With exceptionally imaginative leadership from a remarkable group of business men and women, the business community of the Valley-of-Gold established, in the autumn of 1999, a pro-active project which mobilized local talent and whose goal was the creation of local strategic business-initiatives; it was called the “Active Zone” concept.

The objective: to create a climate which would help foster the development of permanent jobs in the region.

The first task of “Active Zone” was to increase the level of confidence in entrepreneurship among the population of the Valley-of-Gold by rallying business community support-groups around a development-strategy which would, hopefully, eliminate irritants and set up the favourable conditions which would nurture the creation and growth of entrepreneurial businesses throughout the Valley-of-Gold region. With clearly-defined guidelines, these action-oriented Valdorians worked together on various working-committees and sectoral think-tank groups. Many of these committees and sectoral-groups became wellsprings for innovative ideas; many of these groups went from being merely enthusiastic project-boosters to becoming full-fledged business creators.