When NuFocus flourishes, so do other businesses

Pierre Dupuis, General Manager of Dieppe’s Economic Development Corporation, says he was particularly happy to see NuFocus Strategic Group win the 2011 Dieppe Entrepreneurs Awards category for Emerging Business because they have “tentacles” everywhere.

“When NuFocus flourishes, others flourish. They are so interconnected with so many other companies in the city that their growth is reflected across the city in the growth of their clients,” he explained.

His words ring true for NuFocus’s more than 20 associate partners because that is the essence of what they strive for as they take an unfailingly holistic approach to business.

Helping people succeed

“We’re here to help people succeed in business and in life; that’s what we do,” explains Ray Hebert, who founded the group along with Suzanne Daigle and Richard Theriault.

Typically humble, instead of giving the usual response to winning an award by saying how thrilled the firm was, Ray said he stood there wondering: “are we ready for this, this public attention?” It wasn’t so much that the firm hasn’t been an amazing example of business growth, going from three founding members in 2007 to almost 25 associate partners today from Toronto to Florida to Halifax, but that they haven’t courted the public spotlight. The partners seem more comfortable working quietly and intently, morphing into the work environments of their clients, and steadily bringing them to new degrees of prosperity.

From their headquarters at 30 Englehart Drive in Dieppe, the firm has attracted partners of all backgrounds and ages who bring with them a wide skill-set of service offerings. These fall into seven service groups including strategy and innovation, human capital, finance, information systems, leadership structures, operations, and marketing.

No managers, no hierarchy

The firm operates uniquely without a hierarchy of management or structured work hours or procedures. Instead, it is an equal partnership of skilled women and men bound together with a deep commitment to authentic democracy and mutual respect.

The Entrepreneurs banquet was special in another way for NuFocus, since its keynote speaker was Normand Caissie, chief executive officer of Imperial Manufacturing Group and a client of NuFocus.

Ray first started working with Norm back in 2002, a year after the original NuFocus Marketing company was formed by Ray and his wife Charline Hebert. Immediately they noticed that the nature of marketing Imperial had to provide to its clients at a retail level posed a larger than normal challenge. Norm asked Ray to take over the marketing and bring it up to the level of the firm’s performance and operating expertise.

Imperial Manufacturing: A NuFocus client

Ray’s personal role and vision in the company grew and today marketing is one of the firm’s greatest strengths. NuFocus cheered earlier this year when Imperial Manufacturing Group was named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies.

“Ray takes the time to understand all aspects of a company instead of just offering cookie-cutter solutions,” Norm said earlier. “He has innovative ideas and the skills to engage people to make them happen.”

From Ray’s perspective, having his firm nominated for an award on the same evening Norm’s firm was highlighted as he gave the keynote address was a “very special” because of the working relationship the two have cultivated.

“Norm says he knows what he wants to do but has a hard time explaining it,” says Ray. “But he surprised me when he told me he appreciated the ‘vision’ I had for the company. Listening to him speak about the ups and downs of his years of entrepreneurship at the banquet, and then receiving the award for NuFocus combined to make this a really great experience,” he added.

Future for NuFocus

What’s ahead for NuFocus? “We have a really clear plan of what we will focus on, what we have to do,” Ray says. “We have to focus on building an environment with strong principle base values that we operate with. We need to continue to gather new people with new abilities to better serve our clients. And we need to pay attention that we continue to create the quality work environment that is critical to our success that people deserve.”

Meanwhile, Pierre Dupuis says the city is proud of the way the banquet showcased the entrepreneurs who put much back into the community. Also honoured that evening was Dieppe Co-op, which grew from about 500 members to 2800 member owners and does a lot of community work, particularly with their literacy program.
In praise of local business growth

“When companies do well but also invest back into the community, that is a valid reason to recognize them,” he said.

Pierre, who took his post in May of last year, said a priority for him is helping local business to grow and prosper, and events like the entrepreneurs banquet focus on that.

“Lots of cities want foreign investment, and we don’t say no to that, but we are well aware of the high degree of success that comes with supporting the growth of local business. Seventy-two per cent of community business growth traditionally comes from within, and we understand and encourage this more organic process of business growth.”