Startup Canada last night announced 10 regional winners of its fifth annual Startup Canada Awards event. Held in Miramichi, N.B., the event celebrated the achievements of Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs, businesses and support organizations.
Winners included respected members of the community such as Dawn Jutla, the CEO and President of Peer Ledger in Halifax, who won the Woman Entrepreneur Award.
ProcedureFlow from Saint John took the Innovation award, and TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture in Halifax won the high-growth award. The Entrepreneur of the Year was Lisa WIlliams, founder of Unicare Home Health Care.
“These winners represent the very essence of entrepreneurship," said Victoria Lennox, Co-Founder and CEO of Startup Canada.
The competition isn’t over yet. Last night’s winners will be evaluated by the National Adjudication Committee, which is made up of Canadian entrepreneurship and industry experts. Those results will determine the winners of the national Startup Canada Awards.
The national winners will be celebrated at the Startup Canada Awards Grand Finale in Ottawa on October 18, following Startup Canada Day on the Hill.
Startup Canada, is the national organization for Canadian entrepreneurs, and startups. Since its start in 2012, the non-profit has represented over 200,000 entrepreneurs and 50 grassroots communities from across Canada.
This region's winners were:
Entrepreneur’s Choice Award - Hannah Bell, MLA, Charlottetown/ Parkdale.
Entrepreneur Promotion Award - Cynthia Dorrington, President, Vale & Associates.
Entrepreneur Support Award- The Ville Cooperative.
Global Entrepreneurship Award - Boss Gibson Oyster Company.
Innovation Award - ProcedureFlow. This company helps call centres improve their operational efficiency. It recently won the “Series A Track” at the Fundica Roadshow’s Montreal pitching session and will move on to the Fundica national finals in July to potentially win an investment of $500,000.
Social Enterprise Award - PLATO Testing. This software testing firm recently won a first place $5,000 cash prize at the 2018 JEDI Indigenous Business Pitch Competition.
High-Growth Award - TruLeaf. The company specializes in indoor farming, growing greens in stacked trays under LED ligts. In April, McCain Foods made an investment in TruLeaf but did not reveal the dollar amount. It was the only investor in the funding round.
Woman Entrepreneur Award - Dawn Jutla, CEO & President of company Peer Ledger, a blockchain solution company. Jutla was also a driving force behind the development of the Masters of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Innovation program at St. Mary's University.
Young Entrepreneur Award - Cameron Ritchie, Founder & CEO, HomeWurk.
Entrepreneur of the Year Award - Lisa Williams, CEO, Unicare Home Health Care Inc. Williams recently completed the PropelICT Launch program and is developing a digital solution for seniors to communicate with their caretakers.
