They’re solopreneurs and smallbusinesses, mid-sized operationsand multinationals. Canada’s

private businesses comprise the en-tire sweep of the country’s businessspectrum, ranging in size from smallto large and succeeding across sectorsand markets.

On November 19, Canada’s mostdynamic and high-performing privatebusinesses were recognized at a gath-ering in Toronto for the 2014 PrivateBusiness Growth Award. Presentedjointly by Grant Thornton LLP and theCanadian Chamber of Commerce, theaward celebrates business excellenceand honours private Canadian busi-nesses focused on creating growthbeyond the top line.

This year’s winner, chosen froma shortlist of 10 impressive finalists,is Polycorp Ltd., a company that de-signs and manufactures engineered

elastomeric parts in its Elora, Ont.,plant for industrial customers in thetransportation, mining and protectivelinings sectors. Since its launch in 1996,Polycorp has seen dramatic growth andnow boasts more than 230 employeesand agents serving customers aroundthe world.

“Polycorp is a great Canadian suc-cess story built on a solid, long-termstrategy and a commitment to technicalleadership,” says Phil Noble, CEO andexecutive partner at Grant ThorntonLLP, a leading Canadian accounting, taxand business advisory firm. “Polycorp,as well as the nine finalists, presentshining examples of visionary thinkingand high levels of entrepreneurialismthat Canada’s private businesses oftendon’t get credit for.”

While it’s hard to find aggregate num-bers on businesses that don’t reportpublicly in Canada, the magnitude of

their presence and impact on the coun-try’s economy is undeniable. A largemajority of all Canadian businesses areprivately held, accounting for a consid-erable portion of the country’s jobs,exports, innovations and productivity.

“Private businesses are the backboneof the Canadian economy,” says Mr.Noble. “They play a critical role indriving growth and creating new jobsfor Canadians.”

Despite their significant contributionsto the country’s economy, privatebusinesses are often unrecognized anduncelebrated. Unlike public companies,privately held businesses don’t seetheir activities and business resultstracked by analysts and newspapercolumnists, or their success storieschronicled in annual reports.

“Yet we know there are thousands ofprivate businesses across the countrythat are thriving in the face of highlycompetitive markets and increasinglycomplex challenges,” says Mr. Noble.“These companies are the unsungheroes of Canadian business.”

Perrin Beatty, president and CEO ofthe Canadian Chamber of Commerce,Canada’s largest business associationrepresenting more than 200,000members across the country, pointsto this year’s finalists and winner assolid proof of the importance of anintegrated growth strategy built on abroad range of business activities, suchas innovation, market development,investments in people and culture,strategic leadership and improvementsin financial measures.

“Success isn’t just about becomingbigger today,” says Mr. Beatty. “It’sabout taking action and making invest-ments on various fronts that will enableyou to build a strong foundation for

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PRIVATE BUSINESS GROWTH AWARD

Gala recognizes leaders of Canadian economy

ABOUT

Now in its second year, the PrivateBusinessGrowthAward– presentedby Grant Thornton LLP and theCanadian Chamber of Commerce– honours private Canadian busi-nesses focused on creating growthbeyond the top line.

“If we are to truly strengthen theCanadian economy, companiesmust be encouraged to think be-yond the next quarter’s results andapproach growth from a strategicand a holistic perspective,” saysPhil Noble, executive partner andchief executive officer at GrantThornton LLP.

Canadian Chamber of Commercepresident and chief executive officerPerrin Beatty adds, “Growth isn’talways about being bigger. It’sabout being better.”

The award recognizes Canadian-owned, privately held businessesthat have been in business a mini-mum of three years, generaterevenues of $5-million or more anddemonstrate outstanding strategicgrowth. Each year, a jury of high-profile business leaders selects10 finalists and one winner basedon the following criteria: innova-tion, market development, peopleand culture, strategic leadershipand improvements in financialmeasures.

Elastomeric parts maker Polycorp Ltd. took home the 2014 Private Business Growth Award at a gala held in Torontoon November 19. Polycorp CEO Peter Snucins (center) accepted the award from Canadian Chamber of CommerceCEO Perrin Beatty (left) and Phil Noble, CEO and executive partner at Grant Thornton, LLP. DARREN GOLDSTEIN

Gala guests mixed, mingled and celebrated at the gala, held at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and emceed byDragons’ Den host Dianne Buckner (pictured bottom right). DARREN GOLDSTEIN

Online? Visit privatebusinessgrowthaward.com for more information.

