By ANDREW WAREING
A fledgling IT company in Thunder Bay recently graduated from the incubator stage to its own store front.
Global RnD recently moved from office space in the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre (NOTC) to its own office at 1860 East Walsh Street in Thunder Bay. The company was participating in NOTC’s virtual incubator program.
The incubator program was instrumental in giving Global RnD its lift up, says Renault Franklin, vice-president.
“Since we’re a new enterprise and a technical business, we were given access to a lot of resources a company needs in that startup phase. (NOTC) offered accounting services, mentoring and even some of the equipment required for a professional office.”
“Since there were other tenants, there were also opportunities for socializing and some networking.”
Franklin started up the company three years ago with his friend, Dean Hayes, who is also his business partner.
“(Dean and I) were working in the same company and suddenly our jobs had become redundant,” says Franklin. “We seemed to get along and we had many of the same ambitions. So we decided to team up.”
Global RnD is a “one-stop IT shop,” says Franklin. It offers a variety of software and hardware services including database and Web site development, Local Area Network (LAN) installation and custom applications for business.
“Our primary revenue comes from Web site and database design,” he adds.
Before taking the plunge out of the incubator program Franklin and Hayes researched the market, and developed a business plan.
Franklin notes the company has developed a strong customer base mainly from word-of-mouth referrals.
They have also established clients south of the border.“With Internet technology being where it is, you don’t even have to be on the same continent,” says Franklin.
He says that the aim is to try and build the company as big as it will go, including the possibility in a few years of hiring on extra people and even moving to larger space.
