Skip to content

New horizons

This week the Coast Reporter is proud to salute local innovators in our annual Horizons feature. This year we've focused on businesses and societies that are ahead of their time.

This week the Coast Reporter is proud to salute local innovators in our annual Horizons feature. This year we've focused on businesses and societies that are ahead of their time. And fittingly, just in time for Earth Day, there's an underlying theme of environmentalism.

It has been an interesting project. We've had an opportunity to meet business people that in many instances aren't well known. Folks who are ahead of their time in bringing energy cost savings to their clients, and while some service mainly off-Coast customers, there are still benefits galore to our community.

In the Horizons' pages we introduce Greenomics Corporation's head honcho, Erich Schwartz. To many on the Coast Schwartz is no stranger. He's well known to Barb Hetherington and Buddy Boyd of Gibsons Recycling. The three have a passion to reduce, reuse and recycle. Schwartz is quick to point out just how brilliant the other duo is - he gives them full points for their new electric trucks and initiatives such as offering crushed glass to Coast artists. In turn Schwartz is happy to provide advice to the pair.

Another business that is probably not familiar to Coasters is Cypress Power. That company too primarily has clients in far flung locations. The beauty is in the philosophy of the company's owner, Don Bildfil and his employees. While we don't want to give away any of the story, suffice to say the company prides itself on balance between business, home and community. They're inspirational.

It was also an eye-opener to interview the leading edge social entrepreneurs of our community. Both Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living and Sunshine Coast Community Services Society have taken the bull by the horns and sourced out ways to bring much needed cash to their organizations. Rather than wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of money from the public purse, years ago both societies began social enterprises to fund their core services.

For SCACL it's a proven way to both fund their services to developmentally challenged adults and provide much needed employment for their clients. From building a commercial site that also has social housing for their folks, to their latest foray into business, SCACL has proved to be a pioneer.

SCCSS is another group that's boldly gone where no one has before. The group bought their own building when such an endeavour was unheard of. The executive director, Vicki Dobbyn gives full points for the Sunshine Coast Credit Union for their assistance in making the mortgage a reality, but without the foresight of Dobbyn and board of the society at the time, the ownership would never have come to pass.

After many, many years at the helm of SCCSS Dobbyn retires this year, her knowledge and insight will be most assuredly missed. We wish her well.

This has been just a small taste of what the leaders on the Coast contribute to our quality of life. We urge you to savour the stories of these and all the other profiled go-getters in Horizons. Without them our community would be a much poorer place.

-Cathie Roy