Acadia Nicol Award winners named

Fred Sgambati photo

Tiffany James, BBA, is the winner of this year’s Nicol Entrepreneurial Award competition, which concluded Nov. 29 in the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre at Acadia University.

Her project, Halifax Hair Extensions, was judged by Paul Richards (Innovacorp), Maureen Gillis (NSCC), Jeffrey Surette (The Parthenon Group), and Sharon Horne (Silver Peake) as the best of four entries and captured the $5,000 first prize.

BBA Chris Moore’s South Shore Board Springs was second and claimed $2,000 while Justin Kavcic’s Green Tops Contracting was third and earned $1,000. Wesley Booth, BBA, was awarded a Merit Prize of $250 for his Startup Loft concept.

