With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1477631
P A C I F I C R E G I O N J U D G E S GEOFF CHUTTER CEO, WhiteWater West Industries MARIA PACELLA Managing partner, PenderFund Capital Management JILL EARTHY CEO, InBC Investment Corp. KEITH SPENCER Counsel, Fasken Martineau KRISTI MILLER Managing partner, Natural Products Canada (NPC) Ventures BILL TAM Managing partner, co-founder and COO, Digital Technology Supercluster E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 2 68 BCBUSINESS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 need money, we go to these other labor agencies but they really treat us poorly…at the end of the day, we're lucky if we can come out with 60 bucks." Inspiration struck. Nozick, who had come to Vancouver from Winnipeg in 1997 to complete a PhD in com- munity economic development from SFU, was serving as the chair of a community develop- ment working group when she met Brian. "Here I am, in this commu- nity with thousands of people who are sitting around not working, but they could work and they want to work," says Nozick. "I thought that it could be really interesting if we take a temp labor agency model, but we put it toward social good." And so Nozick launched EM- BERS—the Eastside Movement for Business and Economic Renewal Society—in 2001. The organization started off as a charity focused on creat- ing economic opportunities. Seven years later, Nozick es- tablished a social enterprise wing called EMBERS Staffing Solutions. Whereas the charity offers programs (with various sources of funding) catered toward getting people out of difficult circumstances (such as addiction or homelessness), the social enterprise arm is a standalone business focused on employment. The temporary staffing agency connects companies in need of contingent labor with employees recruited from the Downtown Eastside. It generates revenue, trains its employees to become construc- tion safety officers, has dental and medical benefits, provides meals, and puts all profits back into its workers. "We have a worker support program, we have a counsel- lor, we provide people with a matched savings program so that if they want to they can save $600 and we'll match that...we provide boots, all the PPE, equipment, we have a Tool Lending Library, because that's a big barrier for people who are starting over and don't have the means to purchase all of that to begin with." It may have taken a lot of fanning the flames before the business grew into a fire, but by 2012 EMBERS Staffing was pulling in almost $600,000 in gross revenue. Nine years later, it's over $16 million, has four offices, and is employing 2,500 people a year. —R.R. How the Winners Were Chosen EY ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR is an annual global awards program administered by Ernst & Young (EY). For Canada's Pacific Region program, EY selects judges from among local business leaders and past program winners. Judges evaluate the nominees based on several factors, including entrepreneurial spirit, value creation, strategic direction, national and global impact, innovation and purpose-driven leadership. These nine Pacific Region winners will compete at the national awards celebration in November, where EY will announce the national winners, including Canada's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022. Details of the nomination process and judging criteria are available at ey.com/ca/EOY. Nominations are accepted year-round. ■ F U N F A C T S W H AT WA S YOU R F I R ST S U M M E R JOB ? Putting tags on dresses at my father's clothing wholesale business. W H AT I S YOU R DE F I N I T ION OF S UC C E S S ? Making a positive dif- ference in the world. W H AT O T H E R JOB M IG H T YOU H AV E H A D ? I might have been a concert pianist but for my nerves.