Summit Ventures provides Indigenous training and employment as key component of its mandate

 
Brenda Hehr

Summit Ventures is a company that believes in the power of connection, from the communities they service to the relationships they build.

On this episode of the Indigenous Business Profile, we speak with Brenda L. Hehr, CEO of Summit Ventures.

Summit Ventures offers a range of services, including:

  • construction, installation, testing and maintenance of aerial and buried telecommunications network infrastructures;
  • highway lighting and signage manufacturing, assembly and installation;
  • renewable energy consulting, supply, and installations;
  • electrical distribution of power for street and parking lot lighting, power cabinets, receptacles, and accent lighting in a commercial-construction setting
  • security and access control through the latest in video compression, wireless, and cellular networks to monitor client sites effectively and from anywhere.

Since she was 16-years-old, Hehr has worked in the marketing and sales fields and has the education, experience and the personality to ensure customers of Summit Ventures are always treated with the utmost respect and professionalism.

Brenda believes that as a leader in their industry, it’s important to set the bar at excellence. And maybe that’s why land developers, Indigenous communities, telecom companies, and major contractors across Canada choose to connect with Summit Ventures time and time again.

“Our mandate is to ensure that we are not only employing Indigenous people but we are actually training them as well.” This training is in electrical, plumbing, administration or work in the renewable energy sectors.

“Whatever they want to get into. As long as we can give them the employment opportunity, that’s where the training comes into play,” said Hehr.

The company is finalizing the details on a $40-million, five-year project in renewable energy so employment is on the horizon for First Nations people because the project is on First Nations lands.

The company is also looking at some “very exciting” partnerships with Indigenous companies in 2021.

It’s important to Summit Ventures and their partners to ensure the company follows through on their mandate of education and training of Indigenous peoples. Many companies promise this, but fail to deliver.

“For us, that makes (Summit) a stand out.”