Booster Juice president wins Prairies entrepreneur award
Dale Wishewan, president and chief executive of Edmonton-based Booster Juice, the international quick-service smoothie chain, is the 2013 Prairies EY entrepreneur of the year.
Wishe wan was awarded the honour Thursday night at a Calgary gala.
Award officials said Wishewan is a natural leader and born entrepreneur. With no franchise, food or beverage experience, he grew Booster Juice to 50 locations in just two years — a Canadian franchising record. Today, the company boasts 300 stores worldwide. Its first location was in Sherwood Park in November 1999.
“Dale set out to create an international brand when the concept of on-the-go smoothies was in its infancy,” said Rob Jolley, EY Prairies entrepreneur of the year program director. “That’s exactly the kind of fearless forward thinking we need to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs — no idea is too big, or too great to achieve.”
According to EY’s G20 Entrepre- neurship Barometer 2013, although Canada ranks high on its entrepreneurship culture, relatively low levels of self-employment suggest there’s room for more people to capitalize on the country’s supportive environment.
“Fostering a robust entrepreneurial culture starts by building a strong pipeline of entrepreneurial talent,” said Jolley. “Government, academia and business must work together to encourage the next generation to pursue their ambitions.”
The Canadian entrepreneur of the year program is in its 20th year.
Wishewan was named the overall 2013 winner after claiming the business-to-consumer products and services category.
Other category winners recognized Thursday night were:
Business-to-business products and services: Jeff Polovick, TheDriving Force Inc., Edmonton;
Cleantech: Mogens Smed, DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd., Calgary
Emerging entrepreneur: Dan Smith, Darrell Boulter, Greg Hartman, Paul Smith, RIDEInc., Drayton Valley
Energy services: Merv Pidherney, M. Pidherney’s Trucking Ltd., Rocky Mountain House
Manufacturing: Joe Makowecki, Heritage Frozen Foods, Edmonton
Oil and gas: David Bouchier, Nicole Bourque-Bouchier, The Bouchier Group, Fort McMurray
Professional and financial services: Jean-Pierre Parenty, Parenty Reitmeier Translation Services, Winnipeg
Real estate and construction: Reza Nasseri, Landmark Group of Builders, Edmonton
Technology and communications: Michael J. Sikorsky, Robots and Pencils Inc., Calgary
As the Prairies region’s 2013 EY winner, Wishewan will compete with top entrepreneurs from the Pacific, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic regions for Canada’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013 to be presented Nov. 27 in Toronto.