The Niverville Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director. Kylie Matechuk recently took the position and has spent her first months hitting the pavement, boardrooms, event centres, and floor spaces of local businesses.

If Matechuk has her way, a whole crop of newcomers will soon be getting more involved. The Chamber is used to seeing four new businesses join on average per year, but 2022 has already seen 16 businesses join up.

A Fresh Start

In July 2021, Matechuk moved to Niverville from Thompson by way of Alberta. She has previous experience running a wellness centre in Thompson and began working in Niverville as a yoga instructor before accepting the part-time Chamber role.

As a single mom of two kids, Matechuk was looking for a fresh start in a growing community. As the fastest growing community in Manitoba, Niverville fit the bill.

Matechuk needed to be close to Winnipeg to be able to coordinate visitation with her children’s father, who flies in from Thompson, so she had originally looked to the big city.

“I couldn’t afford to live in Winnipeg,” she says. “Houses had jumped in price. I was looking at the south end, and then I looked a little bit further south, and a bit further… It was very stressful, but my daughters each had friends who had relocated to southern Manitoba. One of them is in Mitchell and one in Teulon. So it was almost like picking a community out of a hat.”

The driving factors for Matechuk ended up being access to a quality French school division (the DSFM) and a welcoming community.

“I came here with no plan,” Matechuk says. “There were a few positions in the city that I wanted to work toward, but the reality of a 45-minute drive to the city and leaving my kids to make the commute, I never would have been able to do it.”

Considering how much winter weather and flooding has impacted people’s commutes in the past year, looking for local work ended up being the right decision for her.

Through her own business, Matechuk learned to develop social media strategies. She began to offer brand consulting and content creation services in addition to her work in yoga and wellness.

According to Matechuk, she loves hyping other businesses. To do this she’s turned to social media, which she says she has been doing “since the beginning of Facebook.”

And with the growing demand for digital marketing services, Matechuk says she has been transitioning away from her wellness business.

“That part [digital marketing] has actually blown up and taken over,” says Matechuk. “So I’m doing that primarily now.”

Chamber Role

As she got to know people around town in her various roles, someone suggested that she apply for the job opening as executive director with the Chamber.

“I was actually working with the interim director as one of my clients, and she said, ‘This would be perfect for you. Would you be interested?’” says Matechuk. “I’m very independent and have an entrepreneur mindset, so to be part of a corporate-type support position, I knew would be a challenge for me… The Chamber allows me to be in the know with the business community, and then make sure that businesses are supported however they need. I can be that liaison between the town and know what’s going on, and help businesses access what they need as far as information and resources.”

With the speed of Niverville’s residential and commercial growth, Matechuk sees a need to offer more solid communication on how to build the current business community, not just attract new businesses.

One of the first goals she set was to increase the overall profile of the Chamber and better promote what it can offer.

“No one really understands the value of the Chamber, and that’s why I’m here in this position,” she says. “You have access to grant money. You have access to networking events, business planning resources, and more.”

To spread the word, Matechuk has been going around town to meet business owners in person. She has also taken to social media, because she saw very quickly that these platform are being underused.

“The median age here is 31 years old, so 31-year-olds are on Instagram, and there’s no Instagram presence for Niverville, not as much as there should be,” she says. “I’m being more active about what we’re doing and this also helps others see that they could be more active on there as well.”

A second goal is to offer business education sessions. The Chamber has already connected with the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT) to run training sessions on topics that are most useful to local businesses.

“We’re here to help. So for example, if you don’t know how to make an Instagram reel, we’ll show you. If you don’t know how to write a grant proposal, we’ll show you. Or access to recruitment companies to help restructure your staffing or sustain staff… things that people want and need to know.”

Thirdly, Matechuk says that she would like to see a needs analysis done to guide the Chamber’s efforts for everyone’s maximum return on investment.

She adds that she has spoken with the Chamber board about how the organization is disconnected from the tools needed to achieve growth, but they now have a strategic plan which Matechuk has been brought on to enact.

“They want growth and they want a thriving business community, and now they have the means to do it.”

Marketing Niverville

Matechuk feels that these initiatives are not only entirely within reach, they’re overdue considering how much Niverville has grown in recent years.

