Saskatoon Greater Chamber of Commerce held its annual Saskatoon Achievement in Business Excellence Awards and Gala at the TCU Place in Saskatoon earlier this spring. Some of the brightest names in Saskatoon’s business community were honoured, and a familiar face on the Indigenous health circuit was victorious.

Joel Pedersen with his SABEX award for his business, Fitness 2J2. Photo by Randeen Durette, Facebook

Presented by Nutrien, the award gala is a “celebration of the exceptional businesses growing and operating in the Saskatoon region,” according to a news release form the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, which produces and hosts the event.

All the finalists are reviewed and processed by KPMG, then delivered to“independent and anonymous judging panels. There are nine categories, which include awards for customer service, growth and community involvement.

Fitness 2J2 was the only First Nations Business to be a finalist this year’s SABEX, and received the award for Community Involvement. Joel Pedersen is the founder of Fitness 2J2, a socially responsible community based health and wellness company.

“Part of our giving back is through our new Fitness DVD’s and downloads, along with some new technical sporting apparel. 5% of proceeds goes directly for underprivileged youth so everyone gets to be active.”

Joel, a proud member of the Fond du Lac First Nation and associated to the MIkisew FN, lives in Saskatoon. He received the award from his Honour Don Morgan from the Provincial Government.

“An incredible honour to receive this award on behalf of all the instructors, volunteers and supporters of 2J2 programming, and for Indigenous entrepreneurs. I have been fortunate for the opportunities to bring health and wellness programming to more than 30 communities, programming with more than 30,000 youth and adults over the past eight years,” said Pedersen. “We were finalists in this category a couple years ago with SABEX. It is always a great event to see the amazing stories of business and entrepreneurs from our community that drives commence and supports community.”