Trident Group leads Ontario entrepreneurs

When Rene Fink started a business in the basement of his home 15 years ago, he never dreamed that he’d be the owner of an award-winning company.

But in September, Fink, president of Trident Group, was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Ontario Association of Community Development (OACFDC) in Sault Ste. Marie.  Trident Group was one of 61 entrepreneurs in Ontario nominated for the award.

Trident Group consists of three companies: Trident Mining Systems, which re-manufactures mining equipment, Z-Equipment and Nautilus Automation.

”When I let my name stand for the award, I never thought for a minute I’d win it,” said the Timmins man. “I was very humbled by it.”

Fink received a glass trophy, a video for his website and a cash award.

In 1997, Fink was tired of just being a mechanic and felt he wasn’t using his full potential, so he started his own business.

“My goal was to start a business where I would do re-wiring and selling radio and tele-remote control systems,” he said.  “My goal was to be self-employed and maybe have one guy work for me.”

He got the dealership for a line of radio controls from Vancouver and used his contacts in the mining community to get his first clients.

But his business grew and changed in ways he hadn’t expected.

While still working out of his 16 x 20’ garage, he received a call asking him to rebuild and modify some drills that were headed for Siberia.

Fink quoted a price that he thought would scare the client off, because he didn’t have a shop or mechanics — just some experience and some tools. But, he got the contract.

Fink rented a shop and brought in the drills with three months to finish the project.

“To this day, 15 years later, I can’t believe what we did in three months,” Fink said. “We worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Now that he had a shop, requests for repairs and rebuilding of equipment flooded in. During the first four years of business, he out grew four shops and doubled his revenue in the first three years.

“I wanted to be a rebuild shop, but not just any rebuild shop,” Fink said.  “I wanted to address the problems with the equipment as it was being manufactured.”

He wanted a high-end rebuild and remanufacture shop that made machines last longer before needing repairs.

“We strip the machine right to the bare frame – take everything off – and repair cracks in the frame with plating.  We modify it to take away the weaknesses and to make it more user-friendly.”

This process makes the machines easier to repair, resulting in less down time.

Fink and his employees have made custom trucks for a mining company in Montana and have now started making cement trucks for underground use.

He showcased the new cement truck at MINExpo ’12 in Las Vegas.

As his business grew and expanded, Fink needed capital. The OACFDC, which is funded by the federal government and FedNor, provided two loans that were critical to the development of his company.

His business employs 40 people.

“There’s no rocket science to what we do here,” Fink said. “We take basic stuff and make it better.”