#5: Ontario-based businesses and the innovation born as a result of COVID-19
The pivot.
Sara Ainslie, community partnership director: In the past several months, our company has managed to respond to the calls to action by Health Canada and our community to alter our regular production lines and pivot to help and serve our community with the permanent addition of hand sanitizer.
Through this process we were able to hire 12 new employees in the Perth region, and more than a dozen across Ontario (we are still recruiting). Being able to provide new job opportunities during a global crisis has had a positive impact on the morale of many within the company and our community.
“Being able to provide new job opportunities during a global crisis has had a positive impact on the morale of many within the company and our community.”
The mandate.
Part of our mandate from the onset of the pandemic was to kill the virus and take care of our neighbours. Our company has been able to donate 10 percent of all sanitizer sales to our community. We also worked closely with six business improvement areas in our surrounding area to donate more than 700 sanitizer startup kits to help them get ready for their clients when they opened.
Additional points of pride.
We have been community-driven since our inception. Our marketing strategy and budget has always been funnelled directly to supporting community fundraising and awareness initiatives across Ontario. We are members of Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, Made in Ontario, Ontario Craft Distillers Association and Feast On Certified. We also created our own initiative called #MoreTrees, where for every bottle sold, we plant a tree in the community where the bottle is purchased from. We recently donated 150 trees to Perth veterans and their families.
Connect with Spark
Twitter: @spark_centre
Instagram: @spark_centre
Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/spark-centre
sparkcentre.org
