Nature Works Q & A

...an edited interview with Matt Pommer, CEO.

1. How did you come to be the CEO of this company?

Back in 1998 I was asked to come here by a large firm I was working for to look after the partnership with Teck Cominco. I was supposedly on a four-year contract. After living here about a year I decided this was the place for me. I decided to stay here and start my own company. This opportunity came up. It was basically a research company looking for some business experience along with marketing.

2. Do you have a five-year plan for the business?

We certainly do. One thing we'd like to do is partner with a number of research firms to further discover why our system works so well. We'd also like to license our technology throughout the world. That would be our goal as opposed to going out and designing it and installing each and every system.

3. Is environmental clean up the wave of the future?

More and more companies are becoming aware of their historical legacies and recognize the need for remediation. Since we offer a unique and relatively inexpensive way of remediating we think it's a great opportunity for customers to go ahead and do the remediation now. Presently we are exploring the possibility of getting national status for our wetlands research facility here at Trail.

4. Are companies receptive to your ideas?

In the past, a number of companies have tried to do what we're doing but failed after a few years. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a barrier to the market because potential customers see a similar technology that didn't work and are reluctant take a chance, particularly where the environment is concerned. We're slowly convincing them that this technology is different, it works, it is viable and it offers a good alternative.

5. How supportive was Teck Cominco?

They provided the site for our research and development. They had a problem to solve that provided us with the opportunity to develop the technology to do that. They also provide us contracts for operating the wetlands. They've provided some research and development dollars.

6. Have you reached the goals you set for the company?

Being able to take our technology and transfer it elsewhere to Northern Ontario was our first big milestone. The second was the launch of our second product being the land remediation versus water remediation.

7. What skills do you need to be a successful entrepreneur here?

You have to have vision and a passion for what you're doing. You need skills in management and marketing. Taking a research company and commercializing a product is very difficult. The mindset now at Nature Works is to develop products that are customer usable and marketable.

8. But these are not products for the general public?

No. They are more for industrial or agricultural. We can also use this at municipal landfill sites, any place where there is a problem with contaminated water or land, we can clean it up. It could be in somebody's back yard. The system can be as small as a wading pool or as large as several acres.

9. What are your biggest roadblocks?

Trying to sell our unique technology in a market where our customers are traditionally very conservative. We are dealing in a highly sensitive area. A lot of our customers aren't willing to look at new technologies when there is a risk of environmental damage.

10. How long has the company been running?

The company started in 1995. I came on board in 1998. It started in Trail before I came, as a research and development operation led by Al Mattes, our science expert.

11. Do you think the community has benefited from your enterprise?

We have cleaned up a number of sites around Trail by planting trees, making vegetation grow where it hadn't grown previously. We have an affiliation with a number of universities. We've had about six researchers do partial PhD's here. Selkirk College comes here every year and works on our site. We bring a lot of expertise into the area as a result of our technology.

12. What is the key motivator that pushes you forward?

The motivation to start something and see it to fruition is eminently rewarding.

13. How can the area support more innovation?

As a community we have to be supportive of innovation. Publicity. People talking about innovation and entrepreneurship. Financial support to get people started

14. Is our geographical location a problem?

I don't think so. If I was heavily reliant on air transportation I might think that was the case but with the information technology we have now, a lot of our business can be done over email and the Internet. Traveling out of Castlegar is sometimes a problem, however, there are other options. People talk about certain barriers. I think if you focus on what's wrong you'll never move forward. You have to focus on what's right and solve the problem.

15. Are there awards your company could win?

We were a candidate for the company innovation awards that the Kootenay Association of Science and Technology (KAST) put on last year. We were a runner up. There are environmental awards throughout Canada and the world that we could eventually look at.

16. Why not now?

I think we need to get our system out there. Get our name with the consultants that actually bid the contracts for the larger companies. Once that's established and we do get our systems out there and operating, I think that would be the time.

17. Would you encourage your children to be entrepreneurs?

Certainly, I would encourage my children to be entrepreneurs. My daughter wants to be a chef running her own restaurant. I encourage them to follow their dreams and not let other people talk them out of them or let roadblocks stop them.