Nominations sought for the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards

SUMMERSIDE - Oct. 15, 2019 - The Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI will soon establish its own Acadian and Francophone Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame to further honour long-time entrepreneurs "who have contributed so much to our economy and to our good reputation as great workers".

Chamber spokesperson Pierre Gallant announced the creation of this Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame in front of 25 people gathered for the Entrepreneurs’ and Co-operators’ Breakfast in Summerside on Tuesday morning.

He indicated that for one reason or another, very few Acadian and Francophone candidates are offered to the anglophone Hall of Fame competition and even fewer of the candidates presented are inducted. "We feel that we have found an ideal solution to this dilemma."

The Hall of Fame will actually consist of a wall dedicated for this purpose in the J. Léonce Bernard Meeting Room in the offices of the Wellington Rural Action Centre. "We will place the Hall of Fame’s attractive logo in the center of the wall. We will then surround it with a photo and short biography of each inducted entrepreneur. These individuals will therefore be honoured on a permanent basis," said Gallant. "We are pleased and honoured to announce that Évangéline-Central Credit Union will be the official and permanent sponsor of our Hall of Fame. It will make a significant contribution to cover, among other things, the costs of setting up the wall. Its sponsorship will be acknowledged by a plaque on the wall. »

INDUCTEES

At its next Gala, on March 14, 2020, in Summerside, the Chamber will induct into the Hall of Fame all the former winners of its Distinguished Entrepreneur Award (a lifetime achievement award). Entrepreneurs who have won national Lauriers de la PME awards will also be inducted.

The living and deceased entrepreneurs who will be inducted in the spring will be René Maddix, Alphonse Arsenault, Adélard Gallant, Frank Legault, Tilmon Arsenault, Léo S. Arsenault, Ivan Arsenault, Richard Bernard, Alyre Arsenault, Réjeanne Arsenault, Julien Arsenault, Italo Marzari, Roger Arsenault, Jeannette Arsenault, Henri and Gloria Gallant and Ray Brow. These individuals or their family members will be invited to the official ceremony, which will take place during the Gala.

Another entrepreneur will be inducted annually. To find inductees, the Chamber of Commerce is officially changing the name of its former "Distinguished Entrepreneur Award" to "Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame Award”. It will be presented for the first time at the 2020 Gala.

New nominees for this award must have at least 25 years of entrepreneurial experience and may still be working or retired.

OTHER CATEGORIES

Gallant also launched the Chamber’s annual Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards Competition, indicating that the names or criteria of two other award categories have been slightly changed. It is inviting nominations for all of its awards by Nov. 15.

"The objective of our competition is to honour entrepreneurs, businesses, organizations and co-operatives that have distinguished themselves through the excellence and high quality of their commercial products and/or services and for their contributions to the local and provincial economy," he said.

The other prizes will be:

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"). 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.

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 of  the Entrepreneurs' Gala.

"We would like to point out that candidates from previous years who have not won a prize are still eligible this year. So you can submit their application and they can also submit their own application, » concluded Gallant.

The application form can be downloaded from the website www.rdeeipe.net. The completed form must then be submitted to the Award Selection Committee, RDÉE PEI Inc., 48 Mill Road, CP 7, Wellington, PE, C0B 2E0, or by email to raymond@rdeeipe.org.

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CUTLINE: Pierre Gallant, second from right, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI, thanks Alfred Arsenault, centre, executive director of the Évangéline-Central Credit Union, for his sponsorship of the new Acadian and Francophone Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame. On the left are Henri and Gloria Gallant, and on the right is Jeannette Arsenault, who will all be inducted during the Entrepreneurs’ Gala in March.

For more information:
Raymond J. Arsenault
Activity Coordinator
Chambre de commerce acadienne et francophone de l'ÎPÉ
902-854-3439, ext. 231
raymond@rdeeipe.org