North End Spring Owner Debbie Zajaros has been awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 award by Women Business Owners of Manitoba.
Nominated anonymously, Zajaros is one of five winners of this year’s award. Presented annually, the Entrepreneur of the Year award is presented by the Women Business Owners of Manitoba to any woman in Manitoba who exemplifies leadership success in their profession.
Zajaros joined North End Spring in 1993 and purchased the company from her father in 2006. North End Spring is a fourth generation aftermarket distributor and service provider specializing in suspensions, springs and attaching hardware for trailers, recreational vehicles, and light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks. From its Winnipeg, Manitoba location, North End Spring distributes parts as far as northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, and as far south as North Dakota and Minnesota.
The company has 19 employees.
Zajaros is expectedly thrilled by the accolade.
“It means a lot to be recognized with this award because lets face it, the trucking industry is a tough place for a woman in a traditionally man’s world,” she says.
She says awards like this also are a good way to motivate other woman to strive for success in leadership, management and business.
“I feel it’s important to show other women and girls that they shouldn’t limit themselves,” she says. “It has been a hard road with lots of obstacles in the past ten years that I have owned the company, but it has grown every year including the recession. It’s always nice when someone pats you on the back and says all of the struggles have been worth it and you are on the right path.”
It’s also one of the reasons she’s working with the Manitoba Trucking Association to develop a scholarship for women in trucking as a way of paying back “the people who gave me a chance when they didn’t have to.”
