New Brunswick and Quebec French Businesses Rendez-Vous This Week
Francophone businesses from both New Brunswick and Quebec will be making valuable connections this week at the Rendez-Vous Acadie-Québec in Edmundston.
The event, hosted every two years and alternates hosting provinces, brings together Francophone businesses from both provinces for three days of workshops, business tours and conferences.
The topics for this year’s event are tourism, innovation and renewable energy, and will feature a variety of speakers such a keynote Bruno Guglielminetti, a well-known Quebec-based web and tech expert.
“He’s known for his expertise in social media, new technology and things like that,” says Thomas Raffy, president and CEO of Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick. “He’ll be talking about the importance of social media for business.”
Raffy says the event highlights the importance of Francophonie in Canadian business.
“La Francophonie is a powerful tool. It’s already celebrated as a tool when it comes to arts, culture and sport … But it’s also a very important economic and commercial tool,” he says. “For businesses to do business in French, it opens up the Quebec market and the purpose of Acadie-Québec is to connect and network New Brunswick Francophone businesses and Quebec.”
Raffy says the event has proven to have a positive impact. According to the last post-event survey, close to 50 per cent of attendees ended up reaching an agreement or developing a business relationship with the people they met at the event.
“It just goes beyond the face-to-face meeting,” he says. “It’s really a powerful tool for economic development and growth for our businesses.”
Rendez-Vous Acadie-Québec kicks-off Wednesday evening and goes until Friday.