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Pink Elephant, Burlington, ON, Canada

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: Pink Elephant, Burlington, ON, Canada
Company Description: Operating through many offices across the globe, Pink Elephant is the world’s #1 supplier of ITIL and IT Service Management (ITSM) conferences, education and consulting services. To date, close to 300,000 IT professionals have benefited from our expertise. Pink Elephant has been championing the growth of ITIL worldwide since its inception in 1989 – longer than any other supplier.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada

Nomination Title: Fatima Cabral, Co-Founder & CEO

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

In the 23 years since Fatima Cabral and David Ratcliffe founded their company as a “mom-and-pop” basement-run IT consulting business in Oakville, Ontario, Pink Elephant has become the world leader in IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices with a presence across 5 continents.

Fatima is recognized as a pioneer who helped change the IT support landscape in North America. She was the driving force behind the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) revolution in North America, the best practice framework she helped introduce in 1997, to make it one of the most desired set of IT skills by employers! Pink Elephant continues to remain vital to ITIL’s advancement, being chosen to help update the framework in 2007, and authoring a new core volume in the ITIL library.

Fatima has helped to create industry forum groups and was a founding member of one of the world’s first Help Desk Institute Chapters.

Pink Elephant’s Annual International IT Service Management Conference & Exhibition, presented in Las Vegas and now in its 19th year, is the world’s largest and most respected event, attracting thousands of IT professionals from around the world. Pink Elephant keeps the industry in-the-know with updates via blogs, podcasts, whitepapers, social media and speaking engagements. Pink Elephant also hosts an IT leadership focused event in Scottsdale, and ITSM conferences in Singapore and Malaysia annually.

Having achieved the status of a world leader has not slowed down Fatima’s ambitions; in the last year, Pink Elephant achieved another series of firsts:

• The Pink Think Tank – the first such gathering of globally renowned industry experts to consider ITSM’s toughest questions
• The addition of a brand new certification to what is already the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of ITSM courses
• Offering more online courses to meet the needs of the increasingly time-strapped professional
• Free monthly breakfast sessions in Toronto for IT professionals to hear from and mingle with world-renowned industry experts
• Introduced two brand new events taking place in Canada at the end of 2014, including the Canadian version of Pink’s Vegas event
• The introduction of a brand new IT Excellence Award recognizing IT leadership at the Vegas event
• The PinkFORUM App to keep the Scottsdale event attendees updated and allow them to provide session feedback while on the go

Fatima has been lauded within and outside Canada, having ranked amongst PROFIT Magazine’s Top 100 Woman Entrepreneurs for eight successive years, received a Silver Stevie award, and received an award from the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business Professionals. Pink Elephant has received awards including: Top 300 Canadian IT Companies (Branham Group Inc.); Top 250 Canadian ICT Companies (Branham Group Inc.); Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Canada (PROFIT Magazine); Ontario Global Traders Award (Ontario Government); Finalist, 2011 Best Employer In Burlington (City of Burlington).

Awards aren't the only proof of Fatima’s accomplishments; Pink has trained over 350,000 IT professionals, including those from over 80 of the Fortune 100 companies, and has the industry’s highest customer approval ratings, at 96%.

Perhaps the greatest testaments to Fatima’s success are the 12 “Pinkers” who have stayed with her for over 10 years through the ups and downs to get Pink Elephant to where it is.

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Provide a brief biography of the nominated entrepreneur (up to 125 words):

Fatima Cabral is CEO and co-founder of Pink Elephant. As a very passionate business professional, she has made many global contributions to the IT industry, and has been a driving force behind the IT Infrastructure Library revolution in North America. Fatima has also been the founding member of industry forum groups and one of the world’s first Help Desk Institute Chapters.

Fatima is the recipient of many awards, including ranking in the PROFIT W100 of Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs for eight successive years, a Stevie award, and a business award from the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business Professionals.

Prior to starting up Pink Elephant in North America, Fatima worked at the Royal Bank of Canada for 20 years. Fatima currently lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.