Scenar Health Canada - RITM Canada
As many good Kootenay stories do, the story of Scenar Health Canada and RITM Canada had its genesis in a chance encounter on the ski hill. Since that fateful meeting, Kimberley Pegg, a KASTmba program client, has gone on to lead one of just five worldwide companies distributing a unique, non pharmaceutical pain relief device from her office in Rossland, BC.
Initially developed in Russia by the founding parent company, RITM, (Russian for Rhythm), the product is a handheld, battery operated, bio feedback device that both identifies areas of the body which are out of balance, and as a side affect acts as a non-pharmaceutical pain relief option.
With both a professional grade device for medical practitioners as well as a simpler at home, self use device, the goal and function at their core remains the same; bringing the body back to homeostasis, back to a state of balance as is the goal throughout holistic medicine.
Utilizing electrical pulses, with adjustable frequencies into to the body's central nervous system while rubbing the device on your skin, the result is detecting where there may be issues and offering pain relief without the need for prescription medicine, avoiding potential for addiction.
"It's great for Athletes," explained Pegg." For example, before you go into a running or skiing exercise you rub your muscles and when you come back from your run or whatever you're doing, you just rub it on your muscles and it's like a bit of a massage."
The opportunity to become the head of Canadian distribution for the ground breaking product was literally a gift from paradise. Seven years ago, Helen Gracie, leading the Australian distribution charge happened to be sitting across from Kimberley during a pit stop at Paradise Lodge on Red Mountain while out skiing one morning. Pegg, being an Australian that emigrated to Canada in 2006 made fast friends with Gracie who kept a holiday home in Rossland. Growing ever more familiar with Pegg, who was just completing a prior business project and looking for a new opportunity that offered travel and sales, the opportunity to bring RITM to Canada was suggested. A year and a half on, the manufacturer came to Rossland and officially offered Pegg the opportunity to lead RITM Canada.
Officially launching in June 2011, the preceding two years were full of trials and challenges to be overcome in getting the device certified for use by Health Canada which, according to Pegg, is the most difficult country to get devices approved. The back and forth nature of questions from Health Canada to be answered however, proved to be an excellent opportunity to thoroughly learn about the project and become intimately familiar with its use, features and benefits. Through the pre-startup phase, she persevered through everything from completing her emigration into Canada to a terrorist bombing in the Moscow airport the day she arrived to meet with RITM executives.
Moving forward she has been hard at work travelling across the continent, presenting and selling the device to potential distributors. Having been out of the business world for some time, there were a whole new set of challenges to tackle in her return to corporate life.
Given the sales nature of the job, engaging presentations are critical to success. During her time away from business, the technology world had dramatically changes and evolved as well. Having seen the KAST MBA program talked about in local media as a free source of one on one coaching, mentoring, resources and contacts she quickly jumped on the opportunity for a helping hand on her road to success.
Meeting with a KAST MBA representative when she had a specific challenge she needed assistance or guidance with, particularly working on her first presentations and discovering what technology existed to help her enhance her natural business sense, the program helped accelerate a driven business person on her way to success.
"I would recommend the program to anyone starting or running a business here. It really extends the reach of what you could typically get in a small town in the mountains and makes the Kootenays as good a place as any wherein the world to do business," explained Pegg. "It encourages local business to do our best, and gives us all the support we need. We just have to ask and they'll have someone we can turn to for support, advice or a contact needed to get through any challenges we come upon."
With her first several distributors now lined up, Pegg's efforts continue to extend outward seeking out distributors and practitioners to adopt the new technology. As one of just five worldwide companies marketing the SCENAR technology, her home base in Rossland has truly been a match made in Paradise for this enterprising business woman.