Private Business Growth Award finalists

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

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“Private businesses are thebackbone of the Canadianeconomy. They play acritical role in drivinggrowth and creating newjobs for Canadians.”

Phil Nobleis CEO and executive partner at GrantThornton LLP

AERYON LABS INC.WATERLOO, ONT.

Founded in 2007, Aeryon Labs designssmall, simple-to-use drones – knownas small Unmanned Aerial Systems(sUAS) – that fit easily in a soldier’sbackpack, the trunk of a police car orthe cab of a power line inspector’spickup truck. Aeryon Labs is set-ting a new standard for immediateaerial intelligence gathering and hasbecome the trusted partner of civiland military customers, resellers andother commercial business partnersaround the globe.

“It had always been our intention todevelop our products as tools, not toys,and focus on the high-end market.We’ve been involved in some prettybig events: for example, our systemwas purchased by BP to help find oilduring the Gulf Spill.

“It’s important to focus on where youwant to be, and not just necessarilywhere you are. For us, that meant edu-cating the market about our solutionsthrough trade shows and magazines.We also look for applications we caninsert ourselves into. It’s a matter offinding ways to tell our story so a po-lice agency or a power line inspectoron the other side of the world knowsthat we’re real.”–David Kroetsch, president and CEO

For more information, visitwww.aeryon.com.

ASPIN KEMP & ASSOCIATESMONTAGUE, P.E.I.

Aspin Kemp & Associates’ (AKA) mis-sion is to develop and commercializecustom engineering solutions andtechnologies that make the worldsafer and the environment cleaner.The company helps clients overcomecritical power challenges from conceptto design through manufacturing andinstallation. Founded in 1996, AKArelocated its corporate headquartersto Montague, P.E.I., last year. Today,the company has 125 employees andis growing rapidly based on strongsales of existing systems, full life cyclesupport services provided to a growinginstalled base and a robust technologypipeline for the future.

“We have always tried to listen to whatour customers’ problems are and thenwork with them to develop technologythat resolves those problems and dif-ferentiates them within their industry.We do not approach customers with our

KIDS & COMPANY LTD.RICHMOND HILL, ONT.

Kids & Company is Canada’s lead-ing corporate-sponsored child careprovider. Established in 2002 by Vic-toria Sopik and Jennifer Nashmi, thecompany saw a clear need for a newmodel of child care to support work-ing parents with a suite of solutionsthat includes guaranteed full-time,part-time and emergency back-up careas well as in-home nanny and eldercare. Starting with one centre, onecorporate client and four employees,the company has expanded over thelast 12 years to include more than 60child care centres in 26 cities and over200 corporate clients.

“We spent a number of years educat-ing corporate Canada and offeringfree memberships so they wouldunderstand the value and realize it’s aworthwhile benefit to support.

“My advice to other leaders of pri-vately held companies is to try find apartner that compliments your skills.

My focus is operations and sales, whileJennifer is a chartered accountant anda finance professional. We alwayssay that together, we make a perfectcompany leader.”

–Victoria Sopik, CEO

For more information, visitwww.kidsandcompany.com.

NICOLA WEALTHMANAGEMENTVANCOUVER, B.C.

NicolaWealth Management (NWM) isa financial planning and investmentmanagement firm that providescomprehensive financial advice tohigh-net-worth entrepreneurs, profes-sionals and their families. Currentlymanaging almost $2.8-billion in as-sets, NWM was established by JohnNicola in 1994 in Vancouver and hasproudly served clients across Canada,recently expanding to include anofficein Toronto.

“It’s important to have the convictionto stay focused on what you believeis the right thing to do. In 1999, Johndecided to switch to a fee-basedmodel. We had to part ways with athird of our staff and downsize ouroffice space. This resulted in an initialdrop in revenue, but being a fee-basedbusiness fuelled our growth.

“In the early 2000s, we movedfrom the traditional stocks-and-bondsinvestment approach to include otherasset classes, including mortgages,private equity and private debt. Allof a sudden the equities market tookoff for the next five years, and clientswanted to know why we’re movingaway from the public market during abull cycle. Then 2008 hit and the NorthAmerican equity market dropped by35 per cent on average. Our clients, bycomparison, lost an average of sevenper cent.”

