It may be jokingly known as "Get The Money," but a B.C. firm that is owned and operated by a First Nations woman is making inroads into the competitive project management sector.

After being involved in a number of high-profile projects - the $30-million New Westminster SkyTrain Tunnel, the Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Project, the Whistler Golf Course and the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal upgrade - GTM Consulting Ltd. is now setting its sights on clients in Alberta and the western United States.

The two women behind the company - Jane Atkinson, a member of the Thompson First Nation, is president while Lynne Figgess, a non-aboriginal, is the CEO - first met when they worked together on a pilot project on construction traffic management for the provincial government in 1997. In 1998 they decided to formalize a new business, and GTM Consulting was born.

Atkinson, who owns GTM, says she's not aware of any other First Nations women in B.C. who are at the helm of their own companies.

Karen Dyer, Business Edge
GTM Consulting president Jane Atkinson, left, and CEO Lynne Figgess are working to set up an Aboriginal Awards program.

"I don't have any role models, really," she says. "I just saw an opportunity and decided to go for it."

Her biggest challenge, she adds, was not as an Aboriginal woman, but the same as every other entrepreneur - finding financing for the company. "We didn't have any help with financing along the way, but we are proving that we can do it just as good or better than anybody else."

And then there's the name.

"Well, I've heard a number of different suggestions as to what GTM stands for," laughs Figgess. "But the initials don't really stand for anything. When we started up the company we were toying with calling it TM as in Trade Mark, but since that wasn't practical we just picked a letter to stick in front."

The company's logo, a stylized table, is "more important to us than our name," adds Figgess. "It has a First Nation feel to it and shows how we always have a position at the table, whether it's in the community or on a project."

The company has also been asked to speak before the Senate committee on Aboriginal Peoples, to give its views about the involvement of Aboriginal communities and businesses in economic development activities in Canada.

In June, GTM Consulting Ltd. was awarded the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce 2005 Business of the Year Award, recognizing the company's "significant and sustained commitment to positive business development, economic growth and commitment" to the community.

"They are a credit to their industry and to the District of West Vancouver," notes the chamber's executive director, Kathleen Campbell.

In the seven years since its inception, GTM Consulting Ltd. has left behind the back roads of simple construction traffic management and accelerated into new territory. While current projects often still include a traffic element (GTM Consulting is in charge, for example, of the co-ordination of traffic communications for the Sea-to-Sky Highway improvement project), they have quite comfortably merged into the fast lane of full-service project management.

From the initial two-woman operation, GTM has grown into a company with three main elements, featuring project management and engineering, transportation management and communications/community relations. Today, the company's office has expanded to accommodate an in-house team of 25 employees (several of whom are Aboriginal), including engineers, construction and project managers, and community relations personnel.

Figgess says GTM Consulting Ltd. has consistently doubled sales revenues every year for the past three years. Current company ventures include both public and private endeavours: Project management of the $600-million UBC Properties Trust, a $200-million communications contract for a construction project in the Cariboo and an invitation to work on the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver (RAV) line.

Both Atkinson and Figgess have spoken to Aboriginal youth and taught business in First Nation communities around the Lower Mainland. The company is currently working in partnership with Tale'awtxw Aboriginal Capital Corp. (TACC) to establish the Aboriginal Awards, intended to recognize successful First Nation companies.

And though the company has grown in size and scope, Figgess says a large part of its success has come from the combination of ensuring equal priority to both client satisfaction and to maintaining dedication to its own employees.

"We try to stop and celebrate our successes as a team," she says. "We try to look at what we've done each time and take it apart to understand the process so that we can learn from it."

Figgess believes the firm's future is bright. "We are developing into a company that provides clients with a one-stop shop where all required expertise for exceptional project management is available in-house," she says. "Right now GTM serves a small but diverse client base in British Columbia. However, the goal is to expand and further diversify the client roster in Alberta and the western United States."

Web Watch: www.gtmconsulting.com

(Karen Dyer can be reached at karen@businessedge.ca)