March 15, 2017
Kevin Forestell recognized by Fanshawe college
Kevin Forestell
“It was a really exciting experience,” said Forestell, who was nominated for the award by Fanshawe College’s horticulture technician program coordinator Michael Pascoe. “It is a real honour to be recognized by the school, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today without Mike (Pascoe) and everyone at Fanshawe.”
The distinguished alumni awards selection committee outlined why Forestell was selected:
“Encouraged by a love of nature, inspired by amazing landscape designs from television program One Garden, Two Looks, and nurtured at Fanshawe College as a doer with hands-on skills and techniques, Kevin Forestell shines as an innovative entrepreneur — collaborating with competitors.
“Operating his own landscape design business for 10 years with a focus on excellent work and outstanding customer service, Kevin is recognized for his creativity, as well as his thriving franchise network. Through membership in the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association (LOHTA), and believing it supports a stronger industry, Kevin shares his knowledge and experience to mentor smaller companies on staffing challenges, equipment needs and growing one’s business.
“Learning from this practice, Kevin — together with his wife, Erin, and brother, Tim — recently co-founded an award-winning tech company called Dozr, which operates from Waterloo’s Communitech hub. Applying the principle of an Airbnb (which shares rental properties around the globe), Dozr is an online marketplace sharing heavy equipment within the construction and agriculture industries. In one year, the Lazarides Institute cited Dozr among Canada’s Top Ten Start Ups, with opportunity to scale the enterprise internationally. Kevin and company also won $100,000 in prize money at Communitech’s Rev Accelerator Demo Day.”