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/325830
Portrait: adam blasberg This year marks the 25th anniversary of our Top 100 list—the preeminent ranking of B.C.'s biggest companies by revenue. The Top 100 is an exclusive club—the 2013 cut- off was $260 million—so what you get is an economic snapshot of life in the upper ech- elon, along with some of the trends facing our province's biggest employers. How are things up there? Last year, aggregate revenues were up 5.4 per cent— so, not bad. To a certain extent the numbers mask a turbulent year for natural resources, with significant revenue drops from Top 100 heavies Goldcorp, Fortress Paper and Silver Wheaton. Overall, though, brighter days are expected for this year and beyond, especially when LNG starts to come on stream in force, as the provincial government ardently hopes. A full accounting of who's up and who's down starts on page 71. That's part of the picture, but just as interesting is what's happening at other tiers of the economy. Luvo Inc. is a new company based in Rich- mond, B.C., and run by ex-Lululemon CEO Christine Day that's pushing healthy frozen and prepared foods. It's already seen significant success stateside, with products available in 7,000 U.S. retailers, as well as in Delta Airline jets, schools and hospi- tals. Canada is next, and a place on our Top 100 list is not out of reach. Read the fascinating story of Day's next great thing here (p. 48) and you can say you "knew Luvo when." And then—many, many steps down the economic ladder—is the truly micro business run by Aaron Quesnel. Quesnel's urban agri-business, Sky Harvest, grows and delivers microgreens (things like arugula, kale and peas) to upscale restau- rants in downtown Vancouver. Sales have doubled over last year, but he's still barely scraping by, telling writer Richard Little- more that he's "nowhere near" recovering his investment (so far) of $50,000; that story is on page 122. From Telus, at $11.4 billion in revenues, to Sky Harvest at, well, somewhere shy of $50,000—we've got the whole spectrum covered in this issue of BCBusiness. C O N T R I B U T O R S Matt O'Grady, Editor-in-Chief mogrady@canadawide.com / @bCbusiness editor'sdesk y When a cyclist hauling a massive pair of panniers caught Richard Littlemore's interest, a story was born (p. 122). When he's not writing for BCBusiness, Littlemore ghostwrites speeches and policy papers. "But I keep coming back to journalism, " he says. "I love having the chance, when I see something interesting, to dig in and find out all about it." may's mosT popular sTories on bcbusiness.ca Microsoft Doubles Down on Vancouver BCBusiness 30 Under 30 Party Zajac Nights 2014 Daffodil Ball 2014 Arts Umbrella South Surrey Fundraiser /tech-science / people / people /people /people 16 BCBusiness July 2014 Harmony Cakes owner Jennifer Fedje says she was thrilled when she got the call to make a cake for our cover shoot. She's been making cakes for 10 years, since her son's first birthday, but has made a business of it for the past five years. A magazine cover posed distinct challenges: "I had to keep the design relatively simple so it wouldn't compete with the rest of the cover, " she says. Going to Extremes N e x T M O N T H The Urban Issue Frances Bula explains how transit in the Lower Mainland benefits all of B.C. Publication Name BC Business Top 100 Print Ad Created By RRU Brand Creative / AT Booked By Cossette Send Files To Sarah.morris@cossette.com Material Deadline 05/28/2014 RRU Contact Theresa Wittstock Size 7.875" x 10.875" 250.391.2600 ext. 4813 Colour 4c theresa.wittstock@royalroads.ca p016-017-EdNote_july.indd 16 2014-05-29 10:10 AM