ABRAM-VILLAGE – March 17, 2024 – A furniture and office supplies retailer, a dog food producer, a tourist attraction manager, a personal and spiritual healing center and the spokesperson organization for the Island’s francophone community were honored and rewarded during the 22nd Acadian Entrepreneurs’ Gala March 16 in Abram-Village.
The regular 2024 business excellence awards presented by the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI (CCAFLIPE) and their winners were:
• 2024 Business of Excellence Award: HMS Office Solutions (Pierre Gallant), Summerside and Charlottetown (sponsored by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency);
• 2024 Social Economy Business Award: Le Centre Goéland / Le Village des Sources l’Étoile Filante, Cape Egmont (sponsored by Innovation PEI);
• 2024 Distinguished Employee Award: Carmella Richard, manager of The Bottle Houses in Cape Egmont (sponsored by Urbainville Farms);
• 2024 Outstanding Young Entrepreneur: Zack Montreuil, Chow Time Pet Foods, Brackley (sponsored by MacDonald Insurance and Investments).
In addition, RDÉE Prince Edward Island took advantage of the Gala to present its newest recognition award, which was developed via its new IMPACT DD sustainable development program.
• 2023 Annual IMPACT Sustainable Development Recognition Award: La Société acadienne et francophone de l’ÎPÉ (SAF’Île), Summerside.
Janine Arsenault, spokesperson for the CCAFLIPE, welcomed the 190 people in attendance to what she called « our biggest entrepreneurial recognition evening of the year ».
« Tonight, a few people will walk away as trophy winners. But the real winners are all the other people in the room and in our communities who benefit from your wonderful products and services. »
She pointed out that « We have an amazing line-up of entrepreneurs and businesspeople as finalists for our awards of excellence, again this year. What an honor it is for us to see all the wonderful services offered by our entrepreneurs, organizations and businesspeople! How happy we are to hear their wonderful success stories! What pride we feel when we realize how hard they work to make their operations sustainable and efficient! »
She added that the Chamber is particularly proud of the very young entrepreneurs as well as the young adults who have gone into business in these difficult times: « It’s so heartwarming to see them doing so well! » Arsenault concluded by saying that the finalists in the other categories are all equally impressive, having worked so many years to deliver excellent services and products. « In fact, all our finalists are deserving of praise and trophies. »
GROUP PHOTO: The winners at the various awards presented at the 2024 Entrepreneurs’ Gala were : front row, from left, Zack Montreuil, owner-founder of Chow Time Pet Foods, winner of the 2024 Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award; and executive director Isabelle Dasylva-Gill and interim president Charles Duguay from La Société acadienne et francophone de l’ÎPÉ, winner of the 2023 Annual IMPACT Sustainable Development Recognition Award. In the second row: Carmella Richard, manager of The Bottle Houses, winner of the 2024 Distinguished Employee Award; Doudou Mukanda, manager of the Centre Goéland, winner of the 2024 Social Economy Business Award; Janine Arsenault, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI; and Pierre Gallant, owner of HMS Office Solutions (Hamster), who won the 2024 Business of Excellence Award.
PROFILES OF AWARD WINNERS
2024 BUSINESS OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
HMS Office Solutions (Pierre Gallant), Summerside and Charlottetown
Pierre Gallant began working at his parents Henri and Gloria Gallant’s office furniture and supplies store, HMS Office Supplies, in 2002. After working there for 16 years, Pierre bought the business with the intention of modernizing its approach. First, he changed the store’s name to HMS Office Solutions. In the midst of the pandemic, he opened a new modern-styled store in Charlottetown, and in the fall of 2023, moved the original Summerside store to a larger, more modern building in St. Eleanors. In five years, Pierre has doubled his sales and increased his team by 50 percent. A large portion of this increase comes from corporate and institutional furniture contracts. The company has been officially recognized locally and nationally for its excellent, efficient and professional service. Other finalists in the category were Dion Gallant’s Welding (Dion Gallant) of Abram-Village and Chow Time Pet Foods (Zack Montreuil) of Brackley.
PHOTO: Robert Morrissey, Member of Parliament for Egmont and representing Platinum-level sponsor Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, presents Pierre Gallant of HMS Office Solutions with the 2024 Business of Excellence Award, assisted by CCAFLIPE spokesperson Janine Arsenault.
PHOTO: On behalf of Gold-level sponsor The Baie Acadienne Development Corporation, Stéphane Blanchard, second from left, presents finalist certificates for the 2024 Business of Excellence category to, from left, Zack Montreuil of Chow Time Pet Foods, Dion Gallant of Dion Gallant’s Welding, and Pierre Gallant of HMS Office Solutions.
SOCIAL ECONOMY BUSINESS AWARD 2024
Le Centre Goéland / Le Village des Sources l’Étoile Filante, Cape Egmont
Also known as Le Village des Sources l’Étoile Filante, the Centre Goéland is a personal, spiritual and social resource center that offers wellness and mental health programming to francophone youth, in collaboration with the French Language School board. The center welcomes young people in an atmosphere of respect, sharing, learning, joy and trust. When the center isn’t busy with camps, it offers its peaceful, natural setting in Cape Egmont to private clients for retreats, meetings, celebrations, weddings, community events and more. These activities enable the center to generate revenue to deliver its youth programming. The center is near full capacity until September 2024 with zero investment in marketing or advertising. With a reputation like theirs, word of mouth is all they need. Center Goéland was the sole finalist in the category.
