Venn Announces Strategic Priorities And New Chairman As It Enters 10th Year
MONCTON – Venn Innovation announced Wednesday that Pablo Asiron, the Executive VP of Global Business Development at MASITEK Instruments, will be its new chairman. It also announced key priorities for the next three-to-five years.
Asiron is taking over following the two-year term of TKS President and CEO Roddy Awad.
“The role of Venn and similar organizations across the region is to ensure that those [innovative] entrepreneurs and companies are provided with resources and opportunities vital to their success. And I very much look forward to continuing this effort along with my colleagues on the board of directors,” Asiron said at the Annual General Meeting Wednesday.
His appointment will be confirmed in the first board meeting next year.
Venn President and CEO Doug Robertson also announced the startup hub’s strategic priorities as it moves into its 10th year of operations. The three priorities will include startup services, growth and scaling stage programming, and talent services.
“We’re doubling down on the growth and scaling program. So that’s the market intelligence, competitive intelligence programs, all of those programs that are really focused on the suite of capabilities that companies need to succeed to grow in export markets,” Robertson said.
“There’s important learnings in sales and marketing, and international sales that’s a challenge for a lot of companies. As smaller companies grow, they don’t always have those capabilities: intelligence about the market they’re about to get into and lead generation.”
Venn is hoping to continue helping business through programs like Soft Landing, which has allowed 18 New Brunswick companies to enter international markets through Venn’s role as the provincial hub in the Canadian Digital Media Network. The program, which focuses on companies with high-growth potential, provides some financial support and access to local advisors in the target market, among other things.
With talent being the top issue faced by tech companies globally, Venn also plans to introduce new talent-focused services, with details set to be announced next year. It’s been in consultations with various frontline organizations, including immigration bodies, multicultural associations, businesses and government partners to guide the service.
“It’s an evolution for us from things we’ve done in the past,” Robertson said.
To ensure it has a robust pipeline of startups for its Venn Garage early-stage incubation program, Venn is working with Opportunities NB Entrepreneur-in-Residence Rivers Corbett to reach startups in the province’s north and its rural regions. Venn plans to have its Garage program offered virtually to those startups so they won’t have to move to Moncton to access it.
“We do need to grow the pipeline, and as small as an economy that we are, we still need to get to more startups.”