Mississauga, ON -  Mississauga Board of Trade (MBOT) program ITS (Internationally Trained & Skilled) in Mississauga hosted "Leveraging the Talent of Skilled Immigrants in Your Workplace" at Living Arts Centre, Mississauga.

The morning event included seminars, "The ROI of Immigrant Inclusion" in partnership with TRIEC and Strategic Capability Network and, "Five Secrets to Cross-Cultural Management".

A business discussion panel moderated by RBC included AMEX Canada Technologies, Kelk Corporation, Maxxam Analytics and MELLOHAWK Logistics. Each company discussed the business drivers that led them to implement immigrant inclusion strategies and the bottom-line success they have enjoyed as a result.

"As we saw heard the panel, having a strategy to engage skilled immigrants is about unlocking new business potential, as opposed to serving a diversity mandate," said Rodel Imbarlina-Ramos, manager of corporate and stakeholder relations for TRIEC in Peel and Halton.

"These leading employers are proving that you can drive innovation, or tap new and diversifying local markets, as well as international business and supply chain opportunities, by leveraging the skills, contacts, language and cultural knowledge that skilled immigrants can provide. These are strong, bottom-line reasons for having an immigrant integration strategy."

In addition to the business discussion panel Bill Dennis, Cross-Cultural Specialist spoke about his five secrets to successful cross-cultural management.

"Relatively few of the 192 countries in the world have a culture similar to Canada. If a manager does not understand someone from a different culture, it can be very challenging to successfully manage them. For example, what is considered to be a 'good manager' in one culture can be seen as being a 'poor manager' in a different culture."

Dennis has provided over 4,500 hours of training to Continuing Education students at Sheridan College, Humber College, and Mohawk College.

As the voice of business since 1976, Mississauga Board of Trade is a private-sector, not-for-profit business organization representing over 1,500 businesses employing 65,000 people in Mississauga. MBOT is well-positioned to meet the needs of business by using its considerable influence at all levels of government. MBOT is dedicated to providing a Mississauga business perspective on public policy and to promoting a better understanding of the marketplace among policy makers, media and the general public.

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Contact:

Sheldon Leiba

President & CEO

Mississauga Board of Trade

905-273-6151 x 27

[email protected]

www.mbot.com