Mario Thériault Brings Small Business Perspective As New Chair Of Canadian Chamber
MONCTON – It’s an interesting year for Mario Thériault, an entrepreneur and LAC Group’s chief business development officer, to take on the role of chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.
Thériault will serve in the volunteer role for 2020-2021. He was vice-chair last year and has been involved with the organization for five years.
But now, he’ll be representing Canadian businesses at a time when many sectors are just starting to recover and others are still struggling.
He says the pandemic has made it clear that business is a critical part of the fabric of the community, and it’s dismantled the rigid views held by some that business is something that’s always self-serving.
“Covid has, in my mind anyway, uncovered the deep interrelations between businesses, community, and policy. And it’s become clear for everyone that if a business fails in a community, it’s not only the owner who fails, but it has a whole trickle-down effect,” he said.
“If your local daycare can’t make it through, it has a big impact on parents who have kids at work. If your bakery or dry cleaner or IT business fails, they’d impact commercial rent and parking spots and overall downtown activities.”
Thériault founded market intelligence firm ShiftCentral in Moncton before it was acquired by Los Angeles-based LAC Group in 2019. The merger allows LAC to have a stronger Canadian presence, and Thériault now oversees all aspects of growth strategy, partnership and alliance programs for the research and competitive intelligence firm.
Sitting with Thériault at the Canadian Chamber board are executives from the Port of Vancouver, Air Canada, Organigram, CN, some of the big six banks, and top law firms in the country, among others. But as a small business owner, he hopes to bring a stronger voice for SMEs to the table.
“I think that on the small business file, we can do a lot as a chamber to improve our knowledge,” he said.
Too often, small and medium-sized businesses are bunched into one category, he said. In reality, SMEs offer various products and services in various local and international markets, have differing readiness for innovation, and attract investments locally and internationally. During the pandemic, some are doing well, others are struggling.
“I’m hoping to convey the sense that small business is critical to the country, obviously because of how closely and deeply engaged we are in our communities and how we managed to create jobs,” he added.
“But I think small business is also critical to large business. We could be involved in their supply chains more, and we could partake in their innovation strategies. More large corporations could provide mentorship to smaller businesses. We can be much more creative in our understanding of small businesses for the benefit of the Chamber, but also for the Canadian economy as a whole.”
Now that some businesses are reopening, Thériault expects to see the so-called K-shaped unequal recovery. While sectors like e-commerce are doing well and have accelerated, others like transportation, hospitality, culture and entertainment are struggling. Policies would warrant a more targeted strategy, he said.
LAC is recovering too. Thériault had initially aimed to double the number of staff at the Moncton office to 70 in five years, but the pandemic had led the company to lose some clients. He didn’t have to lay off staff, but some employees who left also weren’t replaced.
Now, the company is back to between 30 to 35 employees and is starting to hire again.
“We’ve hired a few librarians and we’re looking for more. We’re looking, hopefully shortly, for a junior economist, so, I mean, we’re pointing in the right direction,” he said.
He said entrepreneurs operating from Atlantic Canada should have a plan to compete globally and be confident that they can do so.
“You should have a business plan that already encompasses foreign markets or external markets because our local market is so small that it’s very hard to get off the ground and once you have, it’s very hard to grow,” he said.
“As Atlantic Canadians, New Brunswickers and Monctonians, we need to be more open and knowledgeable about the world,” he added.
Having talent and community members that are diverse is critical, he says.
On the other hand, Atlantic Canadians bring to the table the values of community and helping each other.
“I won’t say we have that in spades because my view is we can always improve, but that applies to everyone across the world. So I’ll take the more demanding view here,” he said. “But I think we’re very well positioned and now folks from other parts of the country are looking at us and say, well, maybe we could live here, too. And they have a good lifestyle and they can compete globally and so on. So I think it’s for us to see that opportunity.”
Inda Intiar is a reporter for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected]