By KELLY LOUISEIZE
It takes a certain entrepreneurial spirit to visualize opportunity out of mayhem. That is what Maurice Bedard of Kenora has done.
Originally known as the Inukshuk Man, Bedard was selling Inukshuks to a local businessperson when concerns surrounding West Nile and mosquitoes came up in conversation.
That conversation put a bug in his ear. He wondered what opportunities might be out there for an entrepreneur like himself. After months of research in 2001, Bedard pinpointed a niche.
He invented a towelette saturated with DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-tolu-amide) mosquito repellent and called it
SkeetSafe.
“It took me three months to research, and sure enough I found a niche in the market,” he says.
Researching was only the beginning. Bedard went to Toronto and made calls to the United States and investigated how to bring the product to market.
“We met with a Toronto lab and they are developing our lotion and we found a packager in New York that will pour the lotion onto the towelettes. Finally the product will be shipped to Kenora for custom packaging.”
Bedard says approximately one-fourth of manufacturing will be taking place across the border.
Possibilities for product use are endless, he adds. As soon as they obtain a pest control product (PCP) number, he will be looking for prospective buyers in the American market.
A PCP number is given to the inventor by Health Canada, Bedard says. The number will allow Bedard to sell SkeetSafe in Canada. He will know whether he meets government approval in the next couple of months.
Within three years, Bedard hopes to develop a mechanized packaging process and perhaps a manufacturing plant
in the region.
