Livestock Water Recycling Inc., a company based in Calgary, A.B., has won $100,000 in a contest dedicated to small businesses overcoming challenges.
With a Web site describing the company as “having a passion for manure and waste management,” Livestock Water Recycling has been working to treat livestock manure. It uses a special water recycling system to get fertilizer nutrients from manure. Yet it faced a problem – government regulations are rigid when it comes to importing livestock manure, and it also needed to upgrade its research lab to meet commercial-grade, government standards.
It submitted its story to the Challenge Contest this spring, beating out about 1,000 other small businesses for a $100,000 grant from Telus. Livestock Water Recycling will be using its prize money to improve its R&D lab, as well as to make forays into international markets.
In March, Telus Corp. and the Globe and Mail newspaper announced they’d be launching this year’s edition of the Challenge Contest. The contest asks small businesses to outline specific problems they face in their work. Businesses then have to explain how they would solve their problems with the prize money – all within 800 words or less. The idea is to give a small business a boost to help it succeed, as well as to share their experiences with the small business community.
Livestock Water Recycling was one of four semi-finalists invited to present to a panel of nine judges, made up of entrepreneurs, Globe and Mail business reporters, and Telus business experts.
“We’re immensely grateful for this grant that will allow us to innovate in Canada and enter international markets,” said Ross Thurston, president of Livestock Water Recycling, in a statement.
“This represents a huge vote of confidence in the future of our business,” he said, thanking Telus and the Globe.
This is the third year Telus and the Globe have been running the competition. Last year’s winner was Glassopolis Inc., a seller and distributor of fire-resistant glass.