BURLINGTON — Canadians Dino Mehanovic and Mahmood Shirazy took two days off work this week for a whirlwind visit to four New England cities.
The two entrepreneurs had signed up for a tour organized by the nonprofit ACET, an economic development group that is allied with the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. Through Wednesday and Thursday, Mehanovic, Shiraz and 40-some others representing 29 businesses were due to touch down in Burlington, Concord, Boston and Portland.
Mehanovic’s two-person company, CSAR Energy, designs and manufacturers solar reactors. He journeyed to New England in search of investors and technology partners.
“We are building a huge system that uses solar energy to produce hydrogen for a large industrial client,” he said. “We are looking for people that develop technologies that are useful for our system. And a big system means big money, so we need investment.”
Vermont and Quebec share a 90-mile-long border and traditionally strong trade ties. The province is Vermont’s largest international trading partner, with exchanges worth almost $4 billion last year, and in recent years Vermont officials have vigorously promoted the state as a place for Quebec companies to expand, particularly in the aeronautics industry.
Four years ago, the Lake Champlain Chamber started a program called the Vermont-Quebec Enterprise Initiative to strengthen business ties with the province. In August, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott hosted a conference of New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers, and in November he made his fourth trade trip to Quebec.
At a gathering for the ACET group at the ECHO Science Center in Burlington on Wednesday, Scott and other locals went out of their way to show the visitors why they should feel right at home in Vermont.
Scott reminisced about famous Canadian racers he met as he traveled the skidoo racing and car racing circuit in Quebec in years past.
“I raced at Valcourt many, many times,” Scott said of a large annual winter race in Quebec. “I’d go to the Bombardier factory to pick up parts.”
Turning to business, Scott told the group that the state wants them to succeed in Vermont.
“We not only want to work with you, we want to create and build things together,” he said. “Many Quebec businesses are already here and currently growing. It shows how our region can work together to accomplish economic goals.”
Yves Bradley, a vice president and broker at Pomerleau Real Estate in Burlington, introduced himself to the group in French, explaining that his mother is French.
“You’re going to see a lot of places today, but the thing you need to consider is a very special thing about this state,” he said. “Vermonters as a whole are a people who are fond of innovation, fond of hard work, believers in a strong work ethic, and believers in finding ways to be special.”
Bradley added that the state’s small size would make it easy for newcomers to get assistance.
“We offer access,” he said. “If you have a problem, whether it be real estate, legal or governmental, you have direct access and can reach the governor. The governor himself will take you seriously. That does not exist elsewhere.”
Mike Schirling, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, also highlighted sports as common ground. The Montreal amateur athletic association’s new hockey team skated in the first international hockey game on the frozen Lake Champlain at the 1886 Burlington Winter Carnival. It didn’t go well for the Vermonters.
“We want you to enjoy that same level of success as you grow your business here in the U.S.,” said Schirling. “We don’t want you necessarily to come down here and beat us three-to-nothing. But there are many opportunities for symbiotic growth.”
Shirazy, whose company Calogy Solutions makes batteries for electric vehicles, was looking for investment opportunities in northern New England.
“For us, having a footprint in the U.S. is very important,” said Shirazy, who was on his first trip to Vermont.
He and Mehanovic both said they would prefer to work with people who are located nearby, rather than interacting only by Skype or other means. In that way, they said, New England is ideal.
“You are working with an investor, so it’s really a partnership: you don’t take the money and run,” Mehanovic said. “You build a relationship and use the money the way they think it should be used, so the proximity is quite important.”
