The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, October 22, 2015 | 12 It's people who make small business big by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver Thanksgiving dinner feeds many. On Thanksgiving Monday, more than 250 people lined up for dinner at Mo's Family Restaurant. This is the seventh year the Speers Road eatery held a donation based meal in support of Kerr Street Mission. Mo's generously supplied the turkey dinners with all the trimmings, including pumpkin pie for dessert. A big thank you to Mo's Family Restaurant and its customers for raising $2,200 for Kerr Street Mission and our programs. The donations from this one dinner help KSM serve more than 26,000 meals a year to those in need. Yes, I want to learn more about the meal programs. Click PROGRAMS or FOOD BANK HELP at kerrstreet.com What began with one man, a truck and an idea in 1988 has grown into a global leader of information security, due in large part to the people it employs and serves. That's according to Vince De Palma, president and CEO of Oakville-based Shred-it, which began as a small business 27 years ago. It currently employs 5,400 people worldwide and operates in 170 markets, 15 countries and has 400,000 customers. De Palma shared Shred-it's success story on Monday as keynote speaker at the Oakville Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Week Kickoff Breakfast. Held in partnership with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the event drew 200 people at the Oakville Conference Centre. "All of our partners are passionate about information security and how to help companies protect their con dential information, and more importantly, protect their brand," said De Palma. "Our success has been built on the strength of our partners, which is what we call our employees. All of them have an unwavering commitment to the customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty." De Palma noted there are ve factors that have led to the company's growth: creating a compelling vision, building a great leadership team, focusing on the customer experience, focusing on the partners and focusing on growth. "People need a reason to get excited on Monday morning to go to work and serve customers. They need a noble purpose. Greg (Brophy, founder) certainly introduced that and drove that with his passion, with his excitement every day," said De Palma, who joined Shred-it in August 2009 with more than 25 years of executive experience. In the same year, Shred-it was facing "tough times" and had to nd a way to revive Vince De Palma itself, De Palma said. The task for the company was to "set a vision that got people excited about where we were going to take it." "That's a very, very important thing, having that noble purpose so that every partner, every employee wakes up saying, `I can't wait to get into the of ce today to do what we do on behalf of our clients,'" said De Palma. "We built a great leadership team. Sometimes people think it's the CEO, the president. It's the 5,400 partners out there. It's I was eating the same things day after day. Now I have more than 150 choices... and delivery is free! Get delicious, frozen meals, soups and desserts delivered directly to your home. Made for Seniors Request your FREE Menu Catalogue Today! 1-844-409-0050 HeartToHomeMeals.ca 485 Kerr St. | Oakville, ON | L6K 3C6 905-845-7485 www.kerrstreet.com Free Delivery*. No Obligation. Delicious Choices. *some conditions may apply. the ones delivering the service each and every day." Shred-it's plan was to grow the business by 15 per cent, De Palma said, but it fell short and reached nine per cent during "tough economic times." "Half of that was organic, meaning our sales people brought on new business every day and the other half was through the acquisitions we made over the last few years," said De Palma. The Shred-it president and CEO stressed the importance of its employees, as it "really focuses" on them and their safety. De Palma offered a warning to avoid reading and sending text messages while driving, something he tells everyone in the company,. "We care about safety because we care about our partners, on the job and off the job. We really care about partners, who care about our customers, who help us deliver growth," said De Palma. With success comes "ups and downs" in every business, he said, and the Oakville-based company is no exception. De Palma admitted he has made hiring mistakes, for example, which is common for small businesses because they have a limited number of employees. "We always want people to be successful, so you hang in there for a long time. You get them a coach and you help them out. Sometimes you have to make the tough decision and move them into a different role," said De Palma. "Hiring mistakes happen. Figure it out quickly and take corrective action as quickly as possible." Many think Shred-it just serves "big banks, big Fortune 1000 companies," De Palma said, but 80 per cent of its clients are small- and medium-sized businesses. A recent company survey stated 82 per cent of small businesses understood the importance of information security, but 37 per cent of them have no protocol for storing and disposing of documents at the workplace. "Their talk is better than their walk. Very few of them actually take the appropriate actions in their business to protect their con dential information," said De Palma. "The average ne to a small business over a security breach is $5.3 million. For small businesses, that's a lot of money. It's very important to protect your con dential information." Shred-it was recently purchased for $2.3 billion by U.S.-based Stericycle Inc. This is the 24th year the Oakville Chamber has celebrated Small Business Week by offering opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from experts and network with similar professionals and potential clients.