Committee members for the Southwest Business & Entrepreneur Expo are putting the final touches on their upcoming event, April 27th in Souris.

Liza Park is the Economic Development Manager for the Town of Virden.  She says they're very excited to host the SW Business Expo in just a little over a week. 

A highlight for participating municipalities is to hear feedback from businesses who took their first steps in business pitch competitions of past years.

"Our first presentation on April 27th will be by us," shares Park.  "We're going to highlight some of our success stories that have come out of our expo's over the past 5 years, and some of the successful businesses that have pitched and won, and where they're at now. You know, a couple of thousand dollars to win actually can go a long way in starting up a business," she adds.

"The most rewarding part of this is getting businesses in the room and watching them network together, and the relationships that come out of that, where they help themselves and each other after they leave, it's so rewarding."

The networking begins right from the start, when the municipalities network together to host a business show like this one.  "It is a collaborative approach with the municipalities and we do have a lot of support from our councils at those tables to let the economic development people work together to pull this off."

Parks says she would love to see a business expo take off in other areas of the Westman Region.  "Take our model and even make it better," she adds. "and get an expo like this in all of our communities.  We've gotten a lot of great feedback over the years!"

Having the event hosted by participating communities, in turn, is a great way to share their town with neighboring towns and businesses, all learning from each other in different ways.

"Eventually the event comes to your community, that's our model," adds Park, "it goes once everywhere, and once we've been through it all, we'll reevaluate and see, can we go again!"

To find out more about the upcoming SW Business Expo, April 27th, and to register, visit:

SOUTHWEST BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEUR EXPO (swbusinessexpo.com)