In Pictures: Cleaning business grew out of home-grown remedies
Northern Canadian Supplies is one of four semi-finalists in the Globe's Small Business Challenge Contest
Marlene Luck’s business has grown since the days when it sold only five cleaning products, all homemade by her. The president of Northern Canadian Supplies Ltd. in Fort McMurray, Alta., today sells environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and equipment, and safety work gear such as fire resistant clothing and hard hats, to schools, hospitals and seniors residences.
Today the company has eight employees and $616,000 in annual revenue, and has expanded into Saskatchewan and British Columbia and has built warehouses in five Canadian cities. Its product catalogue is now 1,700 pages thick and includes brands from global giants such as Procter & Gamble and 3M.
Ms. Luck, pictured here at right with employees at her company, has come a long, long way from the company’s early days. She learned from her grandmother how to forage in the wild, and how to use natural ingredients to make non-toxic cleaning products and health remedies. She looked into the possibility of manufacturing her products on a large scale but didn’t have the capital needed to make this move. “So I ended up doing research and finding leading environmental products I would be proud to carry,” she recalls. “Within a year, I went from making products in my kitchen to becoming a distributor for 3M and for all these other companies.”
Ms. Luck says she would really like to do more business with Fort McMurray’s oil sands companies. But getting a foot in the door won’t be easy; she says she will need to retain the services of consultants or procurement experts who specialize in the industry. “I would love to introduce our green products to the industry and show them that they can move to being green while achieving significant cost savings.”