The winners of this year’s Meridian Small Business Big Impact Awards
This year we awarded $150,000 in total prize money
It’s time to celebrate the winners of our annual Small Business Big Impact Awards! Once again, the list of nominees was truly impressive, making it a difficult task for our judging committee to select winners.
We’re awarding a total of $150,000, including $50,000 for the winning business in our contest categories: Community and Environment.
Community Impact awards
These businesses are making a positive impact for people facing barriers to equal access and opportunity due to discrimination. When businesses offer their support to equity-deserving groups they can make a huge impact of the overall well-being of their communities.
First place: 541 Eatery & Exchange, Hamilton
541 Eatery & Exchange is a non-profit pay-it-forward cafe working to help neighbours overcome the impacts of isolation, poverty, and injustice. How? By cultivating a community of mutuality and welcoming all neighbours inclusive of their circumstances, identity, and status.
Awarded $50,000
Second place: First Fish, Toronto
First Fish is a provider of wild-caught seafood and a non-profit that invests in building sustainable fisheries in remote communities. After covering costs, First Fish uses any surplus to help support the growth of the fisheries through training, equipment, capacity building, and exploratory research. Surplus funds are also used for local activities that benefit the communities, such as arts and tourism developments.
Awarded $15,000
Third place: Parkdale Project Read, Toronto
Parkdale Project Read provides a Literacy and Basic Skills program that builds a range of skills, knowledge, and competencies so that learners gain personal independence, expand their employment opportunities, or pursue further education. The organization supports learners at different levels of literacy and also offers an Academic Upgrading Program.
Awarded $5,000
Environment Impact awards
These businesses are actively working to minimize the environmental impact of their operations and products, as well as businesses developing solutions that have a positive impact on the environment for others.
First place: Rethink Resource, Toronto
As North America's most comprehensive and environmentally friendly waste management company, Rethink Resource is on a mission to reposition waste as a valuable resource. The company provides innovative, data-driven solutions to complex waste challenges across all industries, including foodservice, film, and construction.
Awarded $50,000
Second place: EarthSuds, Whitby
EarthSuds believes in a plastic-free economy where sustainability does not compromise quality. The company’s ambitious goal is to replace all single-use plastic bathroom products with sustainable EarthSuds alternatives. EarthSuds achieves all three dimensions of sustainability: economically it generates and re-invests profits; socially it employs adults with developmental disabilities; and environmentally it eliminates single-use plastics.
Awarded $15,000
Third place: Ouroboros Deconstruction, Toronto
With an innovative and planet-friendly mission, Ouroboros approaches each project with the same goal: to efficiently deconstruct a home so that the value of extracted materials may be recovered and their utility extended. The process ensures that these materials remain within the supply chain and out of landfill.
Awarded $5,000
Additional awards
Picture Show
Award for the most nominations: Toronto Outdoor Picture Show
Toronto Outdoor Picture Show is a charitable organization dedicated to bringing high quality, diverse, and engaging outdoor film programming to communities across the city. The festival’s program includes a combination of popular and critically-acclaimed feature films from around the world alongside local and Canadian short and feature films that celebrate excellent homegrown talent.
Awarded $5,000
Good Food Co-operative
Award for top co-operative: Muskoka North Good Food Co-operative
Muskoka North Good Food Co-operative places community benefit alongside profitability by connecting local farmers to a growing consumer base through a grocery retail market, café, and commercial production kitchen. As a community-owned grocery store and food hub, the co-operative provides sustainable, ethical, and good food to the communities it serves.
Awarded $5,000