President’s Updates
CAMSC Congratulates the 2011 Business Achievement Award Recipients
Small Business of the Year: Acosys Consulting
Awarded to an Aboriginal or Minority-owned business with 20 employees or less, based on business growth and development, export sales growth, and
major accomplishments during the previous year. Acosys Consulting Services Inc. provides timely and value-based consulting
services in Information Technology, Human Resources and Aboriginal Policy Development. What sets them apart, however, is their unique Aboriginal
internship program that leverages Acosys consultants’ expertise to meaningfully mentor a paired Aboriginal intern along a professional services
career path. This also offers major corporations a cost-effective opportunity for project staff augmentation and a chance to create a more inclusive
workforce while building talent and capacity in the Aboriginal community. EDS, now known as HP, was the first CAMSC corporate member to take
advantage of this unique program while utilizing Acosys’ database integration expertise, and more recently RBC has gone on to hire full-time
several aboriginal interns from Acosys’ program. Acosys was one of just five companies selected to participate in the first Accenture Canada diversity
supplier development mentorship program, and has leveraged this opportunity to develop strategic alliances with Modis and others. From
humble beginnings, Acosys has grown over the past five years into a company that has delivered IT and HR consulting solutions for a broad
range of corporate and government clients ranging from Bombardier to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to Canada Post. They have more than
doubled their workforce over the past 2 years, and are on track to achieve annual revenue growth of 43% by end of 2011.
Supplier of The Year: Shashi Foods
Awarded to the year’s outstanding aboriginal or minority-owned business, based on growth and development, export sales growth, and major
accomplishments during the previous year A dynamic natural foods manufacturer, Shashi Foods, aims to “deliver to its customers the best the earth has to offer”.
With product lines ranging from premier basmati rice from South East Asia, to spices, flours, oils and sauces sourced around the world, Shashi Foods is committed to
quality. Shashi’s owners have personally visited the overwhelming majority of their global ingredient producers to be assured of high quality farming and
production methods. Given their personal commitment to quality, Shashi invested in practices aligned to Safe Quality Foods 2000 accreditation and
was awarded the Safe Quality Foods SQF 2000 accreditation in 2010. In 2010, with a focus on innovation and growth, Shashi Foods augmented
their natural ingredients product lines with innovative and healthful flatbreads, and they continue to innovate with a soon-to-be-launched
“infused oats” product that gives consumers a seamless taste and flavour experience. Boasting a Fortune 500 client list ranging from Starbucks to
Wal-Mart, and Whole Foods to Loblaws, Shashi Foods has achieved a phenomenal 47% revenue growth and 63% export sales growth over the
past 2 years. Clearly, Shashi Foods is rapidly achieving its goal of becoming a North American leader in natural foods. (continued next page)
Linking Corporate Canada with Aboriginal and Minority-Owned Businesses.
Procurement Advocate of the Year: Terry Sawh, TopNotch Employment
Presented to an individual who strongly promotes supplier diversity through outreach efforts/activities and is respected by their peers for
advocating supplier diversity in Canada. Terry’s history as an advocate for supplier diversity has been reflected in a
wide range of endeavours and sustained passion in vigorously promoting the broader economic and commercial benefits of diversity and immigration.
Terry has been active for 5 years as a Certified Supplier with CAMSC including two years with as Chair of the Supplier Input Committee. His
commitment to this role led him far and wide within the NMSDC network so that he could see firsthand the benefits of a diverse supply chain for both
corporations and suppliers alike, including the inaugural NMSDC Mission to China, NMSDC annual conferences and visits to numerous NMSDC regional
councils across the United States. Amidst all that he does, Terry actively engages with corporate executives and public policy makers to educate and
advocate the benefits of supplier diversity, as well as engage diverse suppliers to take advantage of these potential opportunities.
Beyond his work with CAMSC, as President of Topnotch Employment Services for the past 19 years, Terry has often given new immigrants their critical first
job, helping them launch careers as he grew his business to encompass recruitment services including IT, Engineering, Adminstrative, Customer
Serivce, and most recently Legal Placement Services. In 2009, Terry authored the book “Immigrating to Canada: A realistic Path to Success”, providing
guidance to new immigrants and helping him earn a People’s Choice award as a “Top 25 Immigrants to Canada” for that year. As the founding member of
the Guyana Canada Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce, Terry is able to advocate directly on the
market access benefits of working with diverse suppliers.
CATA Innovation through Technology Award: Contac Services
Awarded to an Aboriginal or Minority-owned business for the most innovative new technology-based product or service, which demonstrates
innovative talent in developing and successfully marketing a new concept, process or procedure. The product will have proven itself in operation and its
design and market success will have enhanced Canada’s international reputation for innovation and excellence.
It has been a dramatic and eventful year for Contac Services, with its launch of two highly successful technology solutions that are revolutionizing both
the travel and print fulfillment industries. In the travel sector, the eContac™ travel agent desktop and PURL platform delivers an incredible online travel
experience that is personalized and dynamically generated to meet each individual customer’s needs. Through partnerships with all major Canadian
airlines and travel companies, this platform has been deployed to over 5,000 travel agents in Canada, and soon in partnership with Emirates Airlines, to
thousands more around the world. Contac Services’ second solution, the Web Store Front, is an interactive web portal that benefits its corporate clients with
an end to end print fullfillment platform that protects client brand standards, automates the procurement process, manages inventory, controls print
quality and integrates distribution services by consolidating multiple orders into single shipments, minimizing costs and carbon footprint, to name but a
few of its many benefits. In the past 12 months, Contac`s innovative solutions have fuelled a 50% growth in revenue and created more than 35 jobs.
Led by Riaz Pisani and his talented team, Contac Services truly exemplifies business success through innovation and diversity.
Corporation of the Year: Hewlett-Packard (HP)
This award is for leaders who exemplify the very best in corporate practice when it comes to the promotion of supplier diversity. They constantly strive
for excellence, and pro-actively include certified Aboriginal and Minority suppliers in their procurement opportunities, assist in the development of
Aboriginal and Minority suppliers, and passionately promote supplier diversity and business development within their own organization as well as
the broader business community. HP is a global technology leader that has also been an influential leader in promoting the global benefits of a diverse supply chain
across Canada and several other continents. In 2010, HP procurement professionals participated in more than 20 major outreach events globally, resulting in hundreds
of direct appointments between diverse suppliers and HP procurement professionals, and corresponding invitations to sourcing initiatives.
Since CAMSC’s inception in late 2004, HP has invested in a wide range of activities to actively promote supplier diversity within HP Canada, and
across its Canadian supplier base. Internal advocates continue to promote and educate both internal HP Canada team members as well as large Tier 1
suppliers on the business benefits of supply chain diversity, while externally HP has proactively advocated for an inclusive and diverse supply
chain at various conferences including the Executive Diversity Forum of the Information Technology Association of Canada. HP’s early decision to invest
in several targeted spend areas for identification, inclusion and development of diverse suppliers has led to significant successes, resulting in
spend with certified aboriginal and minority suppliers with operations in Canada exceeding $58 million in 2010. This includes the growth and
development of TeamRecruiter.com’s business with HP over five years such that they are now considered a strategic staffing supplier to HP, including a
listing on the approved supplier list for both the US and Canada.