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Business Excellence Awards
2009 Business Excellence Award Winners
Richmond businesses were honoured Wednesday November 4, 2009 at the 32nd annual Business Excellence Awards. Presented by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the City of Richmond, the awards took place at the River Rock Theatre with 250+ people in attendance. Awards were handed out in nine categories.
 Master of Ceremonies - Howard Blank Vice President, Media Communications, Entertainment & Responsible Gaming Great Canadian Gaming Corporation
2009 Award Winners:
 Hall of Fame Award - Inductee Con-Force Structures
Con – Force started in Calgary in 1949 and opened the Richmond plant in 1965. Situated on a 16 A parcel of land that sits along the Fraser River precast concrete components are fabricated in an enclosed fabricating shop , stored on site and then shipped throughout British Columbia, Alaska and Washington State. The office houses a team of sales personal, in house engineering , drafting, construction and administrative staff along with senior management.
This group totals some 30 people. The shop personnel vary according to workload but averages 120 – 150 peaking at up to 240.
Con- Force is the largest precaster in British Columbia designing, manufacturing, shipping and erecting major precast, prestressed building and bridge components. A barge loading facility enables shipping of large and heavy components that otherwise could not be moved or that need to be shipped by water.
Over its history Con-Force has helped build many of the major projects in Richmond and BC. A most recent example is the Golden Ears Bridge where Con- Force supplied precast concrete piles , deck slabs and over 600 I girders that were nearly 8 ft high and 150 ft long. Other bridges include the Alex Fraser Bridge, the #2 road bridge, the Skytrain Bridge, the Canada Line Pedestrian Bridge, all concrete bridges on the Sea to Sky Highway , parts of the Canada Line, the VRC extension to Skytrain and numerous crossings and highway interchanges.
One product manufactured is Hollowcore which recently was used for the flooring under the skating surface at the Oval. Hollowcore has been widely used on a variety of big box stores , schools, residential and commercial buildings and shopping malls.
Parkades are a specialty of Con – Force who recently completed the 7 Story parkade at The River Rock Casino Resort. Previously Con- Force constructed the 3 story parkade for the same owner just west of the casino. Other parkades include the 5 story structure for Great Canadian in Coquitlam, the 5 story parkade for UBC at the Thundebird arena, a 3 story parkade for Gateway Casinos in Langley and the 2 parkades located at Richmond City Hall.
Architectural cladding is also manufactured at the Richmond Facility with some recent Seattle projects being Microsoft Building 92, Bravern Signature Residences, 2201 9th Ave, Microsoft 99 & 7, and Olympic Sculpture Park amongst others.
Anvil is a 7 storey all precast structure constructed for United Properties in New Westminster 2 years ago while docks, marine structures and industrial tanks have been constructed by Con-Force throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Sponsored & Presented by: TD Commercial Banking
 Outstanding Customer Service Award Sip Wines SIP Wines is Richmond's most unique wine shop. Founded in 2004 in Ironwood Shopping Centre, and specializing in fine BC VQA wines, it is actually much more than simply a wine retailer. They have Richmond's largest array of wine related crystal glasses and decanters, and an ever-growing selection of wine-friendly foods and gifts, and offer wines at winery pricing.
SIP's unique expert consulting staff includes a wine maker, a biochemist, a senior wine educator, and a member of a prominent winery-owning family. There is no wine-related question that cannot be answered by one of these friendly people. Their diverse services include spectacular gift baskets, wine tastings, seminars, wine dinners, and AskSip - an on-line question answering support.
Proprietor Simon Wosk has a long career in wine making. He has been active in Richmond's community, and supports local charitable endeavours. Simon's emphasis is primarily on the service aspect of the business.
Finalists: Budget Appliance Centre Ltd. & Creative Gift Solutions
Sponsored & Presented by: Scotiabank
 Outstanding Workplace Award Reid Hurst Nagy Inc.
REID HURST NAGY INC., Certified General Accountants, is not your typical accounting firm. We are more than number crunchers. We work closely with each client, helping them navigate accounting and financial planning without jargon, making it all easy to understand. We are real people with real solutions. Like a sextant used by ancient sailors, we'll help guide you through often-turbulent waters towards your final destination. With a team of over 30 full-time financial planning professionals, we have more than 35 years in business.
Their successful workplace model includes a focus on employee programs that promote health and wellness, flexible hours, job sharing, monthly socials, monthly birthday celebrations, staff milestones, 2 paid personal days per year and Face Book communication page.
Finalists: Dynamic Facility Services Ltd. & Riverside Banquet Halls
Sponsored & Presented by: Port Metro Vancouver
 Young Entrepreneur Award Peter Senez - Sereca Fire Consulting Ltd.
Peter Senez, 39, the Principal of Sereca Fire Consulting Ltd, is a well respected authority in all aspects of fire engineering. He has been active in the fire industry for more than 20 years. At a young age he started as a fire fighter, responded to numerous fires, accidents, and other emergencies saving lives and properties in his work. He began to develop and implemented fire prevention programs for commercial buildings and analyzed the water distribution network. From then on Peter embarked on his professional career broadening his expertise in all aspects of fire, including his graduate work to obtain a Master of Engineering in Fire Protection Engineering.
Sereca under Peter’s leadership and perseverance has successfully shown steady growth in the business from revenues of a few hundred thousand to several million today, and in six years have more than five fold increase in their income. Most recently Sereca, led by Peter, provided fire engineering services for the entire Canada Line Project.
