The 2022 Prairies Region Family Enterprise of the Year Award Goes to Vesta Wealth Partners Ltd.

OAKVILLE, ON – December 6, 2022

The 2022 Prairies Region Family Enterprise of the Year Award (FEYA) winner has just been announced. Congratulations to this year’s recipient, Vesta Wealth Partners Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta and the Fortmuller family!

The Regional Family Enterprise of the Year Awards are given annually by Family Enterprise Canada to celebrate and promote the achievements of Canadian family businesses and the considerable contribution they make to both their local communities and our national economy.

“It’s always a pleasure discovering and honoring successful family businesses that serve as examples of how to integrate best practices that benefit the business, the family and their surrounding community. Congratulations Vesta Wealth Partners and the Fortmuller family,” says Bill Brushett, President & CEO, Family Enterprise Canada.

Vesta Wealth Partners met all of the criteria and more to win this year’s Prairies Region FEYA. Vesta Wealth Partners is a family office offering a unique array of active, passive, factor-based and alternative investment solutions. Working closely with their clients to construct optimal portfolios, they function as an outsourced Chief Investment Officer with partial to fully discretionary mandates.

The company has a rich history dating back to Germany in the late 1800’s. The original business founder, Hermann Bahlsen, bought the “Hannovische Keks Fabric” (Hannover Cookie Company) in 1889 and renamed the company H. Bahlsen Keks Fabric. He developed the assembly line for baking cookies in 1900, notably beating Henry Ford to this manufacturing innovation by five years. The company later became Bahlsen Cookies and continues to be managed by members of the Bahlsen family today. Dagmar Fortmuller is a fourth-generation member of the Bahlsen family.

Vesta Wealth Partners is the most current project that this family has undertaken. The vision of Max Fortmuller, Vesta’s CEO and a fifth generation family member, was — rather than viewing the business as an end in itself — to create a wealth management platform to manage the family’s wealth and build the Fortmuller family’s human capital and experience as owners and managers, as stewards of wealth and as innovators. The Vesta platform enables family members to pursue their individual and collective passions inside and beyond Vesta.

By leveraging and scaling the family’s investment platform — which emphasizes the advantages of long (potentially generational) investment horizons with a keen eye on risk — Vesta offers a quality institutional investment approach to other family offices and individuals. Vesta’s goal is to be a trusted advisor within the family/client ecosystem. One of their observations is that, unless families understand, accept and are willing to prepare for the responsibilities of ownership and stewardship, the advisor/client relationship will struggle. For that reason, Vesta is particularly drawn to serve those family clients who are similarly empowered in the way that Dagmar has empowered her children to prepare, innovate, gain experience and pursue their passions.

The most significant quality that enabled this family to flourish for so many generations is innovation; including the innovations required to rebuild after the war, to build the assembly line, to support their staff and clients through countless marketing innovations, global expansions, expanding product lines, strategic global brand acquisitions and, more recently, pivoting to the building of an investment-focused business. Innovation is what every generation, since the founder, has strived for — to deliver something that didn’t exist before and to continue building until the goals are achieved.

To learn more about Vesta Wealth Partners Ltd., please visit VestaWealth.partners.

Each regional FEYA Recipient is considered for the National Family Enterprise of the Year Award chosen by a selection committee and presented at the National FEYA celebration held at Symposium in Ottawa, May 29-31, 2023.

Thank you to the 2022 Prairies Region FEYA Selection Committee:

• Rob Harder of Family Wealth Group Ltd.
• Dean Koeller of Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation
• Anne Evamy of Junction Point Inc.

We appreciate your time and thoughtful consideration. 

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About the Family Enterprise of the Year Award

The Family Enterprise of Year Award (FEYA) was established in 1986 to celebrate and promote the achievements of Canadian business families and the considerable contribution they make to the economic and social fabric of both their local communities and Canada as a whole. Each year, business families across Canada are nominated and recognized at regional FEYA celebrations. Each regional Recipient is then considered for the National Family Enterprise of the Year Award, chosen by a volunteer selection committee and presented at the National FEYA celebration.

FEYA is unique among business awards in Canada, as it does not only focus on traditional business metrics. Instead, the selection committee also looks at how well the family enterprise integrates best practices that benefit the business, the family and their communities. Having demonstrated significant capabilities in these regards, FEYA recipients are examples of excellence and are integral to Canada’s economic future.

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