Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. has been nominated for the Young Entrepreneur Award by Alberta Business Awards of Distinction, in partnership with the Alberta Chambers of Commerce.
“We received the nomination as a finalist right before Christmas – it was a nice Christmas present,” said President Steven Tannas.
The family run business based out of Cremona specializes in vegetation and wildlife surveys, environmental assessments and planning, reclamation, landscape design and rangeland and ecological management planning – and the business has seen growth every year despite the economic downturn, according to Tannas.
“I think it is just an affirmation that we are doing well and our business is going in the right direction,” said Vice-President Eileen Tannas, who is also married to Steven.
Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. company overview is to provide environmental consulting services to industry, government and individuals in Western Canada. The company has worked on projects for Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park and with Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park Foundation.
The husband and wife business partners said it would be a great honour to win the award.
“There is some good competition, the other candidates are very good candidates,” Steven said.
The company is running against three other Alberta businesses including the SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism from Calgary, another business from Lethbridge and another one from Edmonton.
Steven and Eileen both said they love working together as a family but, as with any business it can be challenging.
“We worked it out so everyone has their own responsibilities and divisions, so we help out when it is needed – it is really good,” Eileen said.
“It is a lot of fun having family working together – you get too see your family more often (and) it is more flexible,” Steven said.
Steven has knowledge in family run businesses, after working for his parent’s business in his home town.
“We have been working with my family in this type of field and when we got married, we wanted to go in our direction and create something of our own so we decided to start up a consultation firm,” Steven said.
Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. was founded in 2011 and according to the business owners, has been going well for the past couple of years.
“We’ve been involved regionally throughout different projects and we have done a lot of ranch plans for ranchers throughout the region,” Steven explained.
“We are just hoping to keep everyone busy and keep up with all of our work,” Eileen said.
The couple said they are excited for the upcoming projects this year.
“You don’t know about the projects until a couple months before you start them, so that is always exciting,” Steven explained.
Some of the upcoming projects include some windmill projects and working with the Department of Defense.
“It is some really neat and challenging work. I like to push the limit to work on difficult and challenging projects and we have some very unique ones this year,” Steven exclaimed.
The Award Ceremony will be held in Edmonton on Feb. 26 at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel, where the winners will be announced.
If they won, the Tannas’ said they would be “really, really happy.”
For more information on the Cremona business, go to tannasenvironmental.com
