Mississauga resident named finalist in prestigious competition
Published October 11, 2019 at 5:35 pm
Hot on the heels of International Day of the Girl, news has broken that a life-long Mississauga resident and talented female entrepreneur is up for a prestigious award.
Sarah Konowal of Ripshot Enterprises is a finalist in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada category in the 16th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and will ultimately be a gold, silver, or bronze Stevie Award winner in the program.
The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honours women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run worldwide.
Ripshot says the gold, silver, and bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Friday, Nov. 15.
Nominated women executives and entrepreneurs from the U.S.A and several other countries are expected to attend. The event will be broadcast on Livestream.
More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration. Konowal is the co-founder & CEO of Ripshot Enterprises, a company that created a shot glass with a hermetically sealed lid to protect against all types of tampering and spillage.
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Ripshot says that in 2017, Konowal embarked on a journey to create Ripshot. Prior to this, she was the director of marketing & promotions for Metalworks Group of Companies.
During her 10 year career with Metalworks, she worked with high-profile acts such as Justin Bieber, T-Pain, Drake, The Cranberries, Rush and more.
In addition to working in the recording studio, Konowal helped launch the Private Career College, Metalworks Institute, which has since gone on to win Music School of the Year and grown from 18 full-time students to over 300.
Konowal and her team spent 2017 developing machinery to produce fully tamperproof and hermetically sealed shots. The company says the process proved difficult as there was no fill and sealing technology on the market capable of hermetically sealing alcohol. This allowed Ripshot to design a custom machine to measure exactly 1.5oz.
In April 2018, Ripshot hit the Canadian market.
Ripshot says award finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 150 business professionals around the world, working on seven juries.
This year’s Stevie Awards for Women in Business event will be complemented by a two-day educational and networking conference called the Women|Future Conference, also at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on November 14-15.
“On behalf of everyone that has been a part of the Ripshot journey, I cannot think of anyone who is surprised to see Sarah recognized as a top entrepreneur in this country. Hard work, determination and focus is merely the starting expectation she has for herself and others. What is truly impressive is how she balances sensitive issues inside and outside the company, constantly asking, ‘is this the right thing to do?’ not just for shareholders but all stakeholders, and a relentless drive to keep the enterprise-focused and moving forward” said Courtland Livesley-James, co-founder & chairman of Ripshot Enterprises.
“It’s a real honour to have worked with Sarah for the past number of years and I am thrilled to see where she will take this.”
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