Jody Herbus, president of the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster on Monday about this year’s Business Excellence Awards being held Thursday night at the WLS Convention Centre. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
It’s red carpet night for the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce and its hundreds of members.
The business organization is counting down the hours to officially host its annual Excellence in Business Awards tonight at the WLS Convention Centre from 6 to 10 p.m.
The event also celebrates Small Business Week in Canada with 38 local businesses nominated for awards in more than a dozen categories.
“It’s probably the most nominees we’ve ever seen—and a new category that’s probably long overdue, Women in Business,” said Chamber president, Jody Herbus.
“It’s quite phenomenal to see how many businesses were nominated, first of all, and in that category, to see how many women-led businesses are being recognized in Lloydminster.”
The businesses up for that new award are Nouveau Laser & Aesthetic Centre, Lash Lounge – Kim Newsted, Brixton Shoes, Performance Business Consulting, To The Core Pilates & Nutrition, Brandi Hofer artist, Can-Do Auto & Lube.
Herbus spoke about the event in a lunch presentation to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster on Monday, urging Rotarians to snap up some remaining seats.
The Chamber normally sells out at 250 people, but is taking a “more the merrier” marketing approach this year with the large capacity convention centre.
“It’s super nice to see some friendly faces cheering you on,” pitched Herbus as a past business award recipient.
He was introduced at Rotary as the “master of disaster,” being the owner of Bioclean Disaster Services and an accredited master-certified fire and smoke, water and textile restorer.
Herbus will also emcee the business awards, and as Chamber president, he gets to select and announce the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
He hinted he has something different in mind this year for that, but he and Chamber executive director, Teri-Lynn MacKie, were tight-lipped about details.
“We’ll have to leave it for Thursday night,” said MacKie, who expects a good turnout.
“We are very excited to hold it and celebrate our local businesses,” she said.
Rotarians learned that 98.2 per cent of all businesses in Canada have less than 100 employees with the Lloydminster Chamber on par with 97.6 per cent of members having under 100 employees.
“So, small business is the backbone of our economy,” said Herbus.
He also noted Chamber membership is at an all-time high which bodes well for the city’s economy.
“We’re just seeing phenomenal things,” said Herbus.
“We’ve gone through some tough economic times, but the way Lloydminster citizens and businesses have been supporting each other and shopping local is just phenomenal.”
Herbus went on to say he’s never seen the chamber network across Canada stronger than it is now, including the local chapter with its pro-business advocacy.
He noted progress is being made on an issue to remove the bi-provincial trade barrier from the federal Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations that splits Lloydminster in half.
The Chamber recommends all food businesses operating in the City of Lloydminster be considered as operating in one provincial jurisdiction or granted ministerial exemption from inter-provincial licensing requirements.
“The Chamber has been making really good headway having some conversations and some informal agreements that we can’t discuss right now,” said Herbus.
“We’ve actually got some informal agreements to move forward —how we remove this barrier quicker rather than going through all the red tape.”
