A Red Seal Automotive Technician from Alix now has the capital investment and the knowledge he needs to open his own business.
 
Barry Hickey was this year's winner of "Transform Your Trade", a Dragon's Den - style competition hosted by Red Deer College for people with business ideas to enhance a trade to earn a cash prize and business expertise and mentorship.
 
Hickey will soon be opening the doors to Scent of Metal Automotive Incorporated, looking to give Alix and area residents a low-cost option for all of their vehicle maintenance needs.
 
He explains why he started this venture “basically I was left on the unemployment line and just decided to invest in myself instead of looking for a job I didn’t necessarily want to be in, just decided well why not invest in myself, and just stay home and help out the local people around me”.

Hickey receives $5,000 and on-going mentorship with local business leaders, with the foundational support for the "Transform Your Trade" event coming from Jack and Joan Donald who have sponsored the competition since it started in 2016.

After hearing about the competition on the radio, Hickey worked hard on his business plan and he’s very thankful to Red Deer College for the opportunity “invaluable asset, the amount of mentorship here that I have available to me now, with the judges that were judging me, just to have the opportunity to sit down and have a coffee with them is very, very valuable. The whole opportunity of having this $5,000 to go towards all my permits, my insurance, all that process sucks up a lot of money and it actually came out to exactly $5,000 so it almost felt like it was meant to be”.

Scent of Metal Automotive will offer light automotive services and small engine repair in Alix, to reach Hickey call 403-396-4880.