Kim Rudd, owner of Cobourg’s Willis College, is
The 2011 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award Winner!
The 2011 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award Winner!
(Click to enlarge)
Kim Rudd, owner of Cobourg's Willis College, is the winner for HKMB Hub Impact Award, part of the 2011 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards. The purpose of the Awards is to provide national recognition to Canada's women entrepreneurs, whose successful businesses and achievements contribute so much to the Canadian and global economies as well as to their communities.
According to RBC, the HKMB Hub Impact Award salutes an entrepreneur's impact on the local economy through such things as creating jobs, encouraging others in the community to do the same and or encouraging the economic prosperity and development of local citizens. The winner was unveiled during a black-tie gala at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel on Nov. 28.
Ms. Rudd said it is quite an honor to be chosen out of 3000 nominees from across the country. She said passion is an easy word to describe what drives her quest to succeed.
"But it's more than that," said Ms. Rudd. "It's a driving need to create something, to find your limits and then push yourself beyond them."
Acting
as a mentor to her staff, helping them grow, empowering them to take on
challenges and find solutions has played a huge role in the success of
her business, a private career college with courses in business, police
foundations, esthetics, network administration, social services, and
more, she said."A successful entrepreneur is not a micro-manager," she said. "Although it takes quite a while, if you mentor staff successfully, if you pass on the skills needed to both create new ideas and grow the business, it's good for everybody. Staff become excited about helping to create something new and are capable of carrying on even when the boss is not there."
That was the case earlier this year, when Ms. Rudd handed over the day-to-day operation of Willis College to what she referred to as a "fabulous staff“ in order to devote all her time and energy as the Liberal candidate in the May 2 federal election. She had complete confidence in college staff, "they didn't need me," to carry on while she campaigned, albeit unsuccessfully, to unseat the Conservative incumbent.
She added her amazing staff also allows her the freedom to engage in community volunteer work such as chairwomen of the area physician recruitment committee, the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce, and as a Cobourg Rotary Club member, among others.
Ms.
Rudd said, without the close-knit relationship of family and Willis
College staff, she would never be able to follow her passion to create
a more entrepreneur-friendly environment across Northumberland.The time-honoured adage that states, "If you want something done, ask a busy person," is a fair description of Ms. Rudd. To this end, she said she will put her name in the hat for the Liberal Party's national executive board's national membership secretary position at a party convention slated for mid-January.
"I've been an advocate for entrepreneurship my whole life and we (Northumberland County) have a major problem with unemployment," she said. "We need to be more creative in the area of job creation and I want to be part of a government and a movement that makes it happen."
For more information on the 2011 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards, visit www.theawards.ca.
Kim and her husband Tom celebrate her win