Apartment hunting
Okanagan inventor Marco Longley will appear on the CBC-TV hit pitch show Dragons’ Den for an amazing fourth time next month.
Longley, who is now retired in Vernon with his wife, invented The Heft, the fast-attaching secondary handle to long-shaft tools that makes shovelling and garden work easier.
The invention process started in 2008, after Longley suffered a back injury that made shovelling difficult.
However, Longley didn’t appear on Dragons’ until 2012.
Dragon David Chilton, the author of the best-selling The Wealthy Barber, saw the potential in Longley and The Heft.
He backed Longley and was instrumental in getting The Heft onto shelves of Home Hardware stores across the country.
In four years more than 350,000 Canadians bought The Heft for its ergonomic benefits making the user stand more upright to reduce fatigue, strain and injury.
Longley appeared on a update episode in 2014 and then again in 2015 with another invention, The Twocane, a walking stick that converts to two canes for extra stability.
The Twocane hasn’t been as successful as The Heft, so Longley will be back on the show March 1 to introduce improvements to the shovel attachment.
Meantime, Dragons’ Den is on the road making stops in 37 cities over two months looking for entrepreneurs and inventors to appear on the upcoming TV season. The Kelowna stop is March 8. Those interested in pitching can register online at CBC.ca/DragonsDen/Auditions.
Inspirational
Have you lost your mojo? Do you want your sexy back? Those are the questions inspirational speaker Christine Patton asked at a Kelowna Women in Business lunch at Kelowna Golf & Country Club.
“Most of us have to work and most people don’t like their work,” said Patton, the owner of Power Within.
“Change your energy and realize you have the ability to change your life and the lives of others. Your job will improve if you do this. And if it doesn’t, you will finish that job and find something better.”
Patton, the author of Showing Up: Becoming the Me I Want to Be, will next speak at a Business Smarts session Tuesday in the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce boardroom from noon to 1 p.m.
Finding, and paying for, an apartment in Kelowna continues to be difficult.
A next-to-nothing rental vacancy rate means demand for apartments is fierce and rents are pricey.
Kelowna is the fifth most expensive city in the country to rent a two-bedroom apartment with the average month rent at $1,630, up 10 per cent from last year, according to PadMapper’s Canadian National Rent Report.
The average rent on a one-bedroom is $1,160 monthly, up 14 per cent from last year, and the seventh most expensive in Canada.
Vancouver is perenially the most expensive city for rentals with a two-bedroom at $3,200 a month and a one-bedroom at $1,990.
ChangeUP
Brian Smith, the CEO of Persephone Brewing and investment fund Rhiza will be the guest speaker at community, social and environmental pitch competiton ChangeUp in Kelowna on Feb. 28.
Persephone was named 2017 Canadian social enterprise of the year and Smith has been honoured as one of Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40.
The social enterprises that will pitch at ChangeUp have already been chosen.
However, the public is invited to come to the Okanagan Centre for Innovation on the 28th at 7 p.m. to hear Smith and the pitches and vote for who they would like to see win.
Two winners will receive six months of business consulting, training and mentoring with event co-sponsor Purppl, a social enterprise accelerator.
The other co-sponsor of ChangeUp is Valley First Credit Union.
Tickets are $25 to $45 at EventBrite.ca.
RRSP withdrawal
Here’s a disturbing trend. Forty per cent of Canadians have withdrawn an average of $21,000 from the registered retirement savings plan to help purchase a home, pay down debt, cover living expenses or an emergency.
The Bank of Montreal survey indicates Canadians are living beyond their means and not saving properly.
Steve MacNaull is The Okanagan Weekend’s business and wine reporter and columnist. Reach him at steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca.