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Last spring, two world-class New Brunswick companies took centre stage at the 2025 NB Export Awards gala, earning recognition not only for their export ambitions but for their innovative thinking.
In part two of our series spotlighting past Export Award winners, we look at last year’s winner of the Innovative Exporter of the Year, GAP Professional Products, and the Emerging Exporter of the Year, Andermatt Canada.
GAP Professional Products
Keswick Ridge’s GAP Professional Products is Canada’s largest producer of automotive detail products and professional automotive maintenance chemicals, and CEO Bruce Gourley says the firm is proud to be doing it all from New Brunswick.
That pride only grew when they took home Innovative Exporter of the Year in 2025, marking back-to-back wins after earning Exporter of the Year (under $5 million) in 2024. As a company doing significant business in Ontario and Western Canada, Gourley said applying for the awards was about raising more local awareness. “We really wanted to put ourselves out there so everyone knows that we exist, and of the hard work our team does in Keswick Ridge,” he said.
Winning consecutive awards affirmed the company’s ability to win business in major markets. “We’re competing with global players, winning awards, and changing an industry dominated by multibillion-dollar corporations,” Gourley said
While competitors focused on selling more bottles, GAP saw an opportunity to innovate and reduce waste. It developed advanced fuel and maintenance chemistry that allowed one product to replace several, effectively cutting packaging, reducing emissions, improving fuel economy, and extending vehicle life. “Competitors had three bottles doing the things we knew we could do with one,” Gourley said. Today, GAP’s innovative solutions are found in dealerships from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia.
Gourley credits ONB as a valued partner. “When you’re based in New Brunswick, sometimes it’s hard to find that network to help you get outside the Maritimes,” he said. “ONB has reach into several markets across continents; it’s been great to have a sounding board and a partner that can link us with people from around the world.”
Andermatt Canada
Hanwell’s Andermatt Canada, meanwhile, is exporting New Brunswick-grown expertise in sustainable agriculture. New to exporting in the past five years, the company took home 2025’s Emerging Exporter of the Year Award.
“Andermatt Canada’s mission is to help farmers grow more sustainably,” says CEO Laura Forbes. The company produces biopesticides and biological solutions designed to protect crops without harming the environment, and it exports these solutions across Canada and around the globe.
Forbes says she has long admired the businesses highlighted by the Export Awards. “I’ve always been impressed by these companies and thought, ‘why not us?’” While still an emerging exporter, Andermatt Canada’s export markets already include Brazil, Paraguay, and Australia, with plans to enter Africa in 2026.
Winning was “fantastic,” she adds. “It’s great to be recognized by your peers and show not only other New Brunswick companies, but companies across Canada, that New Brunswick is here to play and win, and that we can do big things from our little province.” She hopes the award win proved to her team that all its hard work has not gone unnoticed.
For both companies, the NB Export Award wins were more than honours; they were a clear signal that innovation and global ambition are recognized and rewarded in New Brunswick.
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There is still time to apply for consideration for a 2026 NB Export Award! Visit our awards page for more info on this year’s award, including the application link.
