ISLAND INKJET FOUNDER …….CARY PORCHER

[Anonymous]

Island Inkjet founder part visionary, part flake
Carey
Porcher wonders about the difference between “being a flake and being a
visionary.”And the CEO of Comox Valley–based Island Inkjet makes it
clear he is wondering about himself.“It’s a fine line,” he says. “But
the difference is that the visionary can formulate a plan and then
deliver on it. Before that happens, flakes and visionaries look
alike.”Porcher, who was formally schooled in Victoria and informally
educated in 40 countries he visited after he left here, has delivered
on so many plans now, the clothing factory in Katmandu and the
restaurant in Germany, for example, or the orphanage in the
Philippines, that he could be forgiven for wanting to retire from
Island Inkjet with its international chain of 260 franchises, and
perhaps start up a sustainable community in the Shuswap.In fact, he
tried that in 2005. But his managers lacked his vision and 100
franchises failed to get going.He came back to rescue the operation and
now is poised to unleash a new franchising drive.If there seems to be a
frenetic pace to Porcher’s life, he’s the first to admit it, only
half-jokingly terming himself “ADD” (for Attention Deficit Disorder)
several times in a short interview. “I’m very restless. I get bored
very quickly.”Jamming a lot of experience into a short time is nothing
new. Right from Camosun College he started on his world tour, paying
his way through two score countries by doing sleight-of-hand, or what
he calls, “close-up illusions” in nightclubs.In Germany a decade ago he
opened a 200-seat restaurant with a Canadian outdoors theme, which he
left to his wife’s family to manage. This year the operation’s lease
expires and it will presumably close.In India he partnered with friends
to start a clothing factory and in Nepal, a resort.Back in Canada, his
personal and business life intersected to land him in Courtenay.With
his parents in Victoria and a new girlfriend in Campbell River, he
hunkered down at the pleasantest point in between. That relationship
didn’t prosper but a new one did (and does).When the Indian venture
went sour — an order of 300 Goretex jackets delivered with the pockets
sewn shut — he decided he had to find a business he could run hands on
— in Courtenay.His new wife, a banker, told him about a local technical
guy who refilled printer cartridges at her office and who could use
some business savvy.“He is a genius but not a businessman. He was
making just $1,500 a month. He quickly asked me to become partners,”
recalls Porcher.“I told him if I can get sales to $15,000 a month I’ll
think about it.” That took longer than he expected — three months — and
Island Inkjet, the franchisor, was born.What Porcher realized was the
enormous potential offered by the “greed” of the printer manufacturers.
“They were raping the public and the public was angry,” he says.Printer
makers were selling printers at giveaway prices and then charging
excessive prices for replacement ink cartridges that were far from
filled with ink.Porcher quickly established franchise operations in
Victoria and Nanaimo, then took the model on the road, planting
operations, in the early years of the decade, in malls across
Canada.With supplies secured from Island Inkjet, the franchisees refill
cartridges on site. To date, the firm has refilled 120 million
cartridges worldwide.Porcher left the firm to managers in 2005,
expecting to move to the Shuswap and start a sustainable community with
his growing, blended family of five children and like-minded adults.But
his successors lost sight, he says, of the company’s basic dependence
on growing new franchises.In 2006, he returned, contemplated selling
the company to its Australian competitor, and then elected to get more
deeply involved.He’s also writing a pair of business books; supporting
several children in a Philippines orphanage with the intention of
funding even more; and still scheming to establish a green community in
the Shuswap.

[Author]

January 21, 2008 at 12:12 PM