Gene says, are the people with actual experience, not just people with on-paper qualifications. By prioritizing the on-paper qualifications, he believes companies too often end up neglecting the actual experts: “Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island – also known as Canada – have a 1,000-plus year PhD in sustainable leadership and working together with one another and the environment. Settler cultures have a 1,000-plus year PhD in technology, innovation, and industry growth. If you’re building a company and you’re looking at establishing your owner, your CEO, your business growth manager and your accountant, when you look through that lens it’s pretty obvious who you want to put in which positions.” Gene feels confident they are on a path to becoming a large corporation. Their next step will be to get their ADU production consistent and sustainable. After that, the company plans to expand into a much larger facility. Their plan from there is to build full multi-bedroom residential ADUs, then progress into low-to-midrise commercial accommodations. The final element in Grand River Modular’s grand plan is knowledge sharing. They have no intention of keeping all their lessons-learned to themselves. They want to be a model for other businesses, particularly Indigenous-owned businesses. As Gene puts it, they want to “franchise without the ownership.” “We’re going to put together comprehensive packages to provide a guide for what we do, from the products themselves, to the materials, task orders and labour times,” says Gene. “Then we’re JULY 2024
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