Acadian Chamber announces award finalists
SUMMERSIDE – Dec. 7, 2018 – The 2019 Entrepreneurs’ Gala, to be held March 16 in Summerside, will focus the spotlight on youth – or more specifically the finalists of its “Enterprising Youth Award”. And at the same time, the event will highlight the huge role that women play in the provincial economy.
As he announced the list of finalists of this year’s entrepreneurial award competition, Dec. 6 in Charlottetown, Pierre Gallant, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI (CCAFLIPE) noted that the Chamber usually only retains three finalists in each of the six awards categories.
However, this year, five exceptional nominations were received for the youth award. Wanting to officially recognize the contributions of all these candidates, the selection committee decided to retain all five nominees. “We’ll now to able to pay tribute to all of these youth who invest so much effort in helping develop our communities and who literally represent our succession,” he said.
As well, during the gala banquet and awards ceremony, a Young Millionaires Award will be presented to a deserving participant of this summer entrepreneurial program. (It should be noted that this award was not part of the Chamber’s awards contest.)
Gallant said that again this year, more than half of the finalists are women. “Eleven of the 18 finalists are female entrepreneurs or organizations that are managed by women or that have a female president. It’s great to see that women are really taking the place that they’ve earned. Continue your great work.”
The spokesperson said in all, the contest received 23 nominations for its six regular awards; many of the nominations were however in certain specific categories. This year, as usual, the chamber was able to retain 18 finalists, but wasn’t able to follow its norm of three finalists per category. In two of the categories (Immigrant Entrepreneur and Distinguished Entrepreneur), there are only two finalists while in another category (Young Enterprising Person), there are five.
“Our finalists represent a wide range of sectors – performing arts, tourism, sales of various products and services, community development, personal development, manufacturing, communications, education, etc.,” mentioned Gallant.
Here are the categories and their nominees.
2019 YOUNG ENTERPRISING PERSON OF THE YEAR
• Eliott Fraser, owner of Simply Sno-Cones / Simply Squeez’d of Charlottetown;
• Evan Gallant, hockey player from Abram-Village;
• Paloudes, musical group formed by Tianna Gallant, Gilbert Arsenault and Dawson Arsenault, from the Evangeline region;
• Rikki Delaney, young leader with the 4-H movement, from the Evangeline region;
• Shelaine Gallant, young community leader from Abram-Village who organized two Honour Runs.
2019 SOCIAL ECONOMY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
• Le Centre Goéland / Le Village des sources l’Étoile filante of Cape Egmont;
• Evangeline Recreation Commission in Abram-Village;
• Wellington Co-op.
2019 BUSINESS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
• Claudette Thériault – president of the organizing committee of Le Congrès mondial acadien 2019, Abram-Village;
• Francis Thériault – owner of PEI Agents Realty and three other businesses in Stratford;
• Stéphanie St-Onge-Cornish – owner of Blossom Foot Care in Summerside.
2019 IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
• Pam Arora – co-owner of jewel maker and retailer Pam & Joe Handcrafted in Charlottetown;
• Philippe Guidon – owner of Belgo Transport of Charlottetown.
2019 DISTINGUISHED ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
• Ray Brow – owner of Britannia Corporation in Charlottetown;
• Yvette Deschênes – owner of Chez Yvette Bed & Breakfast in Urbainville.
2019 PRESIDENT’S AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
• Le Collège de l’Île, which has campuses in Wellington and Charlottetown;
• Acadian Roofing (owner Robert Poirier) of St. Raphael;
• La Voix acadienne of Summerside.
-30-
CUTLINE : Pierre Gallant, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, announced the names of the finalists for the Chamber’s entrepreneurial awards Thursday night in Summerside. He is seen with, from left, Pam Arora from Pam & Joe Handcrafted, Marcia Enman from La Voix acadienne, Karen Gallant from Evangeline Recreation Commission, Nathalie Coupet from Belga Transport, Lisa Gallant from Wellington Co-op and Stéphanie St-Onge-Cornish from Blossom Foot Care.
For more information :
Raymond J. Arsenault
Coordinator
Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI
902-854-3439, Ext. 231
raymond@rdeeipe.org