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 Norm Couturier of 3D Planeta in Fredericton.

I’VE BEEN A TECH ENTREPRENEUR FOR 30 YEARS. 3D PLANETA IS THE NINTH TECH COMPANY I’VE CO-FOUNDED. THIS LATEST IDEA TO BUILD SOLUTIONS IN THE FAST-GROWING EARTH OBSERVATION SPACE WAS AN EXCITING CHALLENGE IN AN INDUSTRY WITH SOME REALLY COOL TECHNOLOGY.

Supporting local businesses has been engrained in me since I was a kid. I fixed old lawnmowers and bicycles and sold them on my front lawn when I lived in east Saint John to make enough money to buy parts for my dirt bike.

A family friend of my parents owned a small-town auto part and hardware store in which I spent a lot of Saturdays as a kid. The thought of owning my own business someday rubbed off on me from my time there.

I got one of my first software programming contracts in the mid-80s building a computerized inventory system for that same store.

I’ve since hired hundreds of New Brunswickers in the various technology companies I have owned, all starting from a local business helping another local business.

Supporting local businesses has a real impact because it creates this circular economy that empowers so many, from the kid with a dream to a fellow business owner wanting to expand to better serve their community.