Company: iFinance Canada Inc.
Company Description: For seventeen years iFinance Canada has been Canada’s leading provider of (non- bank) consumer loans. Founded in 1996 by President and CEO, Ann Kaplan, iFinance Canada employs over sixty people through four centers and offers its services through 8000 outlets. With an innovative, profitable model, the Company has consistently been recognized with numerous awards .
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year – Consumer Services – More Then 10 Employees

Nomination Title: iFinance Canada

Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated organization since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

iFinance Canada Inc. (Parent to brands: Medicard, Petcard, Dentalcard, iFinance Home Improvement, iFinance Auto, Early Bird Payday Loans and CosmedicList) was founded in 1996, with the hope to become Canada's leading consumer finance company. Eighteen years later, the Company can look back at over $.75 Billion in loan applications. In March, 2014, the number of Services Providers offering iFinance Canada’s Services surpassed 10,000 – the same month iFinance Canada celebrated its “Best Month Ever” – a historical story of growth, achievement and sustainability.

In the past year, the Company has won numerous awards, including the first time achievement for Canada for overall growth (continuous nine years) – iFinance Canada received the prestigious Profit GTA Growth Award 2013 – the only Company in Canada to ever receive this honor (nine years of continuous growth). iFinance Canada was also a finalist for the E & Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a winner of the top 100 Growth Award and the CEO achieved placement in Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women (3rd time) and was named in the top W100 Awards.

The Company continues to be sited in news stories about growth, organization and entrepreneurship but most significantly, for its contribution this year to the University of Toronto, Rotman Business School where iFinance Canada made a significant donation (an executive meeting room was named as “iFinance Canada Cognitive Cube” for this honour).

Of exciting new challenges and growth, the Company launched “Early Bird Payday Loans” – a new consumer financing product, regulated under the stringent Payday Lending Act of Canada. iFinance Canada also expanded the CosmedicList Website to include auction items – where doctors can purchase equipment (internationally) and source medical items through a vast network of providers and continued to provide information about medical procedures to consumers through videos (CosMedicTv.com). iFinance Canada also launched consumer surveys to add marketing, awareness and to measure the audience reactions for marketing purposes.

The growth to these achievements was born from implementation to become the largest, most recognized (non-bank) consumer lender in the country. Founded in 1996 with concept to provide money to consumers in the form of loans offered through medical clinics throughout the country – these loans would be provided for services not covered by a standard medical health plan.

The majority of lending institutions (throughout the world) have continued to feel the impact and either closed their doors or revisited their pro forma’s. iFinance Canada was not an exception. It took navigation through uncertainty; however, the Company prevailed during the fluctuation. This stability has enabled the Company to raise investment lending and, since 2013, iFinance Canada has increased its capital base to over $120m in available credit and surpassing the $¾ billion mark for loan applications.

The significance of this is the ability to enable growth – new categories were implemented, such as Home Improvement and most recently (2014) – online PayDay lending utilizing the same tactics and strategies as were successful in the medical consumer sectors.

The outstanding growth, continued profitability and philanthropic culture of iFinance Canada is the basis for the Company's continued successes to date.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the nominated company (up to 125 words):

Ann Kaplan is CEO and President of iFinance Canada. An award-winning businesswoman, popular speaker, and media personality featured in hundreds of publications, including a University Entrepreneurship textbook. The recipient of: Finalist E & Y Entrepreneur of the Year, Canadian Woman Entrepreneur/Year Award; Peak Award/Excellence; 9 x Canada's Profit Top 100; 7 x Canadian W100, 3 x Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women; Canada's Mompreneur /Year; and top honors for Stevie Entrepreneur/Women in Business, Canadian and International Entrepreneur.

Ms. Kaplan has a MBA, MSc (Business), Corporate Governance Designation (ICD.d) and is completing her Doctor of Business Administration (Empirical Study Exploring a Neural Network Decision Tree Model Consumer Loan Adjudication). She has written four books: Fashion Cares, The InterNet, If You Don't Laugh, You'll Cry and Best Practices.

Choose one (even if both apply):

At least 50% of the shares in this company are owned by women.