SASKATOON — The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc. and Cultivator powered by Conexus have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance entrepreneurship in the province’s agri-food industry.
Laura Mock, director of Cultivator powered by Conexus, said the organization has been supporting founders nationwide. Still, this effort has seen particular success in Saskatchewan’s agriculture sector, helping many founders access the programs and resources they need.
“To give exposure and highlight Saskatchewan as a place where they can grow their company and be successful, it is a vast opportunity, and from the founders' perspective, it simplifies their journey,” said Mock after the agreement was signed Tuesday.
She said the partnership, which both organizations jointly agreed to, will help founders commercialize their businesses, develop their products, and do so more quickly and easily. The program, available only in Canada, is situated at the heart of the country’s agricultural industry.
“The Food Centre has existed far beyond Cultivator. Cultivator was founded in 2019 and has a powerful reputation as a global leader due to its technical capabilities. When we launched Cohort 4 of the AgTech Accelerator, we shifted towards positioning the program,” added Mock.
“Cultivator brings a big piece of the business development — connecting founders or entrepreneurs with investors and helping to get those different pieces around the business model and growing and scaling their organization.”
Food Centre president Mehmet Caglar Tulbek said the partnership became even more critical amid ongoing discussions and issues related to tariffs and trade talks with the United States, Canada’s largest trading partner.
“Our job is really to support the manufacturing landscape, to increase the capacity and help the entrepreneurs and the companies to manufacture and produce more products for Canadian consumers. This will be big for the value-added agriculture sector overall,” said Tulbek.
“Rather than looking for new investment, we're just repurposing the investments and the programs and capabilities we have to have a greater impact. Whether it's food, beverage or ingredient, this is an opportunity because of the lack of trust and continuous negotiations.”
Tulbek added that Canada has all the resources, products, and capabilities, making it their responsibility to create more opportunities for companies to manufacture and diversify their products, not only in Canada but also in other export markets.
“We can only do that by increasing our manufacturing capacity instead of selling the commodities elsewhere,” he said.
