2020 Young Aboriginal Entrepreneur
Shelley Stewart
Owner, Bar S Ventures
Raised in Douglas Lake on her parents’ ranch, Shelley Stewart’s father was a rancher and logger and her mother, an accountant. At age 8, Shelley told her father she would buy a logging truck when she got old enough so they could work together every day. At age 19, this ambitious young Syilx woman acquired her first logging truck and became an entrepreneur.
Now the owner of Bar S Ventures, Shelley began in the forest industry as a log hauling contractor shortly after the devastating McGillivray fire that consumed over 11,000 hectares of British Columbia’s forests in the summer of 2003. Today, Bar S Ventures specializes in conventional log harvesting and log hauling activities.
Over the last 15 years, Shelley has grown Bar S Ventures from a single truck venture to a full- phase, conventional logging operation, along with road building and log hauling divisions, and employing 27 full-time employees.
Bar S Ventures is among the largest forest sector employers in the interior of British Columbia and is an industry leader in fibre utilization. By optimizing the fibre, there is significantly less waste left in the forest, more wood enters into the markets, and employment opportunities in local communities are increased.
https://srstruckingltd.wixsite.com/barsventures/about