• The Women's Enterprise Centre is offering "Taking the Stage" to BC women

• The 2018 Hospitality Blood Drive is now on, through January 31st. Book ahead, take a team, take a shuttle. Contact the Executive Director for more details.  

• BDO Canada LLP is congratulating three of its accounting students on achieving their CPA designations: Khristian Koulev, Jozef Vogel and Andrew Shaw all passed their final examination.  

• Chamber Platinum Member Flair Airlines began offering low-cost service between Kelowna, Vancouver and Edmonton in mid-December.  "Flair Airlines is headquartered in Kelowna, so this means a great deal to us; to begin offering flights to and from Kelowna International Airport. [It's] a bit of a homecoming," said Chris Lapointe, Vice President of Commercial Operations. "We want to connect Canadians, and we believe the routes that we are offering from here will amplify our reach across Canada."    
• Deborah Warren at Okanagan College Computer Science has eleven student teams who will work with companies needing user forms entered on their website, and report information extracted from the website.  Project sponsors need a web interface to a database - students can help proponents set up the necessary information.  Projects complete April 30, 2018.  Proposals are requested by January 10.  Request more information here.  

The Business of Cannabis

Canada's cannabis industry is young, entrepreneurial, rapidly evolving, and brimming with potential.

Since 2013, Canada has established a sophisticated commercial system for the production and distribution of medicinal cannabis. 

Peter Guo works closely with private and public corporations, delivering  assignments involving governance, risk management, strategy, policy, people, systems and processes, as well as regulatory compliance, enterprise risk, internal audit, IT audit, & business process controls. Peter's industry expertise includes biotech and pharma, & he is very familiar with R&D, manufacturing, licensing, regulatory compliance, systems, & distribution for life science companies & related government oversight mechanisms.  

 

David Cram , Faculty of Business Administration, Okanagan College, says, "It's very rare in the life of a business person to see a brand-new industry emerge and be faced with all the associated challenges: regulatory, taxation, the rules of the game. Here is an industry that's unfolding because of changes in government policy. It's kind of wild west. The speculation, as well as the research, has indicated that it's in fact BC's number one agricultural commodity - but we just don't have a way - yet - to measure it, the same way we do the tree fruit industry or the grape growing industry."

David Brown, Kent Employment Law.  An individualist, his nonconformist mindset and passion for transformation set him apart in a profession steeped in tradition. He understands and appreciates not just the practice but the business of law. Add to all this his disarming wit, bellowing voice, and lofty stature, and there's no mistaking him in a crowd. A trusted workplace advisor to both companies and individuals in BC's Interior, David was quoted in the November 2017  Vancouver Sun , saying that BC workers can expect a flurry of new workplace drug policies as the legalization of recreational cannabis nears and employers try to limit their liability and avoid court battles. He calls legal cannabis a potential legal "quagmire" for employers and employees alike.  

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