In his opening speech, Québec International President and CEO Carl Viel highlighted the unfailing commitment of the Québec City region’s industry over the years: “We often speak of evolution in our sector. However, some things never change. Local businesses’ contribution is one of them, and I am happy to see, by the number of people in this room, that this is not likely to change any time soon.”
Québec NUTRI President and Maison Orphée Vice President Élaine Bélanger then presented a few noteworthy accomplishments of the cluster and its members over the past year. She also took the opportunity to announce that a strategic planning process will be initiated over the next few weeks. On behalf of the committee, she also paid a simple yet heartfelt tribute to Sandra Hardy, who has resigned as director of Québec NUTRI to take on the role of Director of Business Services and Cluster Development at Québec International.
Then, new Québec NUTRI director Julie Daigle took over and presented some upcoming projects for the cluster, including a first group of businesses for the Mycélium incubator, the new strategic planning process and its impact on future activities, as well as a project regarding base object costing. For Julie Daigle, it was also an opportunity to meet cluster members for the first time in her new role.
The new brand image was then revealed in a presentation by Hugo Normand, Senior Advisor, Strategic Marketing and Outreach at Québec International. Attendees discovered the wealth of tools available (some of which are still at the development stage) that will help showcase this important cluster. Québec NUTRI aprons were also distributed to the attendance.
The event continued with a conference titled “Réussir ses erreurs” (succeeding at failing) by Leclerc Group President Denis Leclerc, Poka CEO and co-founder Alexandre Leclerc, and Leclerc Group Senior VP, Private Label Sales, Innovation and R&D Frédéric Langlois.
During the presentation, the speakers talked about their relationship with failure and the way they assess and manage risk in their business decisions. Through their passion for their profession, their openness with the audience and their manifest mutual appreciation, the three speakers quickly won over the participants, who had the opportunity to discuss the conference during the networking cocktail at the end of the event.
