Winners of the 2002 Rotman Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards were announced tonight
in Toronto during a dinner and awards ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The Awards are an annual
initiative of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and BMO Financial Group.
"We are extremely proud to pay tribute to the innovation and courage of all of the nominees and winners"
says Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School. "These women are shining examples of Canadian individuals
and companies that are innovative and competitive. Their relentless pursuit of unique business strategies
has created value for our economy and for their customers."
The 2002 Rotman Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners are:
Start-Up Award - Kate Bird, Career Essentials Inc.
Toronto (Ontario) - Presented by Deloitte & Touche
Career Essentials specializes in upgrading the skills of unemployed, disabled or injured adults,
easing this group's re-entry into the Canadian workforce. Kate and her team offer individualized
and extensive services covering assessment, training, job search and arranging co-op placements.
Kate began working in private adult education in 1994 and decided to start her own company when her
employer at that time ran into difficulties. In 1998, Kate opened Career Essential Schools in Toronto,
Woodbridge and Scarborough. Since that time the firm has expanded into 17 locations across Ontario
employing more than 120 people and has trained almost 2,000 adults.
Kate's company was ranked one of Canada's Hottest Start-ups by PROFIT magazine in 2001 and 2002. Growth
plans include expansion throughout the rest of Ontario, Canada and into the United States as well as
expanding services into other corporate markets.
Innovation Award - Marianne Bertrand, Muttluks Inc.
Toronto (Ontario) - Presented by Ford Motor Company of Canada
During a cold spell in 1994, Marianne Bertrand saw her dog's paws suffering from the cold weather and salty
streets. Her inability to find a suitable pet boot, combined with an extended forecast of fiercely cold weather,
led Marianne to design and manufacture a pair of boots for her dog. Working at her dining room table, Marianne
saw an opportunity for a new venture. When she sold 130 sets in less than a week to local pet stores, Marianne
had covered her impending mortgage payment and had start-up capital for a business. Today, the company
employs 20 full time and 40 part-time people in a new facility with 15,000 square feet of space.
Her staff was working two shifts seven days a week in September 2001 when the call came from the NYPD Canine Unit
and the Chicago Fire Department asking for boots. All efforts were re-directed to that project and Muttluks donated
850 sets of boots to the Search and Rescue dogs involved in the emergency response at the World Trade Centre site
in New York City. Thousands of people, including whole classes of school children, sent notes of gratitude in
response to this gift.
Muttluks' sales continue to double almost every year and the company expects to manufacture nearly 500,000 boots
by the end of the current fiscal year.
Impact on Local Economy Award - Jackie Kevill, Loony Lizard Dollar Stores
St. Catharines, Ontario - Presented by BMO Financial Group
Loony Lizard is not just a dollar store, it is a chain of 26 dollar stores located throughout Central and
Eastern Ontario. Each of the 100,000 items in stock costs a dollar or less so parents can tell their
children that they can buy anything in the store and everyone has fun.
Jackie Kevill, a former teacher, started Loony Lizards in 1992 with one store in St. Catharines, which she still
owns. Using a $17,000 inheritance, Jackie tested her concept for combining lots of fun and tremendous variety
with warm and friendly salespeople to create an engaging shopping experience. This philosophy has worked,
and Jackie has franchised 25 Loony Lizards stores and experienced 143% growth for the last two years.
Jackie has also been ranked tenth in growth leaders of PROFIT's Top 100 Women-Owned Business in Canada.
Export Award - Kathryn From and Shery Leeder, Bravado Designs Inc.
Toronto (Ontario) - Presented by Export Development Canada (EDC)
Bravado! Designs Inc. is an innovative maternity lingerie company that delights and excites women around the world.
Bravado's success comes from combining fashion with functionality to offer unique products in unexpected patterns,
ranging from floral, black and leopard print bras to matching thongs, bikini briefs and nursing sleepwear.
Founded in 1992 as a home-based Canadian business, it now boasts sales of $4.5 million in
over 15 countries around the world, with exports accounting for over 80% of its sales and 90% of profits.
Founding partner Shery Leeder and co-owner Kathryn From realized that the key to growing a niche market was through export.
Specific product positioning and careful expansion into new markets, starting with the U.S., have resulted
in their business numbers multiplying four times in the last five years, and allowed them to recently open
an office in the United Kingdom.
From its beginnings at a kitchen table to its current international success, Bravado! Designs' underlying philosophy
reflects its strong commitment to the importance of breastfeeding along with its desire to bolster a mother's sense
of self-esteem.
Lifetime Achievement Award - Rebecca MacDonald, Energy Savings Income Fund
Toronto (Ontario) - Presented by Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
Born in the former Yugoslavia and trained as a physician there, Rebecca moved to Canada in 1974 with no English
and very few contacts. In 1978, Rebecca married Pearson MacDonald and together they established Toronto Water Filters,
a profitable door-to-door marketing business. In 1989, with the deregulation of natural gas in Ontario, Rebecca formed
Energy Marketing Inc. and by the mid-1990's this company was the largest marketer in the province.
Rebecca's husband was tragically killed in a car accident in 1992, leaving her with two businesses to run and two small
children to raise. Rebecca sold Energy Marketing Inc. in 1996, and in 1997, using her own capital she founded Energy
Savings Income Fund. At that time, Rebecca was hit with another personal challenge; she was diagnosed with a crippling
form of rheumatoid arthritis. Not one to give in, Rebecca participated in an experimental treatment, which has moved
her arthritis into remission.
Energy Savings Income Fund grew so quickly that it needed more financing, so in 2001 Rebecca took her company public.
It became Canada's top performing IPO in 2001, with a share price that has almost tripled in 17 months and a market
value of over $650 million.
The 2002 Rotman Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Awards are presented by BMO Financial Group in partnership with
Export Development Canada, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada, National Post and
National Post Business magazine, PROFIT magazine and Chatelaine magazine and supported by Ireland + Associates =
Design, Deloitte & Touche, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Industry Canada and Tiffany & Co.
Established in 1817, as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO) is a highly diversified financial
services organization. It includes BMO Bank of Montreal, its Canadian retail arm, Chicago-based Harris Bank, a
major Midwest financial services provider, and BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of Canada's largest full-service investment firms.
BMO Financial Group is the second largest small business lender in Canada and the sixth largest in North America.
Recently ranked by The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek among the best business schools in the world, the
University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management offers leading-edge research and degree programs,
including the prestigious Rotman MBA and Part-Time MBA programs, the One-Year MBA for Executives, a first-rate
Doctoral Program, the distinctive Master of Management & Professional Accounting program, the undergraduate Commerce
program in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Science, combined programs with the University of Toronto
faculties of Law, Engineering and Nursing, and an innovative series of Executive Programs tailored to the current
needs of businesses and individual managers.
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