The City of Thunder Bay and the Victoria Inn will be rolling out the red carpet Oct. 7 to help recognize the best and brightest entrepreneurs, risk-takers and business success stories across the region.
The Northern Ontario Business Awards are expected to attract an estimated 400 attendees for the gala event which was last held in Thunder Bay in 2006.
This host city has produced more than 20 winners over the years; a full list of alumni is available here.
With an already robust conference and convention business in the city, Mayor Lynn Peterson expects the hundreds of attendees to fill up hotel rooms and restaurants, and is hopeful more than a few local entrepreneurs and companies will be recognized.
“We look forward to finding out who this year's winners will be. I'm confident we will be adding more Thunder Bay winners to this list.”
The Oct. 7 event will feature nine winners along with the Union Gas post-secondary school scholarship winner.
The wind-swept pine carvings of the Northern Ontario Business Awards are a badge of honour to many past award-winners and are proudly and prominently displayed in many boardrooms.
Publisher of Northern Ontario Business, Patricia Mills said this is the 24th anniversary of the awards and the 30th year of the publication. Over the years, the event has grown in stature to become the “Academy Awards of Northern Ontario.
“Being a black-tie celebration of the North's entrepreneurial elite, it is also a back-slapping gathering of the region's business, community development and political movers and shakers.
“This is the gathering place they come to once a year to meet old friends. But it's also an event where professional bonds and relationships are created. I know of million-dollar deals that happened at NOBA or successful business partnerships that have formed.”
Mills was joined at the press conference by Event Manager Kimberley Wahamaa, who handles logistics and sponsorship for all events planning at Northern Ontario Business.
The welcoming reception will be held at the Whitewater Golf Course on Wednesday, Oct. 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., followed by the Awards Gala Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 7 at the Victoria Inn.
Major corporate sponsors are: Bearskin Airlines, Eastlink, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and the City of Thunder Bay.
The awards sponsor are: BDO, Business Development Bank of Canada, Bombardier, CIBC, Export Development Canada, KIA Canada, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., Ontario Power Generation and Union Gas.
The event sponsors are: Cambrian Foundation, Genivar, Morris Modular, Northern Ontario Enterprise Gateway, TBT Engineering Consulting Group, Wasaya Airways and Whitewater Golf Club.
The media sponsors are: Northern Ontario Business and Northern Life.
Individual tickets are $169.50 and corporate tables of 8 are $1,356. The price includes the welcoming reception, pre-gala reception, gala dinner with wine, awards ceremony and post gala reception.
