WELCOME to Building Strong Cities (BSC). Thanks for visiting!
I am Kadie Ward. Founder. Economic Developer. Trailblazer. Rule breaker.
In 2012 I created BSC to empower communities, local and state governments as well as economic developers, planners and professionals in infrastructure and resource-based industries to effect sustainable inclusive growth. My award-winning multi-media campaigns and community development programs prove that traditional rules to economic development were meant to be broken.
Not sure what economic development is? Click here to find the 10 things you need to know about it.
Here at BSC we LOVE to work with people who are passionate about the future of their community, city or country. We help plan and promote long-term sustainable growth that supports communities, leaving a positive legacy for future generations to enjoy.
We believe that community and economic development is crucial to create value, elevate potential, lift people out of poverty, and create prosperity. And that a tri-sector approach, bringing together government, civil-society and private sector, is needed to achieve it.
We exist to support this.
At the age of 22, while studying at university, I was cutting my political & economic teeth on Canada’s federal economic policies at the Chamber of Commerce.
I spent 12 years employed at various levels of government working on local and international economic development.
Long enough to feel stymied and frustrated with notoriously slow bureaucratic processes bogging down brilliant economic and community development plans.
Politics went before people and prosperity.
Enough was enough.
Time to change the game.
BSC provides customized community economic development, marketing and branding strategies specifically designed to attract foreign direct investment, facilitate trade, improve tourism and drive inclusive equitable workforce development.
Since 2012 BSC has worked with over 80 cities, from 16 countries around the world.
This has given me the ability to recognize similarities in seemingly unconnected situations finding parallels for between sectors in different contexts and translate them into opportunities for your organization.
While working in Trinidad and Tobago I learned to recognize, empathize and mange several opposing points of view to reach a common goal held by international donors, multi-national corporations and the local government. In Vietnam I witnessed how their Doi Moi economic policy impacted trade and foreign investment while promoting the creation of SMEs at the municipal level. And most recently in Ukraine I facilitated the creation of civil society organizations, business associations, and open democratic governance in order to facilitate trade, investment and economic prosperity for women and men in their transitioning economy.
These are just some recent experiences.
We facilitate market research to truly understand the community and organization we are working with and their position in a global context in order to create a community development strategy and plan, or marketing and branding campaigns.
Every project we take on is infused with clarity, compassion, and creativity.
Check out examples of this in action over here on our projects page.
No two communities are the same. Neither are our products.
Each of our products and services can be custom designed to ensure you are positioned for optimum success.
We even have a workshop designed to help you engage with politicians! Check it out here.
As professionals engaged in the economic and community development value chain, you have the awe inspiring responsibility of planning prosperity for future generations around the world. What an honour.
BSC exists to support you with this vital work.
Want to know what your counterparts are doing around the globe to change the shape of their economies?
Keep your finger on the global economic pulse.
Sign up here for regular updates and free resources.
Even better still, tell me about your own success story so I can share it and inspire others!
Contact me here.
