The Westerner for November 28, 2011
Meeting: chair, Sherry; music, Jerome; grace, Darrel Ripley
Attendance/Guests: 36 including Henk ten Wolde, Trade Commissioner, Kingdom of the Netherlands; Paula Frank, guest speaker and intern at the Netherlands Trade Office at Edmonton, Alberta; Angus Watt, Honourary Consul for Kingdom of the Netherlands; Kathleen Gowers, spouse to Chris; Lynn Lachosla, guest of Chris
Rotary Christmas Party: Bob Lamoureux confirmed the event is at the Royal Glenora Club, December 16, cocktails @ 6:00 pm; dinner @ 7:00 pm; $40 per person
Fellowship Dinners: Bob Lamoureux advised that single Rotarians can sign up, they just need to to find someone to create a couple (another Rotarian or non Rotarian guest)
Gift Cards: Mike Ryan advised that we are close to selling out our first order, thanks for the orders; another $30,000 in cards has been ordered; this is the easiest way for our club to earn funds to use on projects - send an email to Brian for your requirements, trade a cheque for the cards at the next Rotary meeting.
Condolences: Ken Haywood, past president of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Northeast, passed away November 21, celebration of life is December 5 @ 1:30 @ Alberta Ballroom of the Edmonton Expocentre, 7515 - 118 Avenue. Ken helped our club when Rotary International Vice President Curly Galbraith commissioned then President of Rotary Club of Edmonton West Dave Turner to host Rotary International President Hugh Archer and his wife Mary Jane when they visited Edmonton in the fall of 1989. Our club was part of Rotary District 5360 at the time and was host to Rotary International Peace Park Ceremony in Waterton. Ken donated a Lincoln Towncar to enable comfortable transportation to Waterton for the Turners, the Archers and the Galbraiths (Curly and his wife Doris). Further, Ken was the driving force behind the project to build the APU Girls School of Malawi, a project that our club supported by provision of funds to help construct the first building. The school graduated its first full class of 24 girls this past spring; a fact that Ken was very proud of.
50/50: Bob Lamoureux and Jerome did not match cards, $53 carried over
Finemaster: Duane fined Rotarians for not wearing Rotary pin and/or name badge; since all guests were at the head table the 3 Rotarians sitting there were fined; anyone engaging in Christmas activites, like buying gifts, before the U S Thanksgiving were fined; if you watched the Grey Cup and cheered for B C, you were fined ; if you did not watch the Grey Cup , you were fined;
Belise Santa's Program: Duane was pleased to announce that $600 would be turned over to Rotarians in Sine Bit this Saturday; congratulations for the giving.
Mustard Seed Donations: Once again, next Monday, Rudy will have his wagon available to collect clothing and footwear donations for the Mustard Seed. This will be the final opportunity to take advantage of Rudy's offer to accommodate your filling a bag with older clothing from a back closet - which can be put to good use by people who really need it.
Guest Speaker: Chris introduced Paula Frank who went to university in Holland with an interest in environmental issues. She speaks many languages including Russian, German, Dutch and English.
Paula's presentation was titlted 'Business Development in a Network Perspective - the Role of the Netherlands Trade Office". The Dutch do business by working in networks. They provide resources to others in the network and benefit from the new resources provided by others. Her powerpoint screen had an orange border which is the colour for the Dutch Royal Family.
The theory is that the role of the sole inventor is old fashioned; the current environment needs a team to develop innovations. Outside In (from the network) Inside Out (to the network) use the resources to create spinoffs from existing products or processes or test a new product before sales are presented to the general public. The Dutch Government has developed a focus on 9 top sectors in the business/environment scene for the Netherlands. Water; Agrofood; Horticulture; High Tech; Life Sciences; Chemistry; Energy; Logistics; Creative Industry. The emphasis is for people from each sector collaborate to improve production/environs.
They look at the Earth with 9 billion people trying to live together and work together in good health and healthy relationships. Clean water is needed. The Dutch reclaim land from water and have become experts in water management. The Earth needs more energy but clean with a reduction of climate change. The Netherlands is the number 1 flower producing nation in Europe and number 2 in food production - organic food. With their need to export they have become experts in logistics. They are team players.
Why a trade office in Alberta? There is a need to connect Dutch networks to Alberta networks. The Dutch have proven processes for cleaning tailings and management/mapping of ground water sources - water management. For energy (oil sands) they have new techniques to separate sand and bitumin - use less water. What can the Netherlands Trade Office do? It can connect your company to markets in Europe and provide new ideas for Dutch businesses. To stay competitive you need to access networks - you can't just market on your own. An example is applying Holland's ground water mapping expertise to manage Alberta ground water which covers a much greater area than Holland plus can trace effects of drilling activity.
Angus Watt advised he is consul to help open Alberta doors to Dutch markets. Henk ten Wolde provided some additional comments. Paula was thanked by Bill Buckham.