gK+A International

George Kadoke is the president of gK+a International, one of North America’s leading management companies for international pavilions and corporate exhibits.With his business partners, Kadoke creates pavilion exhibits across North America. His clients include the German & French governments, as well as many private European corporations. At the recent Vancouver Winter Olympics, Kadoke produced a major pavilion within the Russian House. gK+a is certainly a booming international business, and it is largely operated out of the Haliburton Highlands. 

For forty years, Kadoke owned and operated Kadoke Displays Limited, which was a leading service partner for European governments and private sector clients exhibiting in North America. Employing 120 people, the company designed, fabricated, and assembled  major trade show pavilions, museum exhibits, and national pavilions at world fairs around the globe.

In 1999, Kadoke sold the company to the British conglomerate MICE Group plc. In 2003  Kadoke retired and moved to a house he built on Ross Lake in the Haliburton Highlands.  “It was my retirement home on the lake,” he said.

Kadoke was enjoying a peaceful retirement when MICE Group went bankrupt in 2007. The  bankruptcy left Kadoke’s former employees and clients to fend for themselves. “I didn’t  want to stay retired when I saw what had been my long term employees jobless and my former clients in need of help,” Kadoke said. After getting phone calls at his lakeside  house from international colleagues and clients, Kadoke decided to leave retirement and  get back to work. He assembled a number of former employees and started a management company specializing in producing high quality exhibits.The new company is called gK+a International, and Kadoke is acting as president.

“I’m back in business, and we’re doing well,” Kadoke said. “We’re going about things an innovative manner and its makes a big difference. In this industry, companies tend to design, manufacture, and build their clients’exhibits. They do every step of production themselves. That’s what I used to do. I had a big factory in Missausauga where we built everything. When I started the new business, I realized there was a better way to do things. Therefore, I started a management business.”

Using contacts and information he amassed during previous decades, Kadoke gets contracts for major exhibits, and sub-contracts the work out to the various professionals needed to complete the job. “We contract architects, electricians, carpenters, and many other positions,” Kadoke said. “But we no longer manufacture the products ourselves. By contracting all the work out, we’re able to gain access to a larger talent pool, and better match clients with the talent they need.” Sub-contracting has also given Kadoke access to businesses with smaller overhead costs, which helps to cut costs. 

Kadoke’s business partners are in Toronto, most of his clients are in Europe, and the majority of his exhibits are in the U.S.A., yet he operates the business from the Haliburton Highlands. “I have high speed internet, which allows me to do my work from my house on the lake. Each morning I have a conference call with my business partners, and I have no problem keeping in contact with our clients. It’s much more pleasant operating a business from here rather than in the city - I can look up from my desk and enjoy the wonderful sights of the Highlands, have lunch on the dock, and go for a dip in the lake at any time. That’s a lot better than working downtown.”

Kadoke has also found that local companies and services help his business succeed. “Whenever possible, I work with local businesses. denSigns, a Haliburton signage company, manufactured all of the signs for one of our recent pavilions. There are a lot of good companies around here that are great to work with.” 

With gK+a attracting an ever-increasing number of high profile clients, business is only getting better for Kadoke and his partners. While a number of factors contribute to their success, innovation management and the Haliburton Highlands environment certainly play a large role. gK+a and Kadoke are proof that the Haliburton Highlands are the ideal place to work in the innovative sector.

To learn more about gK+a, visit their website by clicking here.