Niverville’s Colleen Dyck, maker of GORP clean energy bars, has received a prestigious national award, Mompreneur of the Year. The award, created by Maria Locker, founder and CEO of Mompreneur Showcase Group, recognizes the achievements of the estimated 17,000 women and mothers across Canada who run their own businesses. Of these, 124 women were nominated this year.
The five finalists come from all over Canada, including one woman from B.C., two women from Ontario, and two women from Manitoba. Each was scored based on five different categories.
“After rigorous review from a panel of eight esteemed judges… and their in-depth seven-page essays, Colleen came out on top,” says Locker of the selection process. “Her company, GORP clean energy bars, stood out among the crowd for growth and scalability, and inspiration to others.”
Dyck is no stranger to winning awards, having also received honours from the Great Manitoban Food Fight and Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers. GORP has been recognized as the Manitoba Food Processors Company of the Year, as well as Get Outside Magazine’s Best Sports Nutrition Food of the Year for 2015 and 2016.
Winning this award is different, though.
“When my name was called, it was like every conflicted emotion I’d ever felt about being a working mom, every memory of angst, all these feelings collided into that one moment,” says Dyck. “I was extremely humbled and honoured to be the one to accept the award on behalf of all the working moms out there… [it is] a huge honour
that has reaffirmed to me how important it is to support and recognize each other.”
Dyck attended the ceremony in Toronto alongside her daughter, Georgia. “She saw overwhelmingly how important it is to just ‘do it afraid.’ That being brave isn’t something you do when you are confident. Being brave is something you do when you’re afraid!”
When Dyck first starting making the bars, they were only meant for herself, to give her energy while training for triathlons. Friends and family tasted the bars, and soon asked her to make more. Shortly after, Dyck, who had taken entrepreneurship in college, decided to start her own company.
It took eight years just for research and development. As of today, GORP has been in stores for more than three years.
In that small amount of time, the bars have caught on in popularity. Professional sports teams like the Jets, the Goldeyes, and the Bombers all buy GORP bars for their players. GORP is also pleased to sponsor Levi Nadlersmith, a Manitoban teen who recently competed in cross-country skiing at the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
The company is located in Niverville and employs four full-time and fifteen to twenty part-time staff.
Sarah Hunt has worked at GORP for a year and a half. “Colleen has created this amazing culture of people,” she says. “Working at GORP is healthy in all ways, fun, and you are faced with challenges that allow you to get out of your comfort zone.”
“Our next goal is to explore the U.S. market,” Dyck adds, pointing out that growth and innovation are keys to any successful company. “We are hoping to have our U.S. packaging ready to go by June of this year.”