Peter has led the expansion of Sereca in forensic engineering analysis, transportation and building design applications through an array of fire engineering services to architects, insurers developers, lawyers, owners and manufacturers. Tasked with many large assignments, Peter has been retained to address many of the most complex fire analyses required in industry today. Sereca has national and international clients it serves from their Richmond and Singapore office and is poised for further growth globally.
Finalists: Areti Baris - The Press Cafe & Ono Northey - Shinka Martial Arts
Sponsored & Presented by: Trinity Western University
 New Business Year Award Signarama Richmond Signarama Richmond is where Richmond goes for signs! Serving Richmond’s business community, Signarama provides complete signage services including indoor & outdoor signs, event banners, vehicle graphics, and large format printing. Specializing in designing, manufacturing, and installing powerful visibility options, Signarama’s staff of 7 includes experienced Graphic Designers, Project Managers, Installers, and Business Consultants. Attention to customer needs and focus on superior quality drive this business. Franchise owner David Newman uses his many years of experience as a marketer and entrepreneur to
help local Richmond businesses show signs of success.
Launched in 2008 as one franchise in an international company of over 900 locations, Signarama Richmond quickly began setting records for sales growth. In the midst of the worst economic situation in recent history, Signarama Richmond is poised to exceed their goals by helping other businesses show signs of success.
Finalists: Garden City Cabs of Richmond Ltd. & One Day Painting
Sponsored & Presented by: TD Commercial Banking
 Business of the Year 1-20 Award Mother's Choice Products & Sleep Shop (Tie) Mothers Choice Products was founded in 1994 by Sandra Hass a Registered Nurse specializing in Maternal Child Health. A mother of three she realized that there were essential products that families relied on. Using her personal professional experience she established a company that would bring forth the best products and serve the needs of moms, dads and babies.
Started as a home based business representing one product. Since that time Mothers Choice Products has become the distributor of many pre and postnatal products. With expansion Mothers Choice Products has grown from a staff of 2 to 14. The warehouse and offices are located in Richmond with distribution nationwide. Services include a national breast pump rental program available at hospitals and pharmacies across Canada. Mothers Choice is a major supplier to independent retailers and large pharmacy chains such as London Drugs, Save on Foods, Shoppers Drug Mart and the Bay.
The company has grown from sales in 2006 of $500,000 to 2.5 million dollars in the past 2 and a half years. This past September, Business In Vancouver named Mother’s Choice in the their annual top 100 fastest growth companies in British Columbia.
 Business of the Year 1-20 Award Sleep Shop (Tie)
Sleep Shop was founded in 1979 in Richmond by Haji Manji and his father Abdul Manji. The company started a as specialty mattress, foam, and bedroom furniture retailer. Sleep Shop now has 6 locations and 21 employees serving Greater Vancouver. The company’s flagship store, head office and warehouse are all located in Richmond. Sleep Shop is owned and operated by the Manji family. Haji and wife Jenny work at the head office and their son Farouq manages the retail locations. Sleep Shop offers a variety of different brands and types of mattresses from the famous Tempurpedic, Simmons, Serta to the all natural and green products made by Natura World.
Sleep Shop is committed to customer satisfaction and offers both a price and comfort guarantee to all their mattresses. Haji and his team of Sleep Experts’ goal is to change people’s lives by giving them a good night’s sleep, every night.
Finalists: Times Telecom
Sponsored & Presented by: TD Canada Trust
 Business of the Year Award 21-50 Employees Ideon Packaging
Since 2002, BC Owned and operated Ideon Packaging has evolved into a premium provider of corrugated packaging and folding carton solutions, while averaging 43% growth year over year.
45 team members in 63,000 sq.ft. allows Ideon to provide customer’s with quality products, on time, consistently. Ideon’s ‘Just Say Yes’ philosophy has enabled them to become the brand leader in the packaging space. Phones are answered in 2 rings! Voice mails are returned in 30 minutes! If a customer requires boxes tomorrow, they get boxes tomorrow. That is Ideon’s DNA!
Profits are shared monthly with team members that have been at Ideon for one year. You must be voted into the profit sharing by your peers. Peer 360’s are done on every team member annually.
Ideon's 2009 “4TheKids” Initiative enabled the donation of over 2100 pieces of clothing to those less fortunate and the bottle and can collection yielded $1200 which was used to sponsor families at Christmas. The team member contributing the most bottles and cans receives earth day, April 22, as a paid day off.
Finalists: Easy Care Restoration & Holeys
Sponsored & Presented by: BDC - Business Development Bank
 Business of the Year Award 51+ Employees Norsat International Norsat International Inc., founded in 1977, is a leading provider of intelligent satellite solutions that enable the transmission of data, audio and video via satellite in even the most challenging environments.
Norsat’s products include microwave components, portable satellite systems and industry specific solutions. Norsat also provides consulting engineering to meet customers’ specific needs. The company’s products and services are used extensively by telecommunications services providers, emergency services and homeland security agencies, military organizations, health care providers, news organizations and Fortune 1000 companies. Customers include the United States Department of Defence, Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force, NATO, Finnish Defence, IDF, Portugal Defence; FOX News, CBS News; Boeing, Reuters and others. Overall, Norsat has sold more than 2.5 million products in 87 countries and in 2008 had revenues of over 18 million dollars.
Finalists: Donald's Fine Foods & Garden Protein International
Sponsored & Presented by: KPMG
 Newsmaker of the Year - Inductee Richmond Olympic Oval
Honouring a Business Person who was involved in a newsworthy event in 2008-2009
Profile to Follow.
Sponsored & Presented by: Richmond Chamber of commerce
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