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Mark Ryski, chief executive of Edmonton-based HeadCount Corp., has seen the company he founded in 2003 grow 55% in the past three years with just 12 employees.

But his retail traffic and sales analysis firm isn’t the only one doing well. The city’s small and medium business community has been quietly thriving – even if it doesn’t always get the headlines.

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“I think Edmonton does walk in the shadow of Calgary and generally entrepreneurs [in Alberta] walk in the shadow of oil and gas,” Mr. Ryski says. “Instead of ranting and complaining about that . I think the business community is alive and well and thriving.”

Edmonton ranks ahead of all but Regina in the largest Canadian cities for a second year in the annual ranking of entrepreneurial cities by FP/Canadian Federation of Independent Business, called Communities in Bloom, and in fifth position overall among all municipalities across the country.