Francophone Young Millionaires attain record sales of $12,000

CHARLOTTETOWN – Nov. 24, 2015 – This past summer has been without a doubt the best sales season ever for “Jeunes millionnaires”, the francophone edition of the Young Millionaires program. “Our 20 young entrepreneurs, who established 17 small businesses, attained record sales of about $12,000!” proudly proclaims Stéphane Blanchard, youth development officer with RDÉE Prince Edward Island.

This sales figure is even more impressive when one realizes that total sales in 2013 were $5,000 and in 2014 were $7,500.

Blanchard attributes this past summer’s high level of success to several important factors. First of all, this year, organizers were able to get two program coordinators, one in the East of the province and one in the West (shared with the Youth Services Co-op) to help the youth with their projects. Secondly, some of the participating youth were returning for a second year and some for a third year, meaning they had more experience and more time to perfect their production, promotion and sales methods.

“Again this year, the participants’ parents played a key role in the success of the program since they are the ones who supervise the youth on a daily basis as they produce their goods, they help them obtain their raw materials and they provide the transportation to many of the locations they have to go to sell their products,” adds the development officer.

The business having attained the most sales again this year was Simply Sno-Cones, owned and operated b Michael MacEwen and Elliott Fraser of Charlottetown. They literally sold thousands of cones of flavoured ice at numerous PEI locations.

“In their third year with the program, they once again proved that they are master salesmen and that they are really serious about their business,” said Blanchard. “They’ve really got the entrepreneurial gift. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them a few years down the road with a highly successful business out in the real world.”