From the age of 14, Melissa Evans dreamed of owning her own restaurant. Eight years ago, after many years of training and working her way through various jobs in the hospitality industry, her dream became a reality. She took over an existing restaurant in Northbrook, revamping it into a homespun family eatery now known as Addison’s.

It’s an old adage in life and in business that sometimes something really good can come out of trying circumstances. For Brockville native Dale Donnelly, when a long-term position came to an end, one that seemed like it could be the job from which he retired, he simply ‘pivoted’ and chose to become his own boss.

Marlene Sweet had dutifully worked for Mayhew Jewellers for nearly 30 years when owner John Mayhew decided it was time to retire. She had worked hard in every aspect of the business, developing a loyal customer base along the way. For a short period of time she worried that for the first time in ages, she may have to dust of her resume and hit the job-search trail. But knowing how valuable she was to the success of the business, Mayhew chose instead to make Sweet an offer he knew she would jump at.

For Pasta Tavola, Victoria and Paula Watts’ pasta manufacturing & fresh food company, location is essential. In Belleville, part of the Bay of Quinte Region, the sisters have been able to affordably purchase their own retail and processing premises; even better, they are situated between—and in close proximity to—Ontario’s largest markets for wholesale food processing: Ottawa and Toronto.

Welcome to Canopy Growth Corporation, where exponential growth has framed the future of what started as a small start-up and has since grown into a multibillion dollar, TSX-listed company. Headquartered in the town of Smiths Falls’ iconic industrial building, the former Hershey Chocolate factory,  Canopy Growth and its first national cannabis brand, Tweed, have  established a cutting-edge business that is shaping the future of the marijuana industry in Canada and around the world.

As entrepreneurs go, Shahram Yousefi is something of a paradox – a “black sheep,” as he puts it. Most entrepreneurs hope to strike it rich. Not that he’d mind, probably, but first and foremost, the professor in Queen’s department of electrical and computer engineering is looking for solutions to problems. Entrepreneurs are single-minded. Once they have an idea, they clamp on like an angry pit bull, to the exclusion of everything else. He has not one but two seemingly different ideas, both of which he is passionate about. And, in a world where new ideas and products are hailed for their “disruptive” potential, he says that, at the root of what he does is “my passion for harmony.” Speaking by phone from California where he is currently on sabbatical, the passion of his work comes through. And Innovation Park is helping him realize it.

ATHENS - Farmersville Community Abattoir (FCA) couldn't be more central and convenient within Leeds Grenville. Located at 63 Addison Road just minutes from Athens, the newly opened abattoir is doing a lot of business. FCA is a not-for-profit corporation conceived in February 2016 to address an urgent need in Leeds and Grenville for livestock slaughter services to local farmers.

A mouth-watering destination in Lennox and Addington County. Entrepreneurship is all about combining passion with opportunity and demand. Throw in a lot of hard work, persistence and a desire to please your clients and customers and you have the recipe for a successful business enterprise. For Trever and Donna Abrams, ‘recipe’ could not be a more apt term, as the couple recently turned their homespun and hearty baking recipes into the couple’s first business – Abrams Bakery, in the village of Newburgh.

McCormick’s Country Store’s ability to adapt is key to its continued success in L&A County. Lindsay Noyes and her brother Justin Martin have spent a significant portion of their lives within the inviting and homey confines of McCormick’s Country Store in Camden East. As teenagers they worked in the store, which has been both an important business and social hub of that part of Stone Mills Township and Lennox & Addington County for decades. After managing the store for a couple of years under its previous owners, Mike and Amy Martin, Noyes and her brother bought the venerable entrepreneurial institution in 2003 and have been operating it ever since.

Guildine Industries is proof that you can be a world-class, industry-leading manufacturer in a highly technical and specialized field and yet still be based in the lush, beautiful rural landscape of Southeastern Ontario. The firm will mark an incredible 60 years of operation in 2017, having been founded by four British researchers in the Town of Smiths Falls back in 1957.