Jodie McFadzen has put in a lot of long nights since she opened her bookkeeping company Penzen Limited six years ago. That commitment was rewarded last night as McFadzen took home the Young Entrepreneur Award of Distinction from the Alberta Chambers of Commerce's Alberta Business Awards of Distinction gala.
The Gazette spoke with McFadzen before the embargoed list of winners was released Friday afternoon ahead of the 8 p.m. gala at the River Cree Resort. She confessed to be nervous about her chances but grateful for being selected as a finalist.
"It feels pretty good. I wasn't going to get my hopes up. I was hoping it would happen but I know there was a lot of other people whose nominations went in, so to be picked as one of the last three is an honour," McFadzen said.
This is the second award in six months for McFadzen's home-based business, which also puts together architectural, mechanical and electrical manuals. In October, she was selected as the winner of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce Home Based Business Award of Distinction.
"I had been nominated for other awards before, but for this one, being a home-based business, it's not easy to get your name out in the community and you don't get taken as seriously because you don't have your own office space per se."
McFadzen is finally in a place where she can keep something resembling regular work hours. When she founded her business, she was the single mother of two very young children. She used to burn the midnight oil after the kids went to sleep and take calls in between "playing Lego and cars." Now that her youngest child is in Grade 1, McFadzen can keep something of a regular schedule.
"I still work at night too but I have normal work hours during the day now," she said.
Big returns
Another St. Albert-based business that was nominated for an Alberta Business Award of Distinction but came up short was Quantum Group of Companies, based in Riel.
Run by Tony La Grange, the company, which develops and manufactures environmentally sustainable water-based coatings using solvent-free technology, was a finalist for the Small Business Award of Distinction. Xtreme Hot Oil Services out of Hinton was selected as the winner.
The intervening months since Quantum won the St. Albert Small Business Award of Distinction in October have been kind to La Grange and his team of 10. His products have been licensed in Australia, he is in the final stages of having products authorized for sale in the European Union and it's very likely he will become a supplier to one of the biggest global manufacturers.
"It feels excellent," La Grange said before the winners were announced. "It feels good to get recognition if you've worked hard at something, but for me, it makes me really proud of the personnel that we have here. Nobody accomplishes this kind of thing in a vacuum."
The potential for Quantum is skyrocketing, to the point La Grange can foresee doubling sales over the next two years.
"That's almost alarming because I like controlled growth," he laughed.
