Québec entrepreneurship contest

Announcing the grand prize winners in the

2007-2008 Québec Entrepreneurship Contest

Quebec City, June 19, 2008 – Tonight the big winners of the Québec Entrepreneurship Contest will be announced by President of Honour Anne Marcotte, President of Vivemtia, and by Jean-Marc Léger, President of Léger Marketing. The winners will be competing for 58 prizes totaling almost $300 000 in bursaries.

For this 10th edition, the winners were selected amongst almost 5000 projects entered by 100 000 men and women of all ages from all over Québec. It is the crowning of the most innovative projects in Québec!

Student Entrepreneurship category

In the Student Entrepreneurship program, the contest rewards great entrepreneur ideas from primary school to university, spread over 12 different categories. Tonight, 24 prizes were given to winners in this program. The regions of Bas-Saint-Laurent and of Montreal were well represented, both having 4 projects chosen. It is worthy to mention that many of the projects focus on durable development and that cooperatives are gaining in popularity. It seems the new generation are prioritising durable and social entrepreneurship.

Business Creation category

This program rewards entrepreneurs who have a business project that is in its beginning stages. 34 prizes were given away in different categories of this program. Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, which had 5 business projects honoured, was the big winner in this category.

This year, the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Grand Prize was won by JustBIO inc., a business that develops, produces and markets new products for the food and agriculture, and pharmaceutical sectors. The products are made of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni, a plant that produces a sweet substance that has no calories. This prize was given to a company that rose above the other regional finalists, and a hefty bursary of $20 000 comes with the honour. The prize was presented to entrepreneur Sophie Chabot from the Chaudière-Appalaches region by Tony Tomassi, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier.

The Success in Business Prize - Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, like its namesake, was awarded to a business in existence for more than 5 years that is a previous contest winner, and who stands out through rapid growth and quick success. This prize was given to Pyxis Technologies, a company from the Laval region, by Pierre Lapointe, Regional Vice-President with Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton for the Québec Chaudière-Appalaches region. Specializing in technology solutions, Pyxis Technologies was the winner in the service program in 2000. Tonight the companies partners; François Beauregard, Maurice Bergeron and Éric Séguier, received $10 000.

Transforming Québec One Project At a Time

Today’s Québec must prepare itself for the growing elderly population and the workforce shortages that loom. Fortunately, initiatives like the Québec Entrepreneurship Contest help new entrepreneurs and new leaders of tomorrow, both regionally as well as in large cities. In 10 years the contest has received 48 610 projects, submitted by 982 583 participants. “Rare is an initiative like this one that has channeled the energy of almost 1 million citizens in such a short amount of time. The impact of this initiative is palpable in all the mediums and on all levels”, says Natacha Jean, President and Executive Director of the contest.

The Québec Entrepreneurship Contest is a non-profit organization whose aim is to promote entrepreneurial culture in Québec, to people of all ages. It rewards the initiatives that are the most deserving in the scholastic sector and business creation.