WELLINGTON – Nov. 5, 2019 – The countdown is on: the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI is accepting nominations for its six Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, some of which have new names and criteria, until Nov. 15 only.
“Anyone who knows of any deserving entrepreneur, businessperson, business, co-op or organization that has a capacity to serve customers in French can nominate them, whether the nominees are members of our Chamber or not,” explains Acadian Chamber spokesperson Pierre Gallant. “One of the main qualifying criteria is that they must have some type of economic vocation or impact on our province.”
“The objective of our competition is to honor entrepreneurs, businesses, organizations and co-operatives that have distinguished themselves through the excellence and high quality of their products and/or services and for their contributions to the local and provincial economy,” he added.
This year’s award categories are:
2020 Young Enterprising Person Award: The nominee must be 25 years of age or younger as of March 14, 2020, and have demonstrated significant entrepreneurial and/or community involvement and initiative, particularly in the past year. Groups are also eligible.
2020 Social Economy Business Award: The nominated company, co-operative or organization, which must have an economic vocation, must have distinguished itself by its achievements and successes, including its impact on its community, especially over the past year.
2020 Distinguished Employee Award: (formerly called “Business Personality Award”). The nominee must be an employee of a company, co-operative or organization that has distinguished himself or herself by the quality of his or her customer service or by his or her achievements or leadership in the business world over the past year.
2020 Immigrant Entrepreneur Award: The nominee must be an immigrant entrepreneur with at least two years of entrepreneurial experience on the Island as of March 14, 2020, and be recognized for his or her outstanding achievements and business acumen, especially in the past year.
2020 Business Excellence Award : (formerly the President’s Award of Excellence) The nominated company must have shown business excellence, particularly over the past year, in one or more of the following categories: innovation, service quality, job creation, greening and community impact.
2020 Acadian and Francophone Business Hall of Fame Award: The nominee for this new award (formerly the Distinguished Entrepreneur Award) must have at least 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, as this lifetime achievement award honors an entrepreneur who has distinguished himself or herself through his or her efforts and accomplishments throughout his or her career. The nominee may be retired or still working. The winner will be officially inducted into the new Acadian and Francophone Business Hall of Fame in Wellington.
There are also criteria that apply to all categories:
• The nominated person, company, organization or co-operative must be, or be ready to become, a member of the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI;
• At least one of the owners, co-owners or officers of the company, organization or co-operative must be able to speak French;
• The nominated person, company, organization or co-operative cannot have won an award in the same category in the last three years.
The application form (in French only) can be downloaded from the website https://bit.ly/33l4SFk. The completed form must then be submitted by Nov. 15 to the Award Selection Committee, RDÉE PEI Inc., 48 Mill Road, CP 7, Wellington, PE, C0B 2E0, or by email to raymond@rdeeipe.org. There is also the option of filling in an online version of the form.
A selection committee of businesspeople will pick the winners, who will then be honored next March during the 2020 Acadian Entrepreneurs’ Gala in Summerside. Among the confirmed sponsors so far are ACOA, RDÉE PEI, Évangéline-Central Credit Union, CBDC Central PEI, the LIENS project and RBC.
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CUTLINE: Pierre Gallant, left, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, and Entrepreneurs’ Gala coordinator Raymond J. Arsenault are issuing a last call for nominations for the Chamber’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards. The deadline for nominations is Nov. 15.
For more information:
Raymond J. Arsenault
Entrepreneurs’ Gala coordinator
Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI
902-854-3439, ext. 231
raymond@rdeeipe.org