–David Sung, president

For more information, visitwww.nicolawealth.com.

canned solution and try to sell themsomething that we think they need.We also try to find a niche elementof a system that we can provide thatdifferentiates us from our competitionand then leverage that to expand ourscope so that we provide the wholesystem, not just the technology partthat we have that is unique.

“Your most valuable partner – yourcustomer – is probably your mostdifficult partner. Don’t let them gobecause it is hard. Don’t sweat thesmall things or the things that youcannot change. Keep the long-termvision; short-term gain will end upcatching up to you. Only do what youbelieve in.”

–Jason Aspin, CEO

For more information, visitwww.aka-group.com.

GLOBAL RELAYVANCOUVER, B.C.

Global Relay is the leading providerof Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) elec-tronicmessage archiving, compliance,eDiscovery and supervision solutionsfor the global financial sector. A truepioneer and early-to-market successstory in cloud technologies and solu-tions, Global Relay is nowa recognizedindustry leader, providing hundredsof high-paying jobs and injectingmillions of dollars in foreign revenueback into the Canadian economy eachyear. The company serves more than20,000 customers including 22 of theworld’s top banks.

“Half our time is spent serving reve-nue-generating customers. The otherhalf is spent on refining and drivingour long-term vision and developingtechnologies that will come to marketfive to seven years from today. Youhave to get the right balance betweenday-to-day revenue-generating busi-ness and combine that with your long-term vision. That will ensure you’recompetitive in the future.”

–Warren Roy, CEO

“Five years ago, we made a consciousdecision that we wanted to go after thebig enterprise customer, so we built adata centre, redesigned our archivingtechnology from scratch and addedadvanced features. We believe that ifyou build it, they will come.”

–Shannon Rogers, president andgeneral counsel

For more information, visitwww.globalrelay.com.

long-term growth. This year’s PrivateBusiness Growth Award winner andfinalists have distinguished themselvesby looking beyond their quarterlyresults to drive growth today and inthe future.”

It’s this type of holistic, long-termgrowth that will drive the Canadianeconomy year after year, Mr. Beattysays. Thanks to the country’s dynamicprivate businesses – and the visionariesat their helms – the future looks brightfor Canada.

WINNER

POLYCORP LTD.ELORA, ONT.

The winner of this year’s Private Business Growth Award, Polycorp Ltd. de-signs andmanufactures engineered elastomeric parts, providing its industrialcustomers with high-quality, cost-effective solutions to address corrosion,abrasion, impact, noise and vibration challenges. As the successor to B.F.Goodrich Engineering Products of Canada, Polycorp was established in 1996in Elora, Ontario, and has since grown to over 230 employees and agentsserving customers worldwide.

“Polycorp’s focus on geographic expansion has emphasized areas underservedby competitors. The strategy is to take an established North American productline, then use this platform for product line extension and geographic expan-sion. As one area becomes developed, initiatives are set in motion in adjoin-ing countries, employing a ‘fence hopping’ strategy. Credibility is added bypartnering with domestic representatives that provide language capabilities,relationships and cultural knowledge for local markets. As a result, exportsnow represent 76.8 per cent of sales.”

“The main element of the Polycorp value proposition is technical leader-ship in material development, product performance and design/optimizationcapabilities. Quality leadership, cost management and customer service areother key factors. Polycorp currently has 17 active patents; in addition, 16patent applications are pending, many of which have been filed in multiplejurisdictions.”

–Peter Snucins, president and CEO

For more information, visit www.polycorp.com.

Representatives from finalists for the 2014 Private Business Growth Award. DARREN GOLDSTEIN

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Visit privatebusinessgrowthaward.com

SKYLINE GROUP OF COMPANIESGUELPH, ONT.

One of Canada’s fastest-growing realestate acquisitions, management andinvestment companies, Skyline Groupof Companies was founded by brothersJasonandMartinCastellanand friendRoy

Jason Ashdown. Skyline developedthree of Canada’s fastest-growing pri-vateREITsmanagedentirelybySkyline.The company now boasts over 500teammembers Canada-wide.

“As a private REIT, our strategy from thebeginning was to assemble a group of

like-minded investors to buy biggerand more efficient properties. Eachproperty that we buy is bigger thanI could buy on my own, but togetherwe have power to operate like an in-stitution and deliver premium returnsto the everyday retail investor.

