As we prepare the first issue of our second year publishing MOMENTUM, it is an opportune moment to step back and thank all of the terrific contributors to the first 12 issues of our monthly insight-driven e-newsletter.
We created MOMENTUM because there is a wealth of expertise and insights throughout the MAPLE membership and our strategic partners. A monthly e-newsletter seemed a practical way to celebrate some of the collective expertise in our community beyond the one-to-one networking that occurs at our 12 networking events throughout Southern California, our outbound delegations to major Canadian markets, our special event programming, and our social media. And while a lot can certainly be said in a tweet, the topics of trade, investment, and entrepreneurship are simply deserving of a little more substance.
Each month we bring our readers two articles. Like our membership, the topics and the perspectives can and do vary. We think it keeps it interesting and frankly, the cross-border landscape is so broad and multi-dimensional, there is much to cover. In our first year, our authors covered the following topics:
NAFTA and immigration
Cross-border investment management tips
The Los Angeles market and Canada
Cybersecurity
Workforce strategy
Business resilience
The Cannabis market in Canada
The Importance of NAFTA
R&D payroll tax credits
The Office of Foreign Trade in Riverside County
Managing business growth the right way
Customer success mining for marketing leverage
What is interesting about looking back over the first year's content is that we have some of our own "momentum" to celebrate. While our early issues provided helpful profiles of our corporate members and snapshots of their scope of services, what we have seen emerge increasingly are more points of view and shared market insights that inform how we look at doing business across borders and the importance of the relationship that Canada and Southern Calfornia share together. So thank you to all our corporate members and valued partners for making us a little smarter. And now we embark on another year of sharing cross-border "momentum".
Stephen Armstrong is co-founder with Robert Kelle of MAPLE Business Council, a non-profit senior executive council promoting investment, trade and entrepreneurship between Canada and Southern California. For more information on MAPLE, please visit www.maplesocal.com.