One of Business in Vancouver’s most recent Top Forty under 40 recipients has won the Business Development Bank of Canada’s 2011 Young Entrepreneur Award (YEA) for British Columbia.
BDC will award one YEA for each Canadian province at a May 3 ceremony in Saskatoon. It chose Appnovation owner Arnold Leung as the YEA winner for B.C. Leung, 25, is the youngest winner in the country.
Leung’s Appnovation employs 30 staff and generated $1.5 million in revenue in 2010. He expects revenue to jump to $2.2 million in 2010 thanks to a spike in demand from companies that want smartphone apps, particularly ones that run on multiple platforms.
“We have a new specialization called sprout core,” Leung said. “That allows us to build mobile applications that are cross-platform. They work on iPhones, Android devices and BlackBerries.”
Much of Leung’s success so far has come from creating websites for companies such as NBC Universal, MuchMusic and the Canadian Cancer Society.
The BDC awards go to entrepreneurs under 36 who demonstrate business success, community involvement and innovation.
“It’s very exciting to be selected,” Leung told BIV May 2. “When I was at UBC’s Sauder School I was part of a team that organized the Enterprize Business Plan Competition, which was sponsored by BDC. Now, I’m winning an award from them. This is just great.”
Glen Korstrom