The Rain is Coming…

Although the world economy is increasingly feeling like a desert wasteland, the Rain is coming. Over the past three months, I have traveled to meet with our Rainmakers in the UK, UAE and the USA. We have discussed the local business environments in Houston, Calgary, Dubai and London during the global economic slowdown. The message from our partners is the same; companies have shifted their focus onto sustainability. Now is a time for delivering efficiency and cost reductions, and for delivering higher than expected results.

Decision makers are examining their operations in a new light. They now have time on their hands to evaluate the engine room of their companies. The key is to be prepared to ride the economic wave when it rises (as we all know it will rise).

With this in mind, our clients are taking advantage of Rainmaker’s services to build their international relationships. We believe this will pay dividends in the future. The new norm is to take this time to build appropriately in order to improve Return on Investment.

The global reach of Rainmaker becomes an advantage for our clients, as we provide an opportunity to co-source business development activities around the world. Our most successful clients are taking advantage of this golden opportunity to establish connections, foster trust, and grow relationships, which will become their competitive advantage.

Welcome to A New Approach to Growing Your Business Globally

— Clark Grue, President & CEO

Positioning the Alberta Oil Sands in the UK

Last month Rainmaker successfully delivered two Oil Sands Supply Chain seminars in London and Aberdeen on behalf of UK Trade and Investment. UK Trade & Investment is the Government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in an increasingly global economy. Over the past six months Rainmaker has been working on behalf of UKTI to coordinate these two seminars. In doing so, Rainmaker recruited speakers from Canadian Natural, AMEC and Enbridge to travel to the UK and speak about procurement opportunities with their respective organizations. The session in London was held at the prestigious Canada House in Trafalgar Square in partnership with the Canadian High Commission and the Alberta UK Office in London with opening remarks delivered by the Deputy Premier for Alberta Minister, Ron Stevens.

Both events were well attended and UK companies heard firsthand about the significant market opportunities that still exist in Alberta. From all speakers the message was consistent - while the current economic conditions must be managed there are still projects moving forward and more importantly existing facilities must be operated and maintained.

Foreign companies wanting to get a piece of Canada’s oil sands action must be prepared for a challenging environment, but it is worth the effort because longer term opportunities abound. Steve Wuori, Executive Vice President, Liquids Pipelines for Calgary-based Enbridge, operator of the world’s longest crude oil and liquids transportation system including two major pipelines serving the oil sands, explains, “While suppliers to the oil sands need to be aware of many hurdles that are not typically an issue in traditional development projects, your ability to address these issues will position you for success.”

“Enbridge itself is a large potential customer with the market weight necessary to facilitate new entrants into the Alberta marketplace,” added Wuori, “Enbridge is always interested in diversifying our supply base, creating greater security of supply and competition.”

For copies of these presentations please visit http://www.oilsands.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/about.htm. Additionally the Alberta Government has published its Oilsands quarterly update and a copy of this report highlighting current project announcements can be found at http://www.albertacanada.com/documents/AOSID_QuarterlyUpdate.pdf

Rainmaker & NES…Engineering Global Solutions in Alberta

In August, 2008, Rainmaker welcomed another partner client to our growing list. NES Global, based in Manchester, England, specializes in servicing the management and engineering resource demands of its worldwide clients within the oil & gas, power, water, and construction markets.

As you can imagine, when NES made the decision early in 2008 to set up an operation in Calgary, companies were still extremely busy, projects were moving forward, and access to skilled and technical labour was limited to non-existent. Despite the dramatic change in our business environment and the significant downsizing occurring in many companies, NES remains committed to the Alberta and Canadian market and is focused on developing relationships and raising its profile so that we are well-positioned and ready to assist when things pick up again. Blaire Lancaster of Rainmaker is working closely with Terry Bubb, NES Operations Manager in Calgary to introduce NES to the market, meet with Managers of Human Resources, Recruiting, Engineering, Construction and Project Services, determine their needs, and become a part of their current or future workforce planning and building strategies.

If you are an oil & gas, power, water or construction company currently searching for engineering specialists, NES is a new player in the market who may have just the solution you are looking for. Or, if you are using this downtime to re-evaluate the service providers you are currently using, we’d love to meet you in person and tell you a little bit more about NES. We promise it will be time well spent.

A Truly Global Provider…

Through a network of 21 worldwide offices, NES Global has access to a diverse multi-national workforce, providing truly global labor for all levels of projects, aimed at addressing client needs. This worldwide office infrastructure means that NES is able to source people from all over the world and, to date, the company has mobilized candidates from 49 different nationalities into 40 different countries.

NES has offices in Houston, Orlando, New Jersey, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, Dubai, Australia, Indonesia, India, Angola, Nigeria and the UK, and has established affiliate partnership arrangements in many other locations to support taxation and legislative compliance, work permits and medical support, as well as more streamlined mobilisation and logistics management. NES Global opened its office in Calgary, Canada in early 2008 to offer its portfolio of services on a more localized basis.

The discipline specific nature of NES ensures oil & gas specialists who are knowledgeable within their field and experienced at providing engineering solutions to a broad range of oil & gas clients including Agip, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Total, Qatargas and BP, amongst others, to locations anywhere around the world.

Houston and Calgary Office Space, Priced Right for your Small Business

Rainmaker has an exclusive opportunity for individual consultants or small businesses interested in working out of the heart of downtown Calgary or the Galleria Houston. We are offering shared office space and virtual office packages at highly competitive rates for anyone looking to expand and add prestige to their business with a central address. With strategic and desirable business locations, Rainmaker Business Centres are directly connected to the core of these two energy cities.

Our shared office space packages start at $5oo per month and virtual office packages begin at $260. By sharing your office fee, you benefit with a reduction in overhead cost and yet still have the status of a strategic address and working space, keeping you on par with your executive counterparts.

Rainmaker provides business support services allowing you to focus 100% of your time on your business. Our business support services are professional, varied and tailored to meet your companies’ specific needs. We are here to help you succeed!

Rainmaker’s support services include, but are not limited to, Business Development, reception service, telephone answering, mail service, presentation equipment, IT support, conference calling services, accounting services, our virtual office packages, multiple boardrooms and more.

Rainmaker’s Business Centres are active meeting places. We would love for you to join us!

Rainmaker Business Centres are located in the heart of downtown Calgary, Alberta, and the Galleria district in Houston, Texas.

Calgary Location: 400 5th Avenue, Suite 300 SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 0L6 Contact: Sarah Matheson sarah@rainmaker-gbd.com 403.515.6081 or 403.264.9215

Houston Location: 2700 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 1400 Houston, Texas 77056 Contact: Amber Aielli
amber@iogalleria.com 281.657.3300