YELLOWKNIFE (January 27, 2014) – The Northern business community came together last week to celebrate the best and brightest at the Frozen Globe Awards held in Whitehorse, YT.

Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) David Ramsay offered his congratulations to NWT businesses recognized with nominations and awards.

“Clearly, the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well in the NWT,” Minister Ramsay said. “The Government of the Northwest Territories is proud to support and nurture this important foundation of our economy in the interest of realizing much-needed economic diversity and growth throughout the territory.”

This year’s NWT Frozen Globe award winners were:

• Top Aboriginal Owned Business: Deton Cho Corporation, Yellowknife
• Top Large Business (over 100 employees): EBA Engineering, Yellowknife and Whitehorse
• Top NWT Entrepreneur: Canoe North Adventures, Norman Wells
• Overall Top Northern Entrepreneur: Canoe North Adventures, Norman Wells

The Frozen Globe Awards are presented annually by Up Here Business Magazine to northern businesses operating in the Yukon, NWT and Nunavut.  The GNWT’s Department of ITI is a major sponsor of the event.

“You are all here tonight because you know that this is a time of great opportunity in the North”, ITI Deputy Minister Peter Vician noted while presenting the NWT Entrepreneur of the Year Award. “We need men and women in the North who have the drive and commitment to transform their ideas into solid businesses – and, in doing so, provide the energy and innovation to fuel our competitive and prosperous northern business environment.”

A healthy business sector is critical to creating a strong, diversified economy that provides jobs and opportunities for all regions of the NWT. The GNWT continues to pursue this priority through investments in small business programs and the creation of strategies like the Economic Opportunities Strategy. Of the 117 recommended actions included in the NWT’s Economic Opportunities Strategy, released in October, many specifically target the strengthening of government programs and services and the NWT’s operating environment for small and regional businesses and entrepreneurs.

“This is a strategy centred on small business and our communities that will grow the economy from the grassroots up, and from the regions out.” Minister Ramsay noted.

With debate on the GNWT’s 2014-15 budget set to begin next month, the Minister looks forward to implementing strategy recommendations in the new fiscal year.

For more information:

Alayna Ward
Manager, Public Affairs and Communications
Industry, Tourism and Investment, Government of the Northwest Territories
Tel: (867) 920-8696
Email: Alayna_Ward@gov.nt.ca