On October 19, the Long-range Small Business Week Committee held their Annual Business Awards Dinner at the Caribou Curling Club in Stephenville.  The sell-out event hosted many business owners/operators, along with industry stakeholders, to pay homage to their efforts throughout the past year. Qalipu First Nation is very active in providing business support to member businesses throughout our regions and, as such, are very proud to present an award to one Qalipu Business Network member each year from the Stephenville and surrounding area.

After careful consideration, this year’s Qalipu Business Network Award was presented to Cecil Ryan of Amgwes Safety Incorporated.  Amgwes Safety Inc. is a certified NCSO / CSO safety management & consulting firm located in Stephenville. Mr. Ryan, owner/operator, of the firm and has over 34 years in the construction industry, with the last 20 of those heavily focussed on safety.

Mr. Ryan started his company 4 years ago.  He said, “I anticipated 50 clients the first year, 100 the second and 150 during the third.  Amgwes safety served 180 clients in the first year, 410 in the second and today has over 1000 from many different parts of the island.”

Mr. Ryan is a proud member of the Qalipu First Nations Band. The word Amgwes is a Mi’kmaq word that means first as in “First and Foremost”