Kevin Wilson Recognized as 2019 Entrepreneurial Excellence Winner

Let’s give a round of applause for Kevin Wilson, President and CEO of Buzz Franchise Brands, who was recently recognized as a 2019 Entrepreneurial Excellence winner. This award was well-deserved! Kevin has led the Buzz Franchise Brands team strongly from the beginning and has never slowed down. He has guided the company with confidence, positivity and transparency. Members of our BFB leadership team showed up to support him as he received the award at the prestigious Entrepreneurial Excellence dinner held in Virginia Beach at the Founder’s Inn.

Kevin’s Background

Kevin’s entrepreneurial journey started in London Ontario, where he received a degree from University of Western Ontario. Kevin began his career at Bain and Company, a management consulting firm, and worked in both Toronto, Ontario and Dallas, Texas. While in Texas, he also founded Benny’s Bagels, a business that franchises bagel stores throughout Texas. After his consulting and franchising stints, he utilized his airline experience from Bain and became the CEO of South African Airways Technical based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 2001 he moved to Virginia Beach with his wife Katy and son and two additional kids followed shortly thereafter.   A short while later he became Senior Managing Director of Discovery Americas, a private equity fund based in Mexico City, Mexico. During his time with Discovery Americas, he co-founded Volaris, which is currently the most successful airline in Mexico. And in 2004 after three years of a long commute, he joined Envest Ventures an early stage venture capital firm and oversaw $160 million across three funds.

Most recently, Kevin started Buzz Franchise Brands in 2012, which began with the mosquito control company Mosquito Joe. In 2016, it grew to a multi-brand company with the launch of the second brand, Pool Scouts, and shortly after in 2017 Home Clean Heroes was launched. Mosquito Joe was sold to Texas-based franchise company Neighborly in 2018, and in the spring of this year, British Swim School was acquired as the latest addition to the family of brands.

Where He Is Now

As you can tell from his vast experience in entrepreneurship and his capability to start and grow companies from the ground up, Kevin has a natural skill for finding great business opportunities and expanding upon them. He puts his heart into the work he does and executes the thorough research it takes to ensure that everything is done correctly and strategically.

Kevin says that the key to success is having a supportive spouse and family and finding the right people to work for him: “I feel fortunate to have been able to recruit top talent which helped drive the company to profitability in its third year.” It doesn’t stop with just finding the right people. Kevin values his employees and makes sure that they feel that way each and every day. He gets to know everyone and genuinely cares about their well-being and growth at the company. He wants everyone’s voice to be heard and treats each person with respect. He truly has his employees’ backs, which makes every day at work a pleasure.  

What’s Next

Kevin plans to continue developing and growing the company’s current brands and also pursuing brands in the future to add to the portfolio of professional services that provide value to families, while also continuing to stay an engaged parent and husband.

We are so happy to stand behind such a great leader and innovator in the franchising industry. Kevin’s passion and drive are evident, and it’s infectious to the people he works with. Cheers to your Entrepreneurial Excellence Kevin!