebec.
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