Channelling ‘real world, firsthand experience’

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This article was published 17/09/2024 (624 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Change is brewing at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce — and Little Brown Jug’s founder will take a leading role.

Kevin Selch is slated to become the chamber’s newest board chairperson. He’ll be sworn in at the organization’s annual general meeting Oct. 3.

The role was an “easy yes,” Selch said Tuesday in the Winnipeg company’s board room, steps from William Avenue in the Exchange District. “At Little Brown Jug, we say we want to build a city we want to live in.”

Just 10 years ago, the brewery didn’t exist, and the space had been used for offices and retail.

Selch had been in Ottawa. He spent 2005 through 2015 as an economist for the federal government. He landed in an interdepartmental team negotiating trade agreements at the World Trade Organization.

His work as a civil servant also covered the Nortel Networks Corp. bankruptcy, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, copyright legislation and the automotive industry’s bailout, among other things, he said.

As he spoke to business leaders in Ottawa, he felt a pull to become an entrepreneur.

“Eventually, you have to be like … ‘I’m going to do this,’” Selch said. “You need to know that you’d rather try and fail than not do it at all.”

He’d seen “positive impacts” of breweries being created in Ontario, Quebec and Vermont. Old buildings were reused, customers flocked to the products and locations, jobs were created.

Selch, 43, planned to return to his home city — Winnipeg — and start a brewery in the Exchange District, which he called “the heart” of the region.

Then, in 2015, he had a chance encounter with Brian Scharfstein, an Exchange District entrepreneur and property owner (and former Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce board chair). Soon, Selch was converting part of Scharfstein’s building into a microbrewery and taproom.

Little Brown Jug opened in 2016. Selch views its growth in three stages: startup, COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic.

“We’re still in that post-pandemic phase and so are so many businesses,” he shared.

During his year-long tenure as Winnipeg Chamber board chair, he aims to find ways to generate more prosperity — or wealth creation — in the city.

“The premier talked about the economic horse pulling the social cart,” Selch said, referencing Premier Wab Kinew’s campaign pitch to Winnipeg’s business crowd. “I know they’ve spent a lot of time looking at the social cart, trying to fix that, but let’s talk about that horse — that horse needs to run again.”

Access to capital, crime, permitting and bureaucratic red tape are among the obstacles entrepreneurs regularly face, Selch added.

He’s watched downtown businesses shutter during and post-pandemic. Small- and medium-sized businesses are the “lifeblood” of Winnipeg, he said.

“But it’s only through, like, sheer brute force … that we make it work as entrepreneurs,” he added. “I think there’s a palpable frustration in the business community here right now.

“I hope, as chair, to be able to listen to that and hopefully channel that.”

Selch expressed hope about ongoing developments, like the mixed-use Market Lands project, as reinvigorating downtown.

The city’s core, alongside crime and safety, are chamber members’ current top concern. Selch’s experience as an Exchange District entrepreneur, and as a standing Winnipeg Police Board member, will serve the chamber well, according to Loren Remillard.

“Kevin has that real world, firsthand experience with those challenges,” said Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. “You can’t manufacture that kind of experience.”

He highlighted Selch’s background as an economist and his understanding of fiscal policy. He’s hoping Selch will “move the needle” with government and stakeholders.

The local workforce, productivity and competitiveness round out members’ greatest concerns.

Going forward, a key objective of the chamber will be to “meet members wherever they are,” Selch said.

That includes the launch of a series called At the Table, where speakers answer questions from chamber members. It begins in October.

Selch is the chamber’s first board chair who’s openly part of the LGBTTQ+ community. The 151-year-old organization tries to reflect many groups within Winnipeg, Remillard said.

Selch has been a board member for three years. He succeeds Jeannette Montufar-MacKay, who runs Morr Transportation Consulting, as chamber board chair.

Amanda Buhse, chief executive of candle company Coal and Canary, is tapped for the chamber’s board chair position in 2025-26.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com