Being Rewarded

For all those who have ever considered starting a business this magazine is for you. It’s our annual Entrepreneur of the Year and Best in Business Practices Edition. The companies chosen for these awards have shown strategic management practices that have turned them around, allowed them to grow, or taken
them on the new course.

The awards evening at the newly renovated Skyview Ballroom of the Marlborough Hotel was a superior night. Each speaker, and there were six, was asked to present their ten minute synopsis version of Best Business Practices. The results were a remarkable 101 for those in private business.

Ice Kube System’s speaker Steve Sacher described how employees are hired through a seven step interview process which includes one full day on the job. Vector Construction Group, Chairman Don Whitmore described how the company went from serving one special market then morphed into wholly different expertise becoming a much larger operation. President Millie Krause of Elman’s Food Products, in
one of the best speeches of the night, explained how the company raised its brand awareness in a large competitive market of multi-national brands. CEO Ivan Balenovic Bothwell Cheese described how the company took new lines of product to the marketplace winning awards at cheese competitions. Norscan Instruments President Ken Sontag told the more than 125 banquet attendees, that when hard times befall a company a lot of thinking is done to solve the problem. Norscan at one point in lost about 80 per cent
of its business. The company responded, successfully rebuilding itself.

Private enterprises are always a challenge especially now and talented people. They well have the skills to do the job and are creative. But most of all they possess the DNA internal drive like the Entrepreneur of the Year Res/Op Technologies driven by engineers Ron Giercke and Ken Smith. Over several years the pair company hav e fine tuned a new and exciting incineration technology. These are the kind of companies we
need to drive the provincial private sector forward. We have learned a lot from them and we hope you do too.