Local Businesses Honoured with Awards from Community Futures Oxford

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Wednesday, 30 June 2021 12:17

Udderly Ridiculous in Bright, Kynd Beauty Spa in Woodstock and the Tillsonburg BIA were the big winners in the annual awards from Community Futures Oxford.

OXFORD COUNTY - Community Futures Oxford handed out a couple of awards at their recent Annual General Meeting this week.

They presented three awards for the 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Community Economic Development Project of the Year.

Cherly Haskett, CEO of Udderly Ridiculous says she was honoured to win the Entrepreneur of the year award.

"When I brought my plan to expand our ice cream across Canada, Luigi and the team were there to support making it happen. Little did we know the full weight of the impacts of COVID and mid-stream we pivoted our strategy to shift towards having a strong local presence by creating our own on farm agri-tourism location here in Bright, On. It has been a huge undertaking and because of the support provided by Oxford Community Futures we will be able to launch our Phase #1 opening to the public July of 2021! We have been able to hire locally, work with local producers and artisans and we hope to be part of the COVID recovery efforts in our community."

Owner of the Kynd Beauty Spa in Woodstock Kirsten Young is the young Entrepreneur of the year. She is grateful for the help she received from Community Futures Oxford along the way.

"Every entrepreneur begins with a dream, a dream of doing what they love and putting their heart and soul into it all! Kynd Beauty Spa was my dream; the esthetics side came easy but the business aspect was another story! Approaching Lindsay Wilson from Community Futures Oxford in 2018 was a major part of my journey to success! She is extremely helpful, caring, knowledgeable and shares in all of the excitement with you! Thank you so much for everything, Lindsay!

During the very first lockdown from COVID-19, many business owners lives were changing and we had no idea where life would be taking us. It was through this that The Heart of Oxford was born! I created these Instagram giveaways to draw attention to the absolutely incredible variety that our home has to offer! Two HUGE Instagram Giveaways with over 150 local Oxford County businesses involved and a total of $18,000 in prizes we spread the word far and wide and helped businesses through such a difficult time! Oxford County is my home and I am truly passionate about helping all of these amazing businesses thrive!"

The Community Economic Development Project of the Year went to the Tillsonburg BIA, 2020 Downtown Patio Program. Executive Director Mark Renaud says they were just happy to help local restaurants serve the pubic again.

"2020 posed many challenges that required creative solutions. We were proud to work with our BIA Members and community to create spaces in the core that not only supported the struggling Hospitality Sector, but encouraged the community to Support Local first as they EAT SHOP LIVE AND EXPLORE Downtown Tillsonburg."

Last year Community Futures Oxford had 65 loans disbursed in the amount of $3,409,847 with 323 jobs created and maintained. They're also responsible 19 Community Economic Development projects in the amount of $127,944 with 39 partners that also invested $186,524.