Well here we are, its Christmas eve. another year over and a new one about to begin. I want to close off by stating the the 2009 Chicago Bears officially stink! For the rest of the year, I am a New Orleans Saints fan. Go Saints!!!

I’m back from my trip to India. To say the very least, it was interesting. I will say that there is a tremendous amount of opportunity there from a business perspective as there is so little that has been developed. It is an incredible contrast from extreme poverty to extreme wealth. It seems that there are a handful of companies that own everything.

Some quick stats, for those of you who don’t know. 1.3 billion people. 70%under the age of 30. Over 25% of the population lives below the poverty line (which is the equivalent of $7 per month). When I see people begging for money in Toronto now, it doesn’t quite have the same impact. When people are begging in India, there is an obvious, physical reason that the person is begging. Anyone who can work, does. (for the most part) Its very different than here where alot of people that are begging are chemical dependant. Alcohol is not prevalent in India. It is an amazing place.

All that being said, we will be setting up a sales/distribution facility there in the very near future. My meetings with several retailers exposed a need for the services and skillsets possessed by our team. The knowledge that we have can be passed on to these emerging power houses in order to make their growth less painful.

We’re working right through the holidays with a skeleton staff due to workload, but we had our plant Christmas lunch yesterday that was a big success. We’re hovering at around 150 people and its great to see so many smiling faces. The food was outstanding.

I think that’s all for now. Remember, Go Leafs! Go Saints!

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. Talk next year!

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