This is part of a year-long ‘Love for Local’ series called NB365: portraits of New Brunswick entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations. Huddle is a media partner with Love for Local. Today, we hear from Kamran Mohammed and Winston Mendez Ikar Digital And Creative Art Multimedia – CAM Saint John.

IN 2019, MY BUSINESS PARTNER WINSTON MENDEZ AND I STARTED IKAR DIGITAL. OUR DESIGN AGENCY CATERS TO THE NEEDS FALLING UNDER 3D DESIGN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HERE IN SAINT JOHN.

We currently advance in every sector we serve, right from Concept Drawings, Designs to IT, but this was initially challenging. While recruiting talent for our agency, we realized there aren’t many designers and artists here in Atlantic Canada, let alone Saint John, who we could have working on board with us.

That’s when we decided to take the matter into our own hands and founded CAM Institute of Design & Studio. We’re a one-of-a-kind design institute based in Saint John that offers a combination of Communication and Industrial design programs.

Creative designers are becoming increasingly in-demand in Canada, as industries such as marketing, manufacturing, advertising, publishing, and other specialized areas are constantly searching for qualified and talented designers.

Our vision is to equip the local talent with all the essential knowledge, experience, tools and skills they need and empower them as digital storytellers who will push the design industry’s boundaries. This will foster our local community where the talent and the ones hiring them can both benefit from each other.

The best part about supporting local is that you have a face to the businesses you’re supporting, and there is a rewarding personal connection. The proximity of local businesses plays another significant role in creating so many forms of conveniences: the convenience for buyers not to go far to fulfill their needs, the comfort for talent not to change their location to find a job of their desire, and more.

Supporting local businesses has a real impact because it establishes strong relationships within the community that foster faster growth of the economy.