Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Okanagan (CFDCCO) is pleased to announce that 2015 is the organization's 25th Anniversary. During the past 25 years, volunteers, staff, contractors, partners and clients of Community Futures have helped to shape Central Okanagan community development. "2015 will be a celebration of this success", states Barbra Johnston, Chairperson for CFDCCO, herself a client of Community Futures back in 1992. "Without early support from Community Futures, I am sure I would not be in business today and employing 80 people at Natures Formulae Health Products Inc." "Volunteering and leading CFDCCO is my way of giving back to the community that helped me to be successful" explains Barbra. "I look forward to hearing more testimonials from some of the thousands of people that CFDCCO has helped to start and grow their businesses".
During 2015, CFDCCO is planning to profile and publicize some of the clients from the past 25 years. If you would like to share your Community Futures stories with us, please contact our General Manager, Larry Widmer at 250-868-2132 ext. 223 or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
A Golf Tournament in September is also being planned for all of those interested in a fun afternoon and party to follow so look forward to hearing more details in the coming months.
VO SPRING INVESTORS FORUM - Thursday April 9th, 2015
Venture Okanagan Investor Forum is hosted during the Spring and Fall of each year. Guests learn of exciting new businesses in the Okanagan as hand selected entrepreneurs pitch their business to investors, business leaders, and the VO community. Presentations are followed by a fully catered networking reception where the top presenter is awarded a cash prize, after careful review of a panel of judges. With live music, delicious appetizers, and a chance to personally connect with the entrepreneurs, guests are always eager to return to the Venture Okanagan Investors Forum year after year.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Venture Okanagan via our Facebook page
Original article by Wayne Moore | Castanet Story: 135605 - Mar 19, 2015 / 7:00 pm
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet File Photo
Canada's largest enterprise cloud service provider is about to be sold.
RackForce Networks, which provides services for national and international clients from its Kelowna-based GigaCentre has entered into a share purchase agreement with TeraGo Inc.
Under terms of the sale TeraGo will acquire 100 per cent of issued and outstanding shares of RackForce for aggregate cash considerations of $31 million plus $2 million in common shares of TeraGo.
The acquisition is expected to close on, or about, March 27.
The purchase will increase TeraGo's data centre footprint from 40,000 to 58,000 square feet of raised floor space and available power from 6MW to approximately 13MW.
"The RackForce acquisition provides TeraGo with a growth platform in the attractive cloud services industry and helps further position TeraGo as a leading national end-to-end data solution company," says TeraGo’s president and CEO Stewart Lyons.
"RackForce will complement our business and transforms TeraGo into Canada's premier enterprise class network, data, voice and cloud services provider."
RackForce serves multiple high value enterprise customers across numerous verticals, including federal and provincial governments, and education. RackForce’s top-25 customers generate average monthly revenue of over $17,000.
"We recognize the value, expertise and experience RackForce exhibits as a proven cloud partner for enterprise clients running mission-critical applications," Lyons continued. "We warmly welcome RackForce professionals and we are excited to enter into a new phase of our business at TeraGo."
Original Posting March 16, 2015 by: Heidi Mann Accelerate Okanagan
BC-based tech startups are the top winners at Interzone pitch competition.
Two of Accelerate Okanagan’s FastTrack Program clients, Control and WTFast finished first and second this past weekend at at the Interzone SubCulture pitching event in Banff, Alberta. Seven of the most disruptive Canadian technology start-ups pitched to a panel of venture capitalists, CEOs and business leaders.
Rob Bartlett, CEO of WTFast, said, “it was a great conference and we won over Rahul Sood (Creator of Microsoft Ventures, now CEO of Unikrn), which is the one guy that mattered most to me. It’s going to lead to a lot of strategic investment partnerships.”
Control and WTFast will look to keep the successful pitches coming on March 30th at a private investor forum in Kelowna. If you're an accredited investor and want to check out these, and other cutting edge tech companies, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I'm inviting you to join friends & colleagues to say 'farewell" to Michael Joss, who died suddenly of natural causes on February 5, 2015. There willtwo memorial events, to better accommodate distance & Michael's various communities. There will be bagpipes, awesome stories, some surprises, sadness & delight, wine and of course, love. I very much look forward to seeing you at one or both memorials. Please RSVP to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Photos of Michael's adult life: I've organized a photoset of images, adding new ones as they arrive. It's a fascinating look into an amazing, vibrant man and life. I have lots of recent ones, so if you have older Michael photos to contribute, pls email to me for posting (date them if you're able, estimates are fine.)
Finally, I'm pleased to announce the Michael Joss Memorial Fund to honor Michael for his long-time leader in Canada's wine & hospitality industries. All funds raised will directly support the work of the BC Hospitality Foundation, which Michael heartily endorsed. Please consider making a donation to the fund in lieu of flowers or other tributes.
Please share this email freely with anyone you wish: Michael was loved and respected by so many - let's inform them.
Those we keep in our hearts and memory never truly die ...