PHOTO: From left, on behalf of Gold-level sponsor Clientis, Robert Maddix presents a finalist certificate to Doudou Mukanda, manager of the Centre Goéland, the sole finalist for the 2024 Social Economy Business Award, while Gilles Arsenault, provincial minister responsible for Platinum-level sponsor Innovation PEI, and Janine Arsenault, spokesperson for CCAFLIPE, present him with his trophy.
DISTINGUISHED EMPLOYEE 2024 AWARD
Carmella Richard, manager of The Bottle Houses, Cape Egmont
Carmella Richard of St. Gilbert puts her whole heart into everything she does. Many years ago, Carmella founded the Coopérative Les P’tits acadiens, making high-quality children’s clothing. Later, as an employee of La Coopérative Le Bel âge in Wellington, she looked after residents and coordinated activities for the Island’s French-speaking seniors. It was her love of flowers that finally drew her to her current position at The Bottle Houses in Cap-Egmont four years ago. After her first two years as a gardener, she was promoted to manager of this renowned tourist attraction. She is highly efficient and effective in customer service, sales, human resources management and the selection of handcrafted products for the gift shop. Other candidates in the category were Jeanne Gallant, server at the Bakin’ Express café at the Wellington Esso and Convenience Store in Wellington, and Tammy Strongman, resident care team leader at Le Chez-Nous Co-operative in Wellington.
PHOTO: Carmella Richard, manager of The Bottle Houses in Cap-Egmont, received her 2024 Distinguished Employee Award from Gold-level sponsor Robert Arsenault of Urbainville Farms and CCAFLIPE spokesperson Janine Arsenault.
PHOTO: Edmond Gallant, treasurer of RDÉE PEI and representing the Solution: Succession program (Gold-level sponsor), presents the finalist certificates in the 2024 Distinguished Employee category, to, from left, Carmella Richard of The Bottle Houses, Tammy Strongman from Le Chez-Nous Co-operative, and Jeanne Gallant of Wellington Esso and Convenience Store.
2024 OUTSTANDING YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Zack Montreuil, Chow Time Pet Foods, Brackley
Zack Montreuil of Brackley graduated from UPEI with a degree in business administration, specializing in finance and marketing, and a minor in economics. Co-founder and CEO of Chow Time Pet Foods, he entered the market in 2020, after years of research. His goal was to develop and market a healthy food product for dogs called Kibble Drizzle. It’s a type of gravy to put on dog food. The product is sold in hundreds of stores across the country. Zack has taken part in three sales missions to Montreal, during which he established business relationships with over 70 retailers. Quebec is now his main province in terms of business; his Quebec sales have increased by over 300 percent since last year. Montreuil was the sole nominee in this category.
PHOTO: Janine Arsenault, spokesperson for the CCAFLIPE, and Dr. Christian Lacroix, national board member of the Gold-level sponsor RDÉE Canada, present the certificate to the sole finalist in the 2024 Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award to Zack Montreuil, owner of Chow Time Pet Foods. Gold-level sponsor Dan MacDonald of MacDonald Insurance and Investments presents him with his trophy.
2023 ANNUAL IMPACT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RECOGNITION AWARD
The Société acadienne et francophone de l’ÎPÉ
SAF’Île is increasingly specializing in resource sharing. In particular, it offers professional support to various community organizations through its shared services, ServiceFinances and ServiceRH. Thanks to this innovative approach, SAF’Île gives its member organizations access to specialized skills in human resources management and accounting, without them having to bear the full cost of such services individually. This arrangement enables organizations to concentrate fully on their respective missions. There are many benefits to these services: optimization of human and financial resources, cost reduction and strengthening of organizational capacities. In this way, SAF’Île positions itself as a catalyst for efficiency, promoting the resilience and flexibility of its beneficiary organizations. The other finalists in this category were Buyers Canada Inc. (Jean-Guy Leblanc) of Summerside and Urbainville Farms (Robert Gallant) of Urbainville.
PHOTO: At center (in the blue-purple jacket), Israël Poulin, coordinator of the IMPACT DD project, presents the first-ever annual Annual IMPACT Sustainable Development Recognition Award (for 2023) to Isabelle Dasylva-Gill, executive director of the Société acadienne et francophone de l’ÎPÉ, and interim president Charles Duguay. On the left, Maryne Floch-LeGoff, RDÉE PEI development officer responsible for the IMPACT DD project, presents a finalist certificate to Dr. Christian Lacroix, who accepts on behalf of Jean-Guy Leblanc of Buyers Canada Inc. of Summerside. On the right, Stéphane Blanchard, RDÉE general manager, presents the second finalist certificate to Robert Arsenault of Urbainville Farms.
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For further information, please contact:
Raymond J. Arsenault
Coordinator, 2024 Entrepreneurs’ Gala
Manager, Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI
902-960-1285
raymond@rdeeipe.org