Demand for product means new jobs

In January, NovaCorp named MorSwift ‘the best new technology-based company in western Nova Scotia.’ With that distinction came a $100,000 seed equity investment from NovaCorp.

MorSwift manufactures a machine invented by Roland Swift--a machine that will put a rubber band on pretty much anything.

He says the invention came about when his cousin suggested there should be a machine that would band lobster claws. Swift, in turn, invented one, not realizing that the University of Maine and University of Prince Edward Island had each invested more than a decade trying to do just that.

Swift says, he started looking around and he saw rubber bands everywhere. On crabs and broccoli, letters and magazines. When he investigated, he learned that all of these things were being banded by hand.

Brian Hatchett of the National Research Council and Julie MacLean of Digby’s Growth Opportunities saw the potential in Swift’s product early on, he says, adding that development of the first prototype cost about $80,000. He says local people, including employees, have also invested in his start-up business.

Swift says since creating his prototype he has taken machines to trade shows in the United States. And he has received offers—not just from companies that have a use for the machines, but from cities and states that want him to set up his manufacturing plant on their turf. “They’ve offered buildings, and capital and tax incentives.”

Swift, who hails from Brier Island, says he wants to continue to live in here, and he wants to create jobs here. “I want to have a stable business that will provide jobs locally that can pay more than a subsistence wage. Jobs that provide a decent living—with medical and dental plans. We don’t have enough jobs like that in Digby County.”

Swift told MacIsaac that, within 18 months, he would like to have a 20,000 square foot production facility. There’s a market for 100 machines per month and there are definitely 20 to 50 people in Digby who are in the market for good jobs.