The 7th Annual Southwest Business & Entrepreneur Expo will be hosted in Deloraine in 2024.  The regional effort to promote entrepreneurship and business development in the Westman Region began in 2018, as a collaboration between towns and municipalities in the southwest corner of the province.

Economic Development Officer for Deloraine-Winchester, Glenn Schellenberg, says they're quite excited to be hosting this year's business expo.  Meetings have taken place to brainstorm and secure keynote speakers for the 2024 event.

"We're looking forward to being the host community in February," shares Schellenberg. "This is always a good time to come together and learn from each other and learn together from our speakers and presenters."

EDO's from across the Westman Region come together on a regular basis to collaborate with each other, this as an extension of sourcing out new ideas and spring-boarding off what's been successful in the different communities.

"That's the extension of the 'Round Table' where we've got the region and all the communities that are all involved in that, and this is one of the ways that we keep that communication and that cooperation open," he adds. "Like, if somebody is struggling with a procedure or some sort of a social or business issue in our communities, we can simply ask 'Has anybody seen this? Has anybody been up against this? Has anybody got a solution to this?'"

"And we can draw from each other in that way and that's incredibly important.  You know, when you're this far away from the government center, when you're this far away from Broadway, you really need to have this kind of supports and resources," says Schellenberg.

The SW Business Expo is an innovative business event featuring speakers, panel presentations, trade show, networking, and a business pitch event (much like Dragon's Den) with an opportunity to win cash awards, Innovative speakers and a variety of breakout sessions and panel discussions to educate and inspire business ventures. 

Communities including the Town of Melita, Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester, Municipality of Souris-Glenwood, Municipality of Pipestone, Town of Virden, Municipality of Grassland, Municipality of Wallace-Woodworth, Municipality of Brenda-Waskada and the Municipality of Two Borders work to create opportunity for growth in the region.

The prizes available to be won each year have exceeded $10,000 that was available to be won.  The annual expo sees over 100 potential and growing entrepreneurs per year, providing ample opportunity for business development and growth.

For more information on the 2024 SW Business & Entrepreneur Expo visit their website.  More information will be added as we get closer to February 7th, 2024.

Please listen to more with Glenn Schellenberg below!

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