Pierre Desmarais

WHAT GOT YOU STARTED?

by Burke Campbell

Published in the Financial Post

December 31, 2007

Pierre Desmarais co-owns Innovation Engineering Group, in  Gatineau, Quebec. The firm specializes in making Flexi-Felt ( www.flexifelt.com ), chair leg covers that reduces noise. Pierre Desmarais tells Burke Campbell what motivated him to become an entrepreneur.

LIKE MAGIC: “To make extra money, my father would take scraps of wood or metal and make things to sell. He could make something almost out of nothing. I never forgot that.”

EARLY START: “When I was seventeen, I opened a bike repair shop with a friend. Eventually, we sold bicycles, rollerblades, and so on. After that, I went to college and got a degree in computer engineering.”

THE QUIET SOLUTION: “With an associate, I started Innovation Engineering Group. One day, a school principal explained to us that teachers were sticking tennis balls on chair legs, to muffle the sound in the classroom. In turn, we invented a rubberized cover for chair legs, made to fit an angled-leg.”

THE DOORS OPEN: “A cushion that fits on a chair leg doesn’t seem like much, but the North American market is huge.”

THE NATURE OF SUCCESS: “Many people think I’m lucky. But luck is a component of everything one does in life. If you have joy and love what you do, luck finds you.”

DEEPER SATISFACTION: “To have an idea and then turn it into a useful, functional object, this is a wonderful thing. This kind of work can give a person the deepest satisfaction.”

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