VANCOUVER ISLAND – Local businesses Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery, CORE Landscape Products, BigFoot Donuts and Justo’s Craft Dips were announced as a Top Five finalists by Small Business BC as part of the organization’s annual celebration of entrepreneurship.
Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery in Courtenay, has been curating Indigenous art since 2006. Spirits of the West Coast features one of Vancouver Island’s foremost collections of Coast Native American artworks.
CORE Landscape Products in Courtenay, is an innovative leader in environmentally sustainable solutions in outdoor landscaping projects and civic developments.
Bigfoot Donuts in Courtenay, Family owned and operated, Bigfoot Donuts is on a mission to reinvent the humble donut. Stop by their café and discover a variety of handcrafted, decadent treats.
Justo’s Craft Dips in Victoria, provides a sustainable snacking solution, community food support, and creative flavours of your favorite dips.
This year, the Small Business BC Awards received a record number of nominations; a sign of support for local entrepreneurs who endured many challenges this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 937 nominations were received, representing 558 small businesses in 88 communities across BC. Nominated businesses come from a wide range of industries, offering diverse products and services to British Columbians.
“I think it’s clear from the overwhelming number of nominations and the more than 50,000 public votes, that the spirit of support for small business runs strong in our province. This has been the most difficult year for small business owners and now their communities are standing behind them, recognizing what they’ve been through and celebrating their success,” says Small Business BC CEO, Tom Conway.
“This is a terrific opportunity to celebrate the province’s hard-working small business owners,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation. “Their success and innovation is inspirational. I congratulate all of the nominees for their hard work – they deserve the recognition. They also deserve our gratitude for the contribution they make to communities throughout B.C.”
After being nominated, businesses had until March 8, 2021 to gain as many votes as possible from the public. Votes were collected by Small Business BC through their website, and the businesses with the most votes in each category (after a normalization process to allow for regional populations) were narrowed down to the top 20. After being assessed and judged by an internal panel of business experts, the top five finalists were announced today.
Vancouver Island Awards Finalists
After being selected from hundreds of businesses across the province, Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery, CORE Landscape Products, BigFoot Donuts and Justo’s Craft Dips were named Top Five finalists in these award categories:
Best Innovation Award
Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery and CORE Landscape Products are competing for the Best Innovation Award. The Best Innovation Award recognizes a business that develops advanced or innovative technologies to meet the needs of industry in BC. This business contributes to making the province a strong and rapidly growing innovation economy, and is creating a positive impact in their industry and community.
Judge’s Comment about CORE Landscape Products: “This company has excellent innovative and creative products where environmental impact is at the forefront of all their designs and manufacturing processes. Truly inspiring!”
Judge’s Comment about Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery: “We are thoroughly impressed with how this company was able to pivot during the pandemic with the help of VR technology and other tools to make their business and local art available to a larger audience. Congratulations!”
Best Youth Entrepreneur and Premier’s People’s Choice Award
Justo’s Craft Dips and Bigfoot Donuts are both finalists for the Premier’s People’s Choice Award and the Best Youth Entrepreneur Award.
The Premier’s People’s Choice is a unique award category as the winner is selected by the public alone. Sponsored by the Province of British Columbia, this award will be presented to a BC-based small business that can demonstrate they have the unwavering and loyal support of their community by gaining the most votes in their award category. Votes have now closed and the winner will be announced at the virtual awards gala in May 2021.
The Best Youth Entrepreneur Award encourages entrepreneurial ambition in youth and awards one business owner who demonstrates a clear vision for the future of their business, a track record of growth and demonstrates social, environmental or economic impact.
Judge’s Comment about Justo’s Craft Dips: “Justos Craft Dips and its founder Justin Kopetzki was selected as a Top 5 finalist in the Youth Entrepreneur category because of their incredible growth and resiliency amidst a pandemic. Justos Craft Dips does their best to build meaningful initiatives surrounding health, sustainability, and community support.”
Judge’s Comments about Bigfoot Donuts: “Bigfoot Donuts and its founder Lyndsey Bell was selected as a Top 5 finalist in the Youth Entrepreneur category because of her passion and vision for creating a community oriented gathering place serving handcrafted, quality donuts and coffee. Lyndsey has learned to quickly pivot by transforming digitally, embracing community fun virtually through social media and continuing to innovate with new products and flavours.”
Best Community Impact Award
Bigfoot Donuts is also a finalist in a third award category: Best Community Impact. The Best Community Impact Award goes to a company that is truly making a difference in their community. This business has taken positive action to invest in their community and sees social responsibility as an integral part of the business’ success.
Judge’s Comments about Bigfoot Donuts: “Bigfoot Donuts was selected as a finalist for this award because of their positive impact from giving back. From hosting fundraisers, to donating donuts to soup kitchens, and sitting on a Board that aims to improve businesses in the area, they are working to make positive change.”
For more information about the Small Business BC awards and the top five finalists, visit smallbusinessbc.ca/awards.
