Nine Tri-Cities business owners are finalists in the 2011 Douglas College Self Employment Program Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
Among the nominees are:
Finalist Mike Londry, of Westside Pest Control and Wasp Wizard Nest Removal Services who has a serious passion for environmental issues and a keen interest in new and innovative technologies that lead the pest control industry in effective, eco-friendly treatment methods.
Charles Baverstock of Stonebridge Operations Incorporated provides electrical services to residential, strata, commercial and long term care facilities, specializing in lighting design, home automation with iPod, IPad and IPhone integration, and home automatic standby generators.
Dave Bruce's Marine Repairs is a mobile marine repair company that keeps the pleasure in pleasure boating for the yachting community within the Lower Mainland.
Justin Gignac is a Canadian Youth Business Foundation Youth Entrepreneur finalist. His company, Custom Creation Carpentry Inc., designs, manufactures and installs custom millwork for commercial and residential customers.
Finalist Laramie Tan-Amit grew her accounting business at a steady pace during the first five years of business. In the last two years her strategies changed and the growth of the business accelerated, as she introduced Jeepney Mart, a retail business providing Philippine products, money transfers, tax returns and full accounting services to the Filipino community in the Coquitlam market area.
Salman Bazogh has seen his accounting business grow over the last six years by working hard (over 70 hours per week), being patient, persistent and watching his costs. His firm, Accountech Business Services Ltd., now employs two and a half positions, has many clients and a strong tax business. He is working on opening a second location.
Jack Poniatowski of Sphere Communications helps his clients stay in touch with all of their clients. With so much innovation in this field, he's an asset to anyone that uses his services; from initial design of voice and data infrastructure in new construction to upgrading existing business phone systems, CCTV, video, cabling and more.
Justin Johnson operates a successful plumbing renovation and service company. He has grown JJ's Custom Plumbing steadily over his first three and half years of business. His company won the 2010 Homestars.com "best of" award in the GVRD for the plumbing category. With an eye to continued expansion, the company will be hiring three to four employees in addition to their current crew of five sub-contractors. The company will also be implementing an I-Pad app for creating on the spot customer service agreements.
Karen Gill of Friendly Explorers Child Care Centre runs a licensed group child care centre in Port Coquitlam for children aged 30 months to 5 years. Never one to accept defeat, when Karen needed a bank loan to start her business eight financial institutions said no, the ninth one said, yes, so she was especially thrilled when at her open house event, the mayor of Port Coquitlam personally delivered her business license.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards recognizes graduates of the Douglas College Self Employment Program. This year, 27 finalists are up for awards in nine categories, as well as the overall winner. The celebrations were expected to take place Wednesday, Oct. 19 during Small Business Week at the Executive Plaza Hotel in Coquitlam. Over 400 program alumni and special guests are attending.
For more information on the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and the Douglas College Self Employment Program, please contact 604-777-6012.
