On Monday, judges named 19 businesses as finalists in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 Quebec program.
“Despite the ongoing adversity the entrepreneurial ecosystem faces in this pandemic, it’s been extremely positive to witness the true grit and resilience from these businesses,” said Luc Charbonneau, co-director of the annual program.
“Whether creating new business models or shifting traditional ones, this year’s finalists are responding to disruption with agility and innovation. Entrepreneurs will play a major role in shaping and rebuilding our economy, and this group makes me very confident about achieving future success.”
The firm said that consistent with findings from the EY Global Capital Confidence Barometer, new “vulnerabilities and unforeseen challenges brought on by the pandemic do not appear to be slowing these entrepreneurs down.”
The 19 finalists are as follows:
- Big Bang Gabriel Tupula
- BrainBox AI Sam Ramadori, Jean-Simon Venne
- Congebec Logistique Inc. Nicholas P. Pedneault
- Cook it Judith Fetzer
- Coveo Solutions Louis Têtu
- Dermapure Marilyne Gagné
- Dialogue Health Technologies Inc. Anna Chif, Cherif Habib, Alexis Smirnov
- Edgenda Marie-Pier St-Hilaire
- Evive Dominic Dubé, Claudia Poulin
- HGrégoire International Inc. John Hairabedian
- Le Groupe Master Louis St-Laurent
- Logistec Corp. Madeleine Paquin
- Roy Julie Roy
- Savaria Corp. Marcel Bourassa
- Solutions Beyond Technologies Leonardo De Araujo, Luc Dubois, Sébastien Tessier
- Superteck Experts-Conseils Inc. Sylvain Lortie
- The Kersheh Group Sam Kersheh
- Trudel Corp. William Trudel
- Vosker Danny Angers, Jimmy Angers, Yan Gagnon
“(They) are a true representation of what reinvention means – with some players emerging in new industries, and others adapting services with the momentum created by the pandemic,” said Daniel Baer, who is also a program co-director.
“We see a strong presence from businesses in the services industry this year. With limited mobility for consumers, this pandemic created a growing demand for new and existing services. Health and wellness, environmental, telecommunication and business consulting are just a few areas we continue to see emerging in Quebec.”
An independent panel of judges will select seven regional winners, which will be announced in July. The winners will then move forward to compete with winners from the Pacific, Prairies, Ontario and Atlantic regions at the national awards celebration in November where 10 national winners will be named, including Canada’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 award winner.
The overall Canadian winner will go on to compete with national winners from across the globe for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year in June 2022
