Manitobans shine on DARE Innovation Awards shortlist

A Winnipeg-based incubator, accelerator and fabrication lab is marking a decade in business by celebrating the dreamers, achievers, risk-takers and entrepreneurs shaping Manitoba’s future.

On Monday, North Forge announced the shortlisted nominees for the inaugural DARE Innovation Awards. The awards will be handed out during a gala at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada on Feb. 24 — 10 years to the day North Forge was incorporated.

“We thought that we should honour a number of people, many of whom have never received awards or many of whom some people may not even know about,” said Joelle Foster, president and CEO. “As Manitobans, we’re all very humble and we don’t tell these stories enough.”

The non-profit received more than 160 nominations for the awards. There are 27 shortlisted nominees across nine categories that recognize a variety of industries.

“Innovation happens everywhere,” Foster said. “We forget that innovation happens in trades, in media, in film, in universities, in industry. We just want to bring that to the forefront to empower people who are maybe looking at embracing innovation more.”

Zachary Flett said he has “a little bit of imposter syndrome” after being named one of the three finalists for the Indigenous Innovation Award, but he also feels grateful to be nominated.

“To be shortlisted with two powerful women who are doing great things in the ecosystem (is) amazing,” he said. “It’s an honour.”

The 26-year-old is the creator of IndigiHub, a centralized online platform he launched in August to connect Indigenous entrepreneurs to funding and mentorship opportunities.

“What I created was a tool I wish I had when I was first starting out,” Flett said. “It’s meant to be that one-stop shop … so entrepreneurs can spend more time building and less time searching the internet.”

The website receives 6,500 monthly visitors and is used by entrepreneurs across Canada, Flett said.

Colleen Munro, president of the Munro group, said innovation has been essential to her career, particularly in the last decade. She’s nominated for the Legacy Innovator Award, alongside Barb Gamey, owner of Payworks Inc., and Paul Soubry, former president and CEO at NFI Group Inc.

In 2019, Munro started ClearSecure, which manufactures and distributes RockGlass, crystal clear security panels for windows and doors that are virtually unbreakable.

Munro, who also owns Hugh Munro Construction, developed RockGlass with a team in Manitoba to solve a problem: the cycle of buying and replacing glass for her fleet of heavy machinery after it was continuously broken by vandals.

Today, RockGlass is used by a number of commercial businesses and residential customers.

“I was trying to solve a problem for me and then, to my surprise, it took on a life of its own,” said Munro, 66.

For Chris Sharpe, being innovative means telling creative stories.

He’s the founder of Black Film Space Manitoba, a film production company he started to champion Black creators in the province. Fittingly, the 46-year-old is nominated for the Lights, Camera, Innovation Award.

“I’m trying to make things that are different, that are innovative, that bring people together,” Sharpe said.

Black Film Space Manitoba is currently working on Cool Sweepings, a comedy TV series about four Black-Canadian friends who compete in a curling bonspiel. The company is also developing Kung Fu and Basketball, a feature film inspired by Sharpe’s cousin, Shaedon Sharpe, who plays for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.

“It’s really fun when you just get a chance to make imagination come to life,” Chris Sharpe said.

The Feb. 24 gala will culminate with the presentation of the North Star Award, North Forge’s highest honour, which recognizes a Manitoban whose leadership has strengthened the province’s innovation ecosystem. The 2026 recipient is Michael Legary, a Winnipeg-based entrepreneur.

In 1999, Legary started Seccuris Inc., a cybersecurity firm that he eventually sold to Japanese electronics powerhouse Hitachi Systems Ltd. Since then, Legary has made a name for himself as an investor and technology leader with extensive experience in enterprise IT and artificial intelligence.

“Back when I started my businesses, scaling was something that took decades, and now scaling is something that takes days,” said Legary, 46. “And to see entrepreneurs and innovators scale at that rate today just blows my mind and keeps me involved.”

Legary is looking forward to celebrating with the nominees at the gala. “They’re a representative sampling of what kind of innovators we have in Manitoba and it’s very humbling to be (included),” he said.

More than 300 people are expected to attend the gala, which takes place during the third annual Manitoba Tech Week.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca