By Galen Simmons
The Stratford and District Chamber of Commerce has announced the appointment of Perth South’s Aaron Martin as its new general manager.
Martin previously worked with the Western Fair District in London where he led the Grove Agri-Business Incubator and Accelerator, a position in which he supported agri-food businesses on the cutting edge of the industry.
“The incubator; I like to think of it like the AirBnB of commercial kitchen spaces,” Martin said. “There are four spaces for companies that have a great product, but they may not have the financial literacy, track record or even the regulatory literacy, so we build them up, get their track record up and going, get those companies to the point where they can kind of get their own brick-and-mortar place or possibly to the next step, which is the accelerator.
“The accelerator is an area where we had 20 places built out and (they are) below market rate for what a company would generally pay for a space at that calibre. And, if there was certain infrastructure they need to put in, we could cover some of that with the federal money that we received.”
In that job, Martin said he worked with a lot of companies focused around agricultural technologies, including agri-robotics, that could be applied in other sectors.
Martin, who has a Bachelor of Arts in general studies at Athabasca University and a diploma in agriculture from the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown campus, not only brings a wealth of business connections, experience and knowledge to the chamber, but he is also familiar with Stratford, St. Marys and the surrounding Perth County.
Martin lives on his in-laws’ 800-acre farm on Perth Line 26 south of Sebringville. Both he and his wife have been busy starting their own small businesses: a winery/cidery, a business Martin says is lacking in the Stratford area, and his wife manages logistics for shipping milk, cheese and meat products, a business that has been growing exponentially.
“I’m a big proponent of serving your local community,” he said. “ … This opportunity came up; it means I can be closer to home.
“ … For the area that the chamber’s serving, I feel that we’re positioned really well because we’re in Perth South kind of smack dab between St. Marys and Stratford and Mitchell. Two things I know the chamber’s identified they want to see more involvement is in manufacturing and with agriculture, and I have a background with both of those. Through family connections and through my own personal connections, I think we’ll be able to reach out to a lot of those people and bring them into the chamber. I think that’s going to make the chamber stronger as a whole.”
As a small-business owner in Perth South, Martin said he is hoping to bring more businesses in St. Marys, Perth South, Perth East, West Perth and those further afield into the chamber fold, something previous chamber general manager Eddie Matthews also tried to do.
“I want to find out what issues businesses are having and what level of government can help solve that ultimately, and what ways we as a business community can come together to fix these issues,” Martin said. “That’s the whole point. We want to talk with each other and find out how we can help. On the flip side, we can be a huge value-add to all three levels of government with the representation there. We can tell them, ‘This is what we’ve been hearing with the local constituents, this is where we’ve been having issues with local job creation,’ or anything along those lines. We want to be able to value-add to them – we scratch their back and they scratch ours – to ensure everything is moving smoothly for local businesses.”
Martin says he is excited to hit the ground running when he officially starts in this new position at the end of August, and begin meeting with local business representatives and touring their businesses to find out how best the chamber can serve them.
“His hands-on approach and dedication to fostering business growth have made a significant impact in his previous roles,” the chamber board of directors said in a press release. “Aaron’s commitment to supporting local businesses and driving economic development aligns perfectly with our chamber’s mission. We look forward to the fresh perspectives and energy Aaron will bring to our team.”
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