2020 Rising Star – Staff Shop
The 2020 Rising Star is awarded to a certified WBE, who in the first 3 years of their certification, has demonstrated significant achievements or progress. This award was sponsored by IBM Canada and presented by Michael Bourne, Senior Manager – GBS, Caribbean Sourcing, Financial Operations, Supplier Diversity and Ombudsman. This year’s Rising Star recipient was Staff Shop Inc. Accepting the award on behalf of the entire Staff Shop team was Jennifer Menard, Founder and CEO. Staff Shop’s niche was heavily focused on temporary, contract and direct hire Hospitality & Event staffing prior to COVID – proudly supporting flagship events in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. The pandemic virtually shut down the industry overnight, severely impacting Staff Shop’s business and employees. However, Jennifer and her team modeled resilience and grit by shifting their focus to staffing essential services, providing payroll solutions, consulting, cleaning/disinfecting, PPE, essential resources, and a 10% profit share referral program across North America. They invested in their assets resulting in not only keeping the business alive, but expanding across 9 additional Canadian provinces, the US and the Caribbean, experiencing unprecedented growth.