OBAA 2018 Finalists: Young Entrepreneur Award

Since 1983, The Ontario Business Achievement Awards (OBAAs) have been the most recognized industry gala in the province with a single focus on celebrating business success. Throughout the evening, we will celebrate our spectacular Ontario business community, highlighting the incredible innovations and achievements of each one of our 2018 OBAA finalists. Join us on Wednesday, November 21 as we reveal our winners at the Liberty Grand in Toronto!

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Presenting: The Young Entrepreneur Award

The Young Entrepreneur Award recognizes a young Ontario entrepreneur who has successfully built a unique and game-changing venture.

Finalist #1: iLobby Corp

Industry: Technology/Software solutions

When did your organization first open its doors? What motivated you to get into business?

The iLobby Corp. story began when INKAS® Group of Companies contracted a team of developers to code a unique tablet-based visitor kiosk to be used within the company’s main entrance. After successful initial release at INKAS®, iLobby undertook the process of rewriting the platform to support multiple clients and iLobby’s SaaS platform soft launched in late 2015.

What does being an OBAA finalist mean to you?

We are honored to be considered as an OBAA finalist. Being nominated in the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award” category strengthens my ambitions to push further and aim for more business achievements. This would not have happened without the strong support from my team, their hard work and consistent effort to make iLobby™ the best visitor management system on the market today – and that’s definitely reflected within the end product. I hope this nomination will inspire and encourage my team to keep delivering great results no matter what obstacles they face.

How does your organization positively contribute to Ontario’s economy?

Over the last year iLobby Corp. dramatically scaled its operations and expanded its sales department as well as doubled its development team. iLobby Corp. is focused on recruiting highly-skilled local talent that is eager to grow with the platform hand-in-hand. Based on current projects, the company expects to grow at an equal or greater rate in the coming year creating even more career opportunities within Ontario.

What can we expect to see from your organization in the years to come?

iLobby Corp. is poised to become the leading provider within its space in the near future. In the future, the company is aiming to deploy new smart solutions that are complementary to the iLobby™ platform and further enhance the security, efficiency and overall user-friendliness of businesses within many sectors and on a global scale.

Connect with iLobby Corp on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube.

“iLobby’s core competency lies in our ability to offer a custom-fitted solution to almost any client, from SMBs to Fortune 500 corporations, governments and schools; iLobby develops complex approaches which efficiently solve and
optimize both day-to-day operations as well as macro-level concerns within an organization of any size.”

Ariel Mashiyev, CEO

Finalist #2: Stathletes

Industry: Technology/Data analytics

When did your organization first open its doors? What motivated you to get into business?

We originally were working on the idea as students in 2008. Realizing there was a business case to pursue, we started pitching Stathletes in 2011. We opened our first office in 2014 and secured our first major client. The cofounders, Meghan John and Neil, were always interested in entrepreneurship, technology and innovation. The idea of creating a sports analytics company combined their passions, so it was a perfect confluence of their backgrounds and skill set. We sought to disrupt the professional hockey industry and their use of performance data in scouting, training, and managing of teams.

What does being an OBAA finalist mean to you?

It’s a reflection of our team. It is truly a group effort to build a company and I believe it is shared amongst everyone in our group. It’s incredibly humbling to look at the arc of Stathletes and be a part of such a hard-working, determined group.

How does your organization positively contribute to Ontario’s economy?

We definitely contribute jobs but we seek to contribute careers. We have had over 5 employees receive promotions with NHL teams. We are very proud of their achievements and seek to foster growth within our team focusing on reaching stretch goals both inside and outside our office. We have built to a head count of 64 (FT&PT) and continue to work with universities (such as University of Toronto and Brock) on a wide variety of research projects to advance technology and innovation. This contributes to intellectual capital both inside our organization and surrounding research institutions.

What can we expect to see from your organization in the years to come?

From a growth perspective, Stathletes has a plan to be scale into a $50m top line company in 3 years. Expanding our office in the attractive Toronto market and continuing to scale in Niagara, Stathletes wants to attract a larger technical team to continue to grow in the hockey and gambling market. With high profile partnership, Stathletes believes it can change the broader sports analytics market and grow to 150 employees in the same time frame.

Connect with Stathletes on Twitter, and LinkedIn.

“I truly believe that Ontario is one of the best places in the world to start a business. Leveraging the technical
backgrounds and Canadian work ethic, Stathletes has not only been able to compete but win on a global scale in the sports market.”

Meghan Chayka, Co-Founder

Join us on Wednesday, November 21 as we reveal our winners at the Liberty Grand in Toronto!