EY’s Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year finalists are a mix of old and new

Credit: Courtesy Organika Health Products

Past BCBusiness 30 Under 30 winners make up a good portion of the list

When browsing over the list of EY’s Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year finalists, it’s hard not to feel a little bit like the hipster who actually saw that super popular band play at a tiny bar years ago. 

After all, the list is dotted with past BCBusiness 30 Under 30 winners who have been able to keep growing their companies and endeavours. 

In 2018, that was Fresh Prep co-founders Dhruv Sood and Husein Rahemtulla who—with co-founder Becky Brauer—had just launched their meal kit delivery service. Recently, the company raised $21 million in Series B funding.  

That same year, we were inspired by the story of Sam Mod, who was something of a fish out of water when he got to Victoria at age 25 from his native India. Now, Freshworks Studio (which he co-founded with Rohit Boolchandani) is reportedly generating over $4 million a year in revenue.

Aaron Chin was on the cover of the 2020 edition of 30 Under 30 as his company, Organika Health Products, was able to thrive in the pandemic. Madison Guy and her education consulting platform GrantMe also made the issue that year and has since grown exponentially, almost doubling revenue. 

There’s no shortage of well-established entrepreneurs on the list either. Previous EOY winner Hamed Shahbazi is back on the list (with a different company) and names like Andrew McLeod (Certn) and Anna Sainsbury (GeoComply) have made their presence felt on the province in recent years.

See here for the full list.