A few years ago, Anne Sellmer decided to follow her passion and established cōchu Chocolatier in Calgary. Today, the business has grown so much that she is looking at the next step in its evolution. “We make boutique luxury chocolates that are award-winning. Since we launched, we’ve won 87 national and international awards,” said Sellmer. Along the way, the company has also won numerous medals at the World Finals. It’s been named 6-Star Grand Master Chocolatier and one of the top 10 chocolatiers in North America.

In a recent meeting with a veteran business owner, whose company we’ll call ChangeCo, the conversation quickly turned to his vision of significantly expanding his business over the next three years. This is not an unusual topic these days, as owners of a certain age decide they have one last big push in them to grow their business beyond its current boundaries.

Elevated oil prices these days are helping lift Alberta’s economy, not just in the energy sector but by extension to many other businesses throughout the province. “And we are seeing in Alberta some really nice diversification into that tech sector,” says Todd Hirsch, Economist & Director, Energy Transition Centre. “Alberta I think is in not bad shape at all business wise and economy wise.”

Wayne Grund and his wife Debra started Surface Hair Care in 2008 and today the Saskatchewan-based company has more than 50,000 salons in the U.S, and Canada featuring its products. As it celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, it will also celebrate having sold more than 20 million bottles of hair care. And a recent partnership agreement with investors will fuel additional growth for the company.

Having gone through the recent sale of a group of companies, entrepreneur Jordan Fraser said people thinking of selling their company need to be prepared for an exit. “It’s not something that you can just choose to do. We had been thinking about this for 18 months and we were able to get a lot of checks and balances in place so that the due diligence . . . we were prepared for,” said Fraser.

Over a period of six years, the Bennett family, based in Atlantic Canada, sold a number of companies under its umbrella group, learning many lessons along the way. In 2013, Cathy Bennett was elected to public office. As a Member of the Newfoundland & Labrador House of Assembly, she served in Cabinet as Minister of Finance, President of the Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. For 35 years, Bennett worked with a group of McDonald’s franchise restaurants in Newfoundland - 17 years as the owner.