2020 Growth Award winners
Every year, Canadian business Canadian Entrepreneur Leaders Highlighted Through Growth List – An Established Ranking Businesses with five-year revenue growth and startups with two-year revenue growth. Formerly known as Growth 500, Growth List and Start-up List winners are profiled in a special print issue. Canadian business Published with its December issue McLean Magazine
“Despite the turmoil, 2020 Growth List companies have shown resilience, awareness and, most importantly, empathy and strong leadership,” said Susan Grimbley, Growth List Editor. “As we celebrate more than 30 years of Canada’s fastest growing company program, it is encouraging to see that the heart of Canada’s entrepreneurial community is strong, even in difficult times.”
Ranked categories include, Business pivot; Employer of the year; Excellence in diversity; Women Entrepreneur of the Year; Global business; Benevolent service; And technology trailblazers.
“The award-winning entrepreneurs are fleeting, incredibly imaginative and creative; And really emotional, ”said Sys Grimbly. “They demonstrate these traits, from their significant growth in 2019, to their resilience in 2020 and their great leadership in 2021. For example, they stand like Goliath above the crowd.”
This year’s winners are here:
Fastest Growing Company Award
Marlin spring
Benjamin Buxt, CEO & Co-Founder / Elliot Kazarnovsky, CFO & Co-Founder
This Toronto-based development and investment company has quickly established itself in a competitive industry. From 2014 to 2019 sales revenue increased significantly 57,144%. Succeeding in development, Benjamin Buxt, CEO and co-founder, says more than building. It’s about understanding the market; And how different sectors (residential, commercial, rental) inform each other. Strategic investing in rental properties across North America enhances the company’s brilliance. “We have a specialty,” Boxt noted. “This is value-added real estate.”
The fastest growing start-up award
Steel River Group
Trent Fequette, Founder and CEO
After working in the mining and construction sectors in northwestern Canada, founder and CEO Trent Fequette began creating a business plan for a company that could work for energy giants, but also for indigenous peoples. He started the Steel River Group in 2017. The Calgary-based Steel River Group has established remarkable partnerships with both construction giants and First Nations Group, which has led to tremendous growth. This year’s start-up winners are proud of the two-year revenue growth of 8,662% since 2017.
Business Pivot Award
Copilot AI
Henry B. CEO, Co-Founder / Jesse Chen, CTO, Co-Founder
The award celebrates an entrepreneur whose core ideas may be good, but may not develop; We have to walk the path of success. Vancouver-based CoPilot started as a FinTech but realized that their clients আর্থ financial advisers প্রয়োজন needed revenue-generating sales leads. They have experimented with a number of formats until the creation of the CoPilot Prospecting Dashboard (CPD). As of February 2018, CoPilot AI has grown from $ 5,000 to $ 30,000 per month. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person. A proof of courage.
Best Employer of the Year Award
Ahva Digital Group
Dr. Janet Eisensteros, Chairperson and CEO
Living in the DNA of the “ethical” Ahawar digital-marketing company, from offering ethically verified consumer data to managing a woman-led consultant “helps change the perspective of Fortune, B-Corporations and media companies to build relationships with female consumers. Path. ” Dr. Eisensteros supports and promotes his 300-strong workforce through BIPOC initiatives and full benefits: from employee share-ownership plans and bonuses to a formal career-planning program and separate activities from parental leave top-up / child care subsidies. .
Excellence in Diversity Award
KW sign
Amad Abdullah, President / Mueen Abdullah, Director / Nomar Abdullah, Director
The Excellence in Diversity Award celebrates a company whose diversity initiatives create an inclusive employee culture. KW Signs, a major manufacturer of metal sign frames that supports more than 350 distributors across Canada and the United States, boasts 26 BIPOC employees who speak 13 of them and believe that this diversity allows the company to quickly recruit great talent. KW runs a mentorship initiative in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, helping them connect to a strong job-seeker pool; And encourages various appointments.
Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Cook it
Judith Fetzer, CEO
Cook It’s Judith Fetzer, a Montreal-based food preparation service, has built a thriving company with intelligence and agility. The original 2014 à la carte model was switched to subscription-based model in 2016 (tripled sales). In view of the significant increase in demand during the quarantine economy, the workforce itself has become a challenge. With about 200 employees in early March, Cook appointed an external recruitment committee, which recruited more than 300 new “distance candidates”. During the period of increasing sales revenue, Fetzer had to come up with new initiatives to help improve the workforce and revitalize the company’s culture.
Global Business Award
Stemcell Technologies
Allen Ives, CEO
Stemcell Technologies produces specialized cell culture media, cell isolation systems and accessories for research in dozens of fields. It supplies 2,500 products directly to 22 countries; And through a worldwide network of distribution centers in 90 other countries. Vancouver-based STEMCELL has a clearly thought-out strategy for global expansion; And it’s out of reach. By 2030, global sales, with an estimated 5,000 employees, are estimated to be 1 billion.
Philanthropy Service Award
D-Square Construction
Dominic Madonna, CEO and owner / Charles Deponte, owner
This company has a track record of deep involvement in the community. In the spring, D-Square Construction promised $ 25,000 in relief, asking people to leave a short story in their DM if necessary, describing their challenges. Amounts ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 2,500 have been transferred. With the hashtag #SPREADTHELOVE, they’ve encouraged other businesses to jump in as well. Furthermore, in his targeted program “Path Wide”, D-Squared helps young people directly in Ottawa (in partnership with United Way). Now in its third year, Pave the Way has expanded with a program called Critical Hours, helping young people at risk in Ottawa’s 10 most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Technology Trailblazer Award
Ecopia.AI
John Lipinski, co-founder and president / Yuanming Shu, co-founder and CEO / Shuo Tan, co-founder and CTO
Dr. Yuanming Shu asked: How can AI teach a computer to interpret human-like geospatial imagery? He created Ecopia.AI in 2013 with Shuo Tan and Jon Lipinski, who developed the original mapping technology, which “uses data from satellites, mobile phones, drones and air imaging sensors to capture a rich picture of our world.” Goal: To create the first complete map of our world in real time. This exceptional achievement has far-reaching implications for the developing world, where NGOs and humanitarian organizations operate without accurate information about their geography.
Thanks again to our amazing sponsors for making Growth 2020 possible: CEO Summit Possible: Presenting Sponsor, Salesforce, Category Sponsor, BDC, Award Sponsor, Johnny Walker Blue Label and Gifting Sponsor, Herballand.
Leave a Reply