Country’s top startup city
Trevor Nichols - Oct 20, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: Startup Kamloops Facebook

Kamloops has been recognized as the top city in Canada this year for startups.

Startup Kamloops, an organization dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship in the city, was awarded the Startup Community of the Year award at last night’s Startup Canada Awards.

The award ceremony is held each year by Startup Canada, one of the country’s leading ​social enterprise organizations dedicated to supporting and giving a voice to Canadian entrepreneurs.

Its prestigious Startup Community of the Year award recognizes an organization that has had an “extraordinary impact” on the entrepreneurial environment in its community.

Lincoln Smith is the executive director of Kamloops Innovation, which oversees Startup Kamloops. At the awards ceremony in Ottawa last night he gave a short, gracious speech as he accepted the award.

“It’s a real honour to be here, and accept this award on behalf of Kamloops,” he told the crowd, before giving a shout out to the “workers, community builders and community leaders” he said are “really making an impact on our community.”

When Startup Kamloops was first announced as a finalist for the award, Smith said the nomination “recognizes our whole community’s drive to make Kamloops a destination for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Working under the umbrella of Kamloops Innovation, Startup Kamloops is a collaboration between several business-focused organizations in the city. The organization’s goal is to “create and support an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship of all kinds in Kamloops.”

According to Startup Canada, the organization has been “instrumental in fostering and developing a robust startup ecosystem…for entrepreneurs” in Kamloops, allowing the city to “punch above its weight” in the startup community.

Over the last few years, the larger business community has begun to take notice of Kamloops’ thriving entrepreneurial scene.

In 2015 Startup Canada recognized Kamloops Innovation itself for its entrepreneurial support and impact in the region.

Since then, local CEO Robert Atwood won a young entrepreneur of the year award; Kamloops’ iTel Networks was recognized nationally for its high growth entrepreneurship; and John Zubak was handed a lifetime achievement award.


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