Yes! Winnipeg scoring singles on way to a home run

Early next month, Yes! Winnipeg will announce details of six new successes it has facilitated, representing 120 jobs.

That's in addition to five others it's already announced that, by its own estimates, represent another 200 jobs.

When the Yes! Winnipeg initiative was announced in December, there might have been a few of us who had visions of mammoth new plants being built in the city, employing thousands of people.

Of course, that was an unreasonable expectation and not what the exercise was about.

And it's Winnipeg, after all.

As much as we like to dream about turning straw into gold and transforming the local economy into a wealth-generating phenomenon, reality demands something a little more workmanlike. That's what Yes! Winnipeg is all about.

So it shouldn't be a surprise to hear YW doesn't have any home runs to date. But if you hit enough singles, you're going to score a few runs.

Among other things, the thinking behind Yes! Winnipeg was to go out and knock on the doors of companies that might have reason to be in the Winnipeg market (or stay, if they were thinking of leaving, or expand if they are already here).

It's not Shangri-la that's being sold, but there are good things about doing business in Winnipeg and the YW folks are sharing some of that with people who'd never thought much about the city.

Getting Winnipeg on more radar screens will at least ensure future consideration.

For instance, the United Church of Canada is thinking of moving its head office out of Toronto and that's an active file for Yes! Winnipeg. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are both considering getting into the airship business and will need to set up a production and development site. Winnipeg might be ideal.

The fact YW began as the city's image was undergoing a major rejuvenation with the return of the NHL and the development of a handful of substantial public projects makes its seem like the organizers were brilliant strategists.

"Of course, the excellent timing was just good fortune," said the leader of YW, Bill Morrissey. "We didn't time this."

Arguably, YW's biggest project to date is Groupe Germain's Alt Hotel. To be built right across from the MTS Centre and announced only weeks after the official NHL announcement, it seemed like one was directly a result of the other.

But these things never happen that quickly and in fact, the Groupe Germain people had been working on a Winnipeg property for a long time.

New wins might keep cropping up in the future from companies that find themselves in a situation years later where Winnipeg finally does make sense to them.

New business development doesn't happen overnight and it works best when there is some kind of personal relationship that's been established.

And unless you live in Shangri-la or New York, or London, or Hong Kong, you can never do enough marketing for your community.

So that's a role Yes! Winnipeg plays as a specialized unit of Economic Development Winnipeg.

With plenty of new excitement surrounding the Winnipeg Jets, the human-rights museum, IKEA, convention centre expansion and area redevelopment, this is the time to capitalize on the goodwill Winnipeg is receiving.

A flurry of singles these days could rack up even more runs.

Rounding up several hundred small businesses from around the world for another Centrallia event is another way to capitalize on the momentum.

That's now a go, and next week details of Centrallia 2012 will be announced.

It will take place two years after last October's event that brought about 500 small businesses together, many from offshore, for this unique, two-day speeding dating event.

This time, organizers have a track record to point to and delegate leaders who recruit attendees that can sell Winnipeg as a slightly better-known entity.

You never know how long the current momentum will last.

This time at least, there are tools in place for the city to take full advantage of it.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 22, 2011 B5