Keith McIntosh, the CEO of Fredericton-based software-testing specialists PLATO, is the overall winner of global consultancy EY’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award in its Atlantic Canadian division.
Founded by McIntosh in 2015, PLATO offers prospective employees several months of job training and then hires them — with the additional proviso that the employees are Indigenous.
The creation of PLATO, McIntosh explains, was inspired by the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s final report in 2015, which called for more equitable access to economic opportunities for First Nations people.
With competitors grouped into five regions nationally, the Atlantic Canadian winners will go on to compete against entrepreneurs from the Pacific coast, the Prairies, Ontario and Quebec. The national winners will be announced in November, and next June, the victors from countries around the world will vie for a global prize.
Today, almost a third of PLATO’s employees are Indigenous, along with nearly two thirds of its board. The company has also provided information technology jobs training to more than 300 Indigenous students nationally, across 12 locations.
Here’s a look at the other winners from Atlantic Canada:
John Flewelling
Halifax
Founded in 1955, CBCL is a multi-disciplinary engineering firm with clients in the marine industry, oil and gas, manufacturing and other sectors.
Jon King
St. John’s
Rob Forsythe
Haifax
Milk Moovement
Founded in 2018, Milk Moovement sells supply chain management software to the dairy industry.
Rob Lane
Halifax
Founded in 1985 as ARCOM, MOBIA is an IT services company with more than 600 employees.
Sheena Young
Moncton
Founded in 2021, Young’s Lobster Company sells a range of high-end, sustainably sourced seafood.
Two other entrepreneurs also received "special citations":
Wally Haas
St. John’s
Founded in 2015, Avalon sells holographic display technology.
Hilda Broomfield Letemplier
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Pressure Pipe Procurement & Management Services
Founded 45 years ago and given its current name in 2021, Pressure Pipe is an Indigenous-owned industrial and mining supply company.
