Local Entrepreneur Colleen Dyck was a keynote speaker at the annual Southern Manitoba Manufacturers' Summit which was held in Morden on Wednesday.

Business people from all over Manitoba attended the all day event which featured speakers, workshops, and forums.

Colleen Dyck is the owner of GORP Clean Energy Bars in Niverville and won the 2016 Mompreneur of the Year Award. She says her keynote speech focused heavily on the importance of people.

"I think definitely being people-centric, caring about your staff first and then your customer next and realizing it is the people around you that have to believe in you and your product first before you can go to that next level. Having respect for your customers and staff."

Dyck says GORP Clean Energy Bars have been for sale across Canada for over three years and they hope to start shipping to the United States shortly. She says starting the company was far harder than she ever imagined and sticking to her principles was one of the biggest challenges, but it is very important for business.

"When I think about creating something for me and my family to eat, whether it is a food product you are creating or a service or some technology, you want it to meet the standards you have for your own family. When I know that a company is doing that and acting that way my loyalty to them goes way up."

Dyck says the annual summit is a well organized event with very relevant topics. She notes speaking at the event is a big honour but is also intimidating.

"The people that show up are just extremely high caliber, it can be very intimidating as a speaker to have to talk to these people, I guess a lot of it is just stories and being open and realizing that you can learn from anybody no matter what stage you are at and what stage they are at."

Dyck adds it was a humbling experience.

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