It was a triumphant night for Ottawa’s business community at EY’s annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards gala in Toronto this week.

Two Ottawa area entrepreneurs were celebrated among 40 Ontario finalists who gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and one of them – Kinaxis CEO John Sicard – walked away a double winner.

“This is a celebration of Canadian innovation and I’m proud to be part of the story,” Mr. Sicard said as he was recognized as the overall winner in EY's Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Ontario program. “I am humbled by it.”

KInaxis CEO John Sicard. (Photo by Karen Lloyd)

Additionally, Kinaxis – which develops cloud-based supply chain management software – was one of four finalists in EY’s Enterprise Technology category.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” says Ian Sherman, a tax market leader in EY’s Ottawa office and EY Canada’s leader of government and public sector tax. He was one of 1,400 guests to attend the event on Tuesday night along with past participants in the program, EY employees, families and EY Ottawa EOY champion, Matt Pearson.

Mr. Sherman said he is equally proud of Canopy Growth founder Bruce Linton who was among four finalists in the health care category for his unique work with medical marijuana.

According to EY, this year’s Ontario entrepreneur of the year finalists employ more than 13,000 people and generate in excess of $3 billion in annual revenues.

Mr. Sicard will be back on stage in Toronto on Nov. 30 to compete with winners from Québec, Atlantic, Prairies and Pacific for the Canadian Entrepreneur Of The Year title. The Canadian winner will go on to compete with winners from more than 50 countries for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year, in June 2018.

– By Karen Lloyd