Top Forty Under 40: Former tennis coach knows a good return when he sees it
Holger Nierfeld didn’t know anything about graphic design and printing when he purchased Dittos Office Services in Kelowna.
“But, I have a background in accounting,” said the 37-year-old.
“So, I understand financials. I also knew who was selling the business and knew it would make a good business investment.”
Thus, Nierfeld and his brother, Joachim, bought Dittos from Birgitte Baart in November 2016 and have successfully grown the company to a second location in Lake Country and are looking to open a third in Kamloops.
Dittos can design and print anything from business cards to billboards and can also logo a plethora of promotional products from pens and hats to water bottles and t-shirts.
Part of the success due to Baart, who remained with the company as head graphic designer and part-owner of the Lake Country outlet.
With Nierfeld’s corporate background, Dittos is getting into business, financial, marketing and social media consulting.
This isn’t the life imagined for himself when he was a teenager in Germany playing tennis on the country’s highest junior circuit.
After his playing career, he turned to coaching in Germany.
Nierfeld’s brother, Joachim, who is also a tennis player and coach and businessman, by then was living in Kelowna, so Nierfeld came out for a visit.
That’s when he met his future wife, Karen, who is originally from Alberta.
They wed and the couple moved briefly to Kelowna in 2004, but opportunities in the neighbouring province soon beckoned.
They relocated to Red Deer where Nierfeld started to work at an accounting firm while taking courses at the local college and earning a business degree from Athabasca University.
Nierfeld would also have careers as the controller for Alberta residential and commercial developer Compass, controller for oil field supply company Terra Pro and founder of his own oil field service business called Integrity Matting.
Selling Integrity two years ago cleared the way for Niefeld and his wife to move back to Kelowna, start a family and buy into Dittos. They have a two-year-old son, Jonas. Tennis isn’t gone from Nierfeld’s life. He and his brother are part of the organizing committee that puts on the non-profit Kelowna Futures Tennis Professional Tournament annually in late-June to early-July.
The competition, for young adult players ranked up to No. 200 in the world, is part of the global circuit for such up-and-coming players that also includes tournaments in Saskatoon and Calgary.
“It’s a growing tournament and part of the circuit that’s so important to junior programming in tennis,” said Nierfeld.
“I volunteer in excess of 150 hours (annually) organizing and running the event with the tournament committee. On top, I have volunteered assisting high-performing tennis kids in practice over the years.”