Leaving a powerful legacy

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This article was published 17/07/2020 (1898 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Appropriately announced at The Forks Thursday morning, an Indigenous insurance group acquired a controlling stake in national human resource development firm, Legacy Bowes.

Winnipeg-based TIPI Insurance Partners Inc. has acquired 75 per cent of Legacy Bowes, allowing for increased capacity and services to invest in Indigenous community development. TIPI Insurance Partners is a majority Indigenous owned insurance brokerage representing 60 First Nation community shareholders across western Canada.

Nathan Ballantyne, CEO of TIPI Insurance Partners, made the announcement to a room of colleagues and noted the importance of the day.

“I think it’s very fitting that we are hosting this here today at The Forks. Our people have done business and trade here for many years, and there’s no better place to announce this than here today”

The multi-million dollar deal, which took place back in March, gives TIPI Insurance Partners 75 per cent ownership of Legacy Bowes, but operations, services to clients, and locations of both companies will remain the same.

Ballantyne said the deal will enhance the company’s ability to serve clients.

“Through our new partnership with Legacy Bowes, we can offer greater access to human resource development, recruitment services, leadership development and human resource training to all our current and future clients or communities we serve,” said Ballantyne.

Since the early 1990s, TIPI Insurance Partners has evolved to prioritize Indigenous communities concerns over rising insurance costs, inadequate coverage, and poor service and community engagement.

“When I started at TIPI in 2011, we were a pretty small and burgeoning company. We had less than 10 employees, two offices, and now I look at today with this acquisition and what this does for us in terms of geographic regions that we operate in, the amount of staff we have, it’s amazing,” said Ballantyne.

Legacy Bowes, which originally started as Bowes Leadership Group in 1984, has grown in national scope over the years, providing employee search and recruitment services, leadership development and training, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 92, diversity training, and other business advisory services.

Barbara Bowes, founding partner of Legacy Bowes, said the partnership was a “vision coming true.”

“It is an honour to see this community-owned partnership carry on the work we started 30 years ago,” said Bowes.

“The communities and business clients that are served by both organizations are the winners as they will have greater access to important development resources like never before.”

While Bowes Leadership Group started out “with an old door on two sawhorses” in Bowes’ basement, it eventually became Legacy Bowes after a partnership with Paul Croteau.

“A friend referred (Croteau) to us and I sat down with him and said, you know I want a partner. Someone that will work as hard as what I have been doing. So we then created Legacy Bowes,” said Bowes.

“I didn’t realize the word legacy was so powerful, and lasting, so this is what we are leaving,” said Bowes.

Although Legacy Bowes will retain 25 per cent ownership in the company, Bowes said she will stay on and help with the transition.

“I’m looking at perhaps retirement next year… but I love what I do. So I’ve already got people saying ‘are you going to stay on?’ so we’ll see,” said Bowes, adding she may write another book.

“Most people feel that with that change comes a sense of loss, but I don’t feel that because we have so much in common that I feel part of the family. I’m not feeling the loss yet. Perhaps as we go along and I don’t attend meetings and I can’t make decisions that I did before, I might start feeling the sense of loss, but right now, it feels very comfortable.”

Moving forward, Bowes said the company will continue to build bridges and relationships with both Indigenous and mainstream clients.

Bowes and fellow founding partner Croteau are planning to retire next year and hand the reins to Bill Medd and Lisa Cefali who will be the partners for Legacy Bowes with TIPI.

nadya.pankiw@freepress.mb.ca