Entrepreneur of the Year Winner
Kevin Bossy and Mike Roberts of Bishop Water Technologies, of Renfrew, nominated by the Renfrew County CFDC, were the winners of the 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Bishop Water Technologies is a leader in clean-tech waste management specializing in sludge and slurry management for municipalities and industries including food production, pulp and paper, mining and agriculture and aquaculture.
Change is constant and with today's technology change is happening more rapidly than ever; however this has not been the case with the wastewater industry. Controlling the power of water is a daunting task, but that’s exactly what Bishop Water Technologies is doing using Geotube® technology.
The ability of Bishop Water Technologies to modify the waste treatment flow within an existing footprint rather than the need for a new facility allows municipality or the business to achieve higher levels of treatment at a lower cost.
Photo (by Kimberley Pirie-Milko): Bishop Water Technologies received the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award at the recent Community Futures Ontario Conference. On hand for the awards ceremonies were Mike Thompson, Diane McKinnon of the Renfrew County CFDC; Kevin Bossy and Mike Roberts of Bishop Water Technologies; Paul Curtic and Darrel Ryan of the Renfrew County CFDC.
Watch Bishop Water Technologies' winning video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQiMFLLFtWM
Community Economic Development Award of Excellence Winner
The Win This Space competition is an initiative provided an opportunity for new businesses to win free storefront space, in either Seaforth or Brussels, Ontario for a year courtesy of Huron East Economic Development the County of Huron, County of Seaforth/Brussels Community Development Trusts and Seaforth BIA. This program was the first of its kind in Huron County and only the second in the entire province. Launched on March 5th, 28 applicants attended compulsory business skills development training prior to submitting an application to the contest. The training and development of the application/business plan was overseen and aided by a group of volunteer business mentors. Five finalists were selected and presented their business plans in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ like forum where judges selected the final winner.
All finalists were offered varying lengths of business management counselling provided by the Huron Business Development Corporation at no cost (whether they chose to continue with their business start-up or not) with the winning business receiving an entire year of business mentorship provided by the CFDC.
Accepting the award was Jan Hawley (Win This Space) and Maureen Agar (Huron BDC)
Watch the Win This Space’s winning video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUx8Y9pF98g
Innovation Award of Excellence Winner
Receiving the Innovation Award of Excellence was the Head Start In Business Program nominated by the North Claybelt CFDC. The Head Start In Business program was the brainchild of the North Claybelt CFDC.
What began as a pilot project in 2001 to help youth at risk evolved into a series of nine programs designed to encourage young people between the ages of 5 and 34 to explore and develop entrepreneurial skills. The programming covers a continuum of age-appropriate material that helps participants envision entrepreneurship as a viable career option in Northern Ontario. So far HSIB has exposed over 20,000 Anglophone, Francophone and First Nations youth to entrepreneurship in their respective communities or schools throughout Northern Ontario. This project has collaborated with all 24 Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDC) in Northern Ontario.
Photo (by Kimberley Pirie-Milko): Head Start in Business received the “Award of Excellence for Innovation” at the recent Community Futures Ontario Conference. On hand for the awards ceremonies were Bonnie Martineau, Cierra Parkhill, Adele Delorme of Head Start in Business; Linda Semczyszyn of the North Claybelt CFDC; Cindy Reasbeck, Erinn Nesbitt and Ashlee Gerard of Head Start in Business.
Check out their winning video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe12SAsJZtQ
Members' Choice Award Winner
This was the third year for the Members’ Choice Award. All nominations were posted on the OACFDC website, and members voted online. The winner was the Volunteer Dental Outreach (VDO) for Haliburton County project nominated by the Haliburton County Development Corporation.
The mission of the VDO is to provide free urgent dental care for low income residents of Haliburton County. Complete dental care services include root canals, fillings, dentures, cleaning. These free services are provided by volunteer dental professionals. Local businesses and dental supply companies donate supplies and funds, and the organization holds fundraising events to cover operational costs.
Founded in November 2010, as of May 2016, they have helped 625 patients, 4600 appointments with a value of $1.6 million in free dental care.
VDO received part of their preliminary funding from the Haliburton CDC.
Photo (by Kimberley Pirie-Milko): Volunteer Dental Outreach received the “Members’ Choice Award” at the recent Community Futures Ontario Conference. Accepting the award of their behalf was Patti Tallman (Haliburton CDC).
Check out their winning video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A4uwJTJLIk
Congratulations to all of our Winners!