Aurora Heat a National Winner for Business Concept to Reach more Snowboarders
Despite the hardships of Covid-19, Aurora Heat has remained focused on realigning business strategy to meet new market realities. We've moved our day-to-day business operations to the cloud, innovated new product offerings, and invested in opportunities to develop the promising youth we employ.
In early June, Joel Dragon Smith, a Junior Marketing Specialist at Aurora Heat, was nominated for the Arctic Future Challenge. Launched in 2019, the Arctic Future Challenge is an international business competition that aims to boost entrepreneurship and innovation among Arctic youth, and to raise awareness of the Arctic as a region with investment potential.
As an avid snowboarder, Joel developed a market penetration plan to reach the international snowboarding community. The opportunity to submit this plan for a chance to win a trip to Denmark and roughly $5,200 CAD could not have come at a more opportune time.
Selected as Canada's National Winner for 'Best Arctic Youth Business Concept' through public votes and jury evaluations, Joel can't wait to present his plan on an international stage.
Here are a few of our favourite quotes from Joel found in the full news story published by NNSL Media!
- "...I used to go snowboarding for hours outside but then I would come back and my hands and feet would be really cold. So she [Brenda Dragon] started giving us fur to put in our mitts. That was sort of an ‘aha’ moment, because they work so well."
- "I just want to bring that into the global snowboarding community. I’m also targeting the younger snowboarders. The younger generation seems to be more passionate about social change and social justice. They’re more aware of Aboriginal history and intergenerational trauma, and they're looking for ways to support reconciliation."
- “I thought it was awesome to just win the nationals,” said Dragon Smith. “We should have been going to Iceland for the award ceremony pending Covid restrictions."