We’re a week away from Small Business Week and one of the highlight events is a presentation from Toronto’s Mark Wafer, a nationally recognized speaker who was recently inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.

He and his wife Valarie own six Tim Hortons Restaurants in the GTA and have hired 120 people with disabilities over the past 20 years to fill positions in all areas of the operations.

Wafer says his annual employee turnover rate has been under 40 per cent for 9 years. “The average for the quick service restaurant industry is about 100 per cent. When you consider how much it costs to replace just one person, clearly I make more money by being an inclusive employer.”

He also says the success and economic benefits of inclusion can be scaled up or down, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a large multi-national corporation or a small business with only 10 employees.”

His presentation “”The Economic Case for Inclusion” goes October 19th at The Grande downtown.

RSVP’s to the Business Centre Nipissing Parry Sound — TEL: 705-474-0400 (ext 2443) — are requested by October 17th.