McKay further notes that the Goldcorp part-
        
        
          nership has been a key catalyst for busi-
        
        
          ness growth. “Profits generated through
        
        
          Windigo Catering are financing other as-
        
        
          pects of our business, which include Win-
        
        
          digo Property LP and Windigo Distributors
        
        
          LP. The Skookum Jim award feels like icing
        
        
          on the cake.”
        
        
          The key to such accolades?  “At the end
        
        
          of the day, when you are tired it is nice to
        
        
          know you can look forward to a wonderful
        
        
          meal and then go to your room which is
        
        
          immaculately clean. It’s a little more like a
        
        
          home away from home,” says Debbie Ko-
        
        
          robanik, General Manger, Windigo Venture
        
        
          General Partner.
        
        
          It’s also the employee-first philosophy.
        
        
          “We try to maintain an open-door policy,
        
        
          and we also offer group benefits and a reg-
        
        
          istered pension plan,” Koro-
        
        
          banik says. “Having leader-
        
        
          ship where you have a very
        
        
          clear idea of where you
        
        
          want to be in five years or
        
        
          in 10 years is a major factor
        
        
          in any successful company,”
        
        
          says Korobanik.
        
        
          The Windigo Chiefs com-
        
        
          pleted a strategic plan in
        
        
          February of 2016, which out-
        
        
          lines five priorities for the
        
        
          next five years. TheWindigo
        
        
          leadership is now focused
        
        
          of the economic opportunities arising from
        
        
          an all-weather road and the construction of
        
        
          the Hydro Grid project led by Watay Pow-
        
        
          er. The large-scale, $1.3 billion project will
        
        
          connect 16 remote First Nations commu-
        
        
          nities to the power grid over the next five
        
        
          to 10 years.
        
        
        
          MARCH 2017
        
        
          H
        
        
          business elite canada
        
        
          
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