Inc Magazine – The 10 most Innovative CEOs Revamping The Future 2022 – Cover Feature Story | Published Aug 30, 2022. (Catherine Bell: Building Highly Successful Companies (theincmagazine.com)

Catherine Bell: Building Highly Successful Companies

Thanks to the dissatisfaction with the status quo, Catherine Bell, a successful serial entrepreneur, business leader, and best-selling business author, founded The Awakened Company. This firm works to solve the planet’s greatest challenges by bringing humanity back to organizations. Its inception was fueled by Catherine’s award-winning and best-selling book, The Awakened Company.

She also founded BluEra, a Profit 500 executive search firm. As a top 200 growing company in Canada and top 10 in Alberta, and the best workplace, BluEra was the prime example of the Awakened Company System in action. Now with the sale of BluEra to DHR, Catherine entirely focuses on awakening the fire within organizations as the Founder of The Awakened Company.

As the leader of her organization, Catherine consults on creating Awakened Companies. She and her team’s aim is to ignite organizations with purpose, passion, and playfulness. Under her leadership, the Awakened Company loves bringing innovation and connection to people’s lives; the firm also merges wisdom traditions, business research, and practical know-how for better results. It helps leaders discover their inner castles and lead more effectively by cultivating and actualizing strategies with soul. It also has an experienced coaching team who are always ready to help with personal and professional development.

Award-Winning Leader

As the author of her revolutionary business book ‘The Awakened Company’ Catherine was awarded the Nautilus Book Awards in business and leadership. It became a bestseller within a week after its release; and was recognized as one of the top books combining business and mindfulness. Catherine has already been published in Fortune, HBR, etc. She has worked around the planet with many organizations from Fortune 500 companies to serial entrepreneurs. She has completed her MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and holds a sociology degree from Western University, as well as her certification as a yoga instructor. She is currently teaching The Awakened Company Process to people in 23 countries.

Empowering Women

Even after representing over half of the working population, women are severely underrepresented as entrepreneurs in Canada. They lack the needed access to the capital to grow their businesses. The International Finance Corporation of The World Bank estimates as much as 70% of women-owned small and medium-sized businesses are unserved by the financial institution, resulting in a credit gap of $285 billion globally.

Catherine feels angry about the under-representation of females in leadership positions. She often notices that she is the only woman in the boardroom and wants to change that.

So, Catherine partnered up with Shakti Jewelry by Sarah Bowker and Emma May of Sophie Grace, and Catherine soon created an Awakened Project collection where half of the profits go to a fund to help women launch their businesses and get out of poverty.

The firm has partnered with Momentum to manage the fund. The Awakened Project’s fund goes towards the Momentum Micro Business Loans program, specifically designed for women within the loan’s portfolio.

Catherine has also been a Board Member of The Distress Center and Open to Grow. Currently, she serves as an advisor to the Impact Society and Telus Spark. Additionally, she has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Not for Profit Essentials program.

Picture of the Future

Intending to develop and improve corporate culture, The Awakened Company wants to inspire and enhance 1,000,000 lives in the next 5 years. It is also looking to expand its Executive Coaching offerings and continue with Enneagram and leadership webinars as a platform to inspire growth. Lastly, The Awakened Company is spreading their message through podcasts and creating an Awakened Company Certification; stay tuned.