On the Fast Track
For the second year in a row, St. Albert's Fast Track Group of Companies made the Profit 200 list of the fastest growing companies in Canada.
Fast Track Group of Companies is just 10 years old but last year it was ranted No. 67 on the annual list put out by Profit Magazine. This year it ranked 40th.
"There are over two million business enterprises across the country, so to make it on the Profit 200 list is obviously something we're very proud of," said Fast Track founder Darren Weeks.
Weeks explained he started his company, which is based in Campbell Park, 10 years ago, shortly after being laid off from the Alberta Liquor Control Board.
"I had a business degree, but I knew that the subject people don't learn in school is the facts about money. I made it my goal to increase the financial literacy of every Canadian household," he said. He says his company offers free seminars about purchasing real estate and in addition, his group of companies includes a real estate brokerage and a tax strategy division.
Fast Track has grown 1,282 per cent in the past five years and has expanded from a single office in St. Albert to 14 offices across Western Canada.
$100,000 Extra for local man
Shane Dzivinski took a stack of old lottery tickets into a local store to be checked last week and left with one winner worth $100,000.
Dzivinski was very close to the expiry date. His Lotto Max ticket, which included the Extra feature, was purchased Aug. 27, 2010 from Save-On Foods.
The St. Albert resident was somewhat rattled when he saw that his winning ticket listed a prize with lots of zeros.
"I checked this ticket and saw all the zeros and thought it was maybe $1,000," he said, but because his ticket matched the last six digits on the Extra, he won $100,000.
Dzivinski said the value of his windfall hasn't really sunk in yet but he plans to use his winnings to pay for his daughters' post-secondary education.