“[The Chamber] has been around for all of the duration of Niverville, basically, but it feels like we’re in start-up mode right now because there’s been such an influx of community members,” she says. “It’s the fastest growing community in Manitoba. However, the business community doesn’t match the amount of residents we have. Basically, people are coming here to sleep, but they’re spending their money in Winnipeg.”

Matechuk understands that many people still find it convenient to view Niverville as a bedroom community and run their errands in Winnipeg, but she is passionate about communicating the benefits of finding comparable goods and services right here in town.

“As someone who just moved here from Thompson, it took me a while to realize I can go to Bigway. I don’t have to drive 40 minutes all the time to go to the city. Or we have a [medical] clinic. You can get your bloodwork done here.”

Matechuk says that the inclination to spend one’s money in Winnipeg extends from the small things to the big things, and that even entrepreneurs believe that business start-ups will be more profitable in the city. But in her experience, she finds that it’s extremely viable for business start-ups to come to Niverville and see success.

“I want that to be part of our job together—to say, ‘We need more restaurant culture here. Or where can we get a croissant in Niverville so we don’t have to drive into the city? Why isn’t there a Booster Juice? Why isn’t there a yoga studio? Why isn’t there all of those things?”

She sees the potential that exists in town, and for her it comes down to creating a culture of community.

“I love creating culture,” she says. “So if I’m working for a company, or if I’m trying to help them, I want to say, ‘Where is your community? Where is your culture? Who is your market?’ And then get people excited about it… I want to create a culture that is so exciting in Niverville that even if I sell cupcakes, I want to be a part of the Chamber.”

Post-COVID World

Returning to in-person events after public health pandemic restrictions lift is a relatively new challenges, and opportunity, facing Niverville businesses today—and Matechuk isn’t wasting any time organizing them.

The Chamber just hosted its annual general meeting and awards night and she hopes to see a lot more events take place to increase the supportive atmosphere among the business community.

One way she hopes set the tone of each event is by serving good food.

“I firmly believe if you want to create culture, you throw food at people,” says Matechuk. “One of the first events I went to here, there were perogies. But they were not Ukrainian perogies. They were different. I still ate them. They were delicious. So if I throw an event, there will be food at it.”

The emphasis on food is important, because networking comes more naturally when the atmosphere is set comfortably. And that’s key when people are just deciding for the first time to return to in-person events.

“People are saying, another event? Okay, what’s the benefit?” says Matechuk. “They want to go out, but they’re still mentally drained. I’m trying to tell people, ‘Networking is huge. Please come out and talk to people. You don’t know who you’re going to meet.’ They’re going to get that fire back that’s at the heart of all of us business owners.”

But it’s not all fun and games—and food—for Matechuk. She recognizes the reality many businesses are facing in a time of loan repayments, high interest rates, and economic uncertainty.

“I know what businesses are facing to afford the key things they need to be able to grow,” she says. “And I am definitely aware of the reality that it takes time to optimize all aspects of a business… There are businesses here that are trying so hard on advertising and marketing, but it’s not going anywhere. With marketing you constantly have to follow where people are going and what they’re doing and their psychology. So I want to make sure that we are supporting business in that regard. Like, we see you’re having an event and we want to do everything we can to get your business in front of your market. So put it on Instagram. That’s where people are.”

Matechuk thinks many people in Niverville still hold a very traditional view of social media. They may think there aren’t a lot of business benefits to it. But this is a missed opportunity.

“A lot of people view social media like it’s just playing. Like, my kid is ‘playing on TikTok’ or you’re on Instagram ‘talking to your friends.’ Older generations say, ‘Why are you playing on your phone?’ But this is so important… and we are educating business owners on why it’s important.”

In the meantime, she’s spreading the message that it’s a great time to build a business here in Niverville. Despite rapid residential growth, the business community still has a lot of room to expand.

“We have three gyms here, and it’s still not enough,” she says. “We could use a yoga studio, a spa, grocery. I want to beat Steinbach to have a Costco here. I want Skip the Dishes here… I know it’s hard, for the old-school Niverville people. They want to keep it small, but it’s just not going to happen. People have money here to invest, and they have the drive to see it through.”