Chamber awards set record

Fourteen of 18 business award finalists are women

Fourteen of the 18 French-speaking finalists vying for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce’s business awards are women or businesses or organizations managed or co-managed by women.

This number represents a record for the annual competition.

As he announced the list of finalists during the Chamber’s Christmas party recently in Summerside, spokesperson Pierre Gallant said that in the past the chamber often had difficulty getting sufficient numbers of nominations for its awards, especially those geared specifically to women entrepreneurs.

“We’re very glad to say that this is no longer the case since women now appear to make up a majority of new business people and of those nominated for our awards,” Gallant said.

“Obviously, they are doing more or are finally being recognized more for what they are accomplishing.”

Gallant also mentioned that the Chamber (CCAFLIPE) is pleased that its selection committee chose, purely by coincidence, finalists from one end of the province to the other, literally from Tignish to Montague, while passing through Evangeline, Summerside, Borden-Carleton, Rustico and Charlottetown areas.

“And yes, those who come from the two ends of the province are women,” he added.

The CCAFLIPE received 23 nominations for its six awards this year; because it can only accept three finalists per category, it had to put aside several of the nominations received. The most popular category this year was Social Economy Business; seven nominations were submitted.

“Our finalists come from a very wide range of business sectors: the performing arts, tourism, health services, personal development, sales of various retail products and services and manufacturing,” said the Gallant.

“The selection committee informed me that the scores were extremely tight in some of the categories, which obviously made their choices fairly difficult. The quality of submissions was also very good.”

The winners will be announced during

the Acadian Chamber’s 17th annual Acadian Entrepreneurs’ Gala at the Centre Belle-Alliance in Summerside,

on March 17, 2018.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Pierre Gallant, right, spokesperson for the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of P.E.I., teases three of the finalists from the Chamber’s business award with one of the championship trophies. From left are finalists Alcide Bernard, president...