Community Futures (CF) Sunrise has been helping out small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic by providing funding through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF). One of these small business owners that received assistance was Steve Von Hagen, owner of Team Tundra Wildlife Artists in Weyburn, SK.
Team Tundra is a full-service taxidermy studio. Steve explained a significant revenue stream for the business is “derived by catering to the non-resident outdoorsman - those that travel from outside of Canada to Saskatchewan for our excellent hunting & fishing opportunities! We are good at intercepting the ‘successful outdoorsman’ before they head for home out of the country”. Because of the restrictions put in place, the absence of travelling outdoorsmen to Saskatchewan to hunt has created a financial impact on Steve’s business.
Steve sought assistance from CF Sunrise to help mitigate this impact. Steve qualified for the RRRF program and was impressed by the “timely, informative, & professional service I experienced while dealing with our local Community Futures Sunrise office”. He believes that CF Sunrise is a “huge resource for the local entrepreneur. The assistance that is offered is a great asset in the road to realizing success in your small business endeavor”.
Steve also talked about the ways Team Tundra had to adapt to the restrictions put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have to go after a bigger market share of the Saskatchewan resident taxidermy market with increased marketing to this demographic. We have partnered with a taxidermist in the United States that does have a fairly large following of Canadian customers,” he explained. They will provide contract wholesale taxidermy services to their United States counterpart this fall so “that business can maintain service to his Canadian customers without any travel or shipping back and forth from Canada and the United States”. This is a very innovative approach to pivoting during the pandemic!
Steve’s plans for the future of his business include expanding his operations, potentially to outside of Saskatchewan. CF Sunrise is proud to support small businesses just like Team Tundra in our region. You can find out more about Team Tundra Wildlife Artists by going to their website.