IQALUIT - Twelve years ago, the Grise Fiord Inuit Co-op was heavily in debt.

Struggling, the business hired Doug Beier as general manager. He and the Co-op board pieced together a strategy to recover. They found new suppliers, increased the product line and actually managed to lower some prices.

Bryan Pearson, right, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award on May 2. Here, he accepts a framed print from John Jacobson, president of the Tower Group of Companies. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo Award Winners Business of the Year - Grise Fiord Inuit Co-op Special Achievement - Atuqtuarvik Corporation Businessperson of the Year - Kenn Harper Lifetime Achievement - Bryan Pearson

Last year, the company managed to pay for its sealift shipment in cash and the community is in full control of the store. The dramatic turnaround earned the Grise Fiord Inuit Co-op the business of the year distinction at the Business Achievement Awards hosted by the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Tower Group of Companies last week.

"For the smallest, northernmost community, it's a tremendous example of what you can achieve," Hal Timar, the Chamber's executive director said of the Grise Fiord Co-op's accomplishment.

Ray Richer took over from Beier as general manager close to 10 years ago and has helped the community's Co-op board keep things running in the right direction, according to Jimmie Qaapik, Grise Fiord's community economic development officer. One of the key moves was to take over duties that Arctic Co-ops Ltd. used to fulfil and eliminate the "middle man," Qaapik said.

"They realized the opportunity that was in front of them," he said of the Co-op board and members, adding that the store has become profitable but it's the hotel that pays the bulk of the shareholders dividends.

Also saluted on that same evening was Bryan Pearson, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Since emigrating to Canada from Britain 51 years ago, Pearson has been involved in a long list of enterprises.

He helped train others to run a laundry service and a theatre. He ran a bakery, a coffee shop and sold Inuit art.

Then came a taxi company, a bus service, and Arctic Ventures, a general contracting company that included a retail boutique.

He didn't stop there, later opening a bed and breakfast, a funeral service and a movie theatre.

What motivated him to start so many businesses?

"One word, survival," he said with a smile. "I was just trying to survive in an alien climate, in an alien part of the world."

Yet it was a place that presented many opportunities, said Pearson, who also served 16 years as Iqaluit's mayor and eight years as an MLA.

He eventually sold Arctic Ventures to Kenn Harper, who was named Business Person of the Year last week. Harper, who has served many years on the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce, deserved the award for his vigorous efforts to expand trade links between Iqaluit and Greenland over the past year, according to Timar.

Harper accepted his award the previous evening as he was travelling on Wednesday.

Atuqtuarvik Corporation picked up the Special Achievement Award. An investment company created by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Nunavut Trust, Rankin Inlet-based Atuqtuarvik Corporation has provided $68 million in funds to Inuit-owned businesses. Earlier this year, Atuqtuarvik signed a memorandum of understanding to bring the First Nations Bank of Canada to Nunavut with Atuqtuarvik as a major shareholder.

"Atuqtuarvik Corporation continues to play a leading role in building a strong and self-sustaining Nunavut economy through its efforts in establishing a financial institution in the territory," said John Jacobson, president of the Tower Group of Companies.