Andrew Shepherd, founder of Vancouver Island Salt Co.Amanda Palmer/The Globe and Mail
Think your business is too small to make it in The Globe and Mail's Small Business Challenge Contest?
Andrew Shepherd thought the same thing – even after his company, Vancouver Island Salt. Co., in B.C.'s Cowichan Valley, was named two years ago as one of four semi-finalists in the contest, a national competition sponsored by The Globe and Telus Corp.
Just minutes before he stood up in a Toronto conference room to make his pitch to the Challenge Contest judges, Mr. Shepherd had a moment of doubt: There was no way he could win the $100,000 grand prize when he was competing against three companies that boasted cutting-edge technologies and revenues that dwarfed Vancouver Island Salt's annual sales at the time of about $100,000.
"I certainly felt like there was no chance I was going to win when I walked into the presentation," says Mr. Shepherd, whose six-year-old business produces artisanal salts sourced from ocean waters around Vancouver Island. "But after spending the day with the judges and the other contestants, I thought, 'Sure, we're really small right now, but we have a great story and lots of potential for growth.'"
He was right. Vancouver Island Salt won the 2014 Small Business Challenge Contest, allowing Mr. Shepherd to pursue his goal of increasing production capacity and expanding to new markets.
Thanks to the $100,000 cash prize, he has been able to hire a full-time salt harvester and upgrade to higher-capacity equipment. In 2014, the company was selling its products only in British Columbia and Ontario; today Vancouver Island Salt can also be found in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Texas, Washington state and Japan. Next month it will be available in South Korea.
Since winning the Challenge, Vancouver Island Salt has more than doubled its revenue, Mr. Shepherd says. This would likely not have happened so quickly had he decided to take a pass on the contest.
"Don't get caught up in the size of your business," is the advice Mr. Shepherd gives to entrepreneurs who think their company is too small to compete in the Challenge.
"Even if you don't win, you can't lose," he says. "The process of analyzing your business and telling your story through the application form is something that's really beneficial for any business."