“A good part of our success hasbeen the ability to collaborate withall parts of our business. If we didn’tconsider the opinions and help of ouremployees, how could we expectthem to have ownership in whatthey do? As entrepreneurs, we thinkthat we are or have to be great ateverything, which in reality is farthestfrom the truth. Do what you are bestat and hire or partner with the bestpeople to do what you aren’t goodat. Leveraging with people is how yougrow, in my opinion.”

–Jason Castellan, CEO

For more information, visitwww.skylineonline.ca.

STEEPED TEA INC.ANCASTER, ONT.

A passionate love of tea led ToniaJahshan, founder and president ofSteepedTea, andher husbandHatemto take their first sip of loose leaf teain 2006 while vacationing in NovaScotia. They instantly fell in lovewiththat cup of Earl Grey de la Crème tea,and upon returning, Tonia couldn’tresist sharing this loose leaf tea withfamily and friends. She began host-

ing tea parties and the idea of SteepedTeawasborn. Leveragingherhusband’sinnate sense of strategy and her ownpassion, Tonia has grown Steeped Teainto the international, direct-sellingpowerhouse that it is today.

“Our biggest challenge has alwaysbeen maintaining this growth andkeeping up with it. It is so difficult tomanage cash flow, manage all thesegrowth opportunities without themcolliding.

“The best advice I can give anybody inprivate business is not to give up. Try tostep back and look at the big picture andpursue it. There are many opportunitiesout there, and there are many ways toget to where you want to get.”

–Hatem Jahshan, CEO

For more information, visitwww.steepedtea.com.

WESTERN MANUFACTURINGLTD.HYTHE, ALTA.

Western Manufacturing Ltd. is a steeltank and oilfield equipment manu-facturer specializing in custom steelfabrication, frac tanks, pressure ves-sels, piping and process equipment.The company has shown continuousgrowth year-over-year. Despite theindustry’s volatility, Western’s focuson long-term planning is designedto develop operations and increasegrowth for years to come.

“Western uses a unique model ofsubcontract-based manufacturingthat enables us to scale our businessup and down rapidly to meet marketdemand. We came to the market rightin the bottom of the downturn, in2008 to 2009. As many companieswere forced out of business duringthese tough years, the market wasin dire need of capacity as activitylevels increased. Western was wellpositioned to fill this need.

“My advice to other businesses:Hire the best people you can findand then look after them. Always askyour customers what their problemsare, then solve them. Your customerswill be glad to pay you for the bother!Pay attention to your culture. Don’tlet your startup/small company verveleave as you grow.”

–Lonny Thiessen, CEO

For more information, visitwww.westernmanufacturing.ca.

ZAG GROUPVANCOUVER, B.C.

ZAG is a multi-divisional consumerproducts company focused on inno-vation that enhances people’s lives.Founded by Steve Curtis in 2001,ZAG – self-funded since its inception– specializes in natural, plant-basedbeverage products. With 135 employ-ees in Vancouver, Los Angeles andEurope, ZAG Group has experiencedexponential year-over-year salesgrowth for the past two years.

“Selling our products is the easypart. The challenge is finding peopleto help grow our business and holdit together. Our question was: forthese world-class ideas and world-class products, who are the bestpeople in the world? So we startedfinding people from leading globalcompanies and bringing them intoour world.

“I think the key factors that havedriven success in our company havebeen having a great product anda great purpose. We have a lot ofpeople with passion, who are drivenby knowing that what they do is re-ally making a difference in people’slives. We aim high and think aheadof the curve.”

–Steve Curtis, CEO

For more information, visitwww.zagglobal.com.

Congratulations Polycorp Ltd.

A lot has changed at Polycorp Ltd. since it opened its doors in Elora, Ontario, in 1996. A privately ownedCanadian company that designs and manufactures engineered elastomeric parts—generating intellectualproperty and knowledge development by engineering new designs, developing improved materials, andsearching for new technologies. Polycorp is now the largest North American manufacturer in its three nichemarkets. The company has balanced growth across product lines and geographies, and has consistentlyreinvested in technology, equipment and people to sustain its on-going growth and success.

We would like to thank the following Private Business Growth Award gala sponsors for their generous support:

Diamond sponsors Platinum sponsor

on winning the2014 Private Business Growth Award

© Grant Thornton LLP. A Canadian Member of Grant Thornton International Ltd