Published: October 13, 2009 12:37 am      

BUSINESS: Skateboarder is mission driven

Jason Salfi, wearing blue jeans, a work shirt and sporting a cast on his right arm, waved the injured limb at his small audience of area business people.

“Yes, I did break it skateboarding,” he laughed. “I was going about 40 miles an hour down a hill and had a terrible crash.”

Salfi, a Niagara Falls native, was the keynote speaker at the Niagara Expo ’09, held recently at the Conference Center Niagara Falls.

Salfi, who runs a internationally known skateboard manufacturing company in Ithaca and was featured in Inc. Magazine’s “Green 50,” talked to the area businessmen and women about running a “purpose driven business.”

Although the 39-year-old was dressed casually, his talk was a treatise on how what is good for the community and the planet can be good for the bottom line.

“It actually does make a huge economic difference for your communities to stay connected,” he said.

“For every dollar spent locally, 30 cents stays in the community,” he added, noting that money spent outside of the community results in only around 10 cents staying in local coffers.

He also talked about his “mission driven” company, which attempts to create personal connections with both employees and its customer base while still making profits. The company uses wood purchased from sustainable methods, meaning forest that are carefully harvested. The skateboards are painted with water-based environmentally friendly paint, which helped save the company $20,00 in fire safety products.

Comet is also a certified “B company,” he said. A B Company is a corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

He said the B Company organization is working on lifting pressure off company executives “so they can make decisions based on people, planet and profit.”

“That’s got a good ring to it, you’ve got to admit it,” he said.

He said the B Companies are committed to being transparent about exactly how they are conducting businesses.

For more information he suggested those present gather more information online including www.livingeconomies.com, which is Business Alliance for Local Living Economies,” and “B Corporation.net.”

Organizers of the Niagara Expo were actually doing exactly what Salfi recommended, trying to get businesses to network with each other to fortify the region.

Alessandro Renzi of the Town of Niagara Business and Professional Association, said his group has expanded the annual event to include other professional organizations including the Niagara USA Chamber and Lower Niagara River Region Chamber. They are seeking to add more area chambers next year.

“We’re trying to get business organizations and chambers to work together,” Renzi said.

A second goal is to get area businesses information about each other.

“A lot of times businesses in the area don’t know about other businesses down the street,” he added. “That doesn’t make sense when Western New York is struggling.”

“Whether you are purchasing brakes for your car or equipment for your businesses you should know what businesses are in your immediate area,” Renzi added.

Regarding the future, Renzi said more volunteers are needed for next year’s expo and more businesses and business chambers of commerce need to have a stake in the event.

“This year is just a baby step. There’s a lot more work to be done,” he said.