Pounding the pavement pays off in the long run.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: News - Learn from Leaders - Mobile Parts Inc. - Brief Article

Roger Morin is hard-pressed to conjure up any mentors or role models in more than two decades in business. The self-made Sudbury entrepreneur has relied on his instincts and employees in developing Mobile Parts, a mining and equipment parts distributor and remanufacturer into a global exporter.

Morin, 53, began Mobile Parts Inc. as a one-person operation 23 years ago, selling truck parts across Northern Ontario out of a cube van. He later added brakes and other accessories into the product mix before realizing there were better market potentials in mining equipment.

Last March, Mobile Parts moved their 30 employees into new digs in Val Caron (north of Sudbury) complete with a machine shop, warehouse and with a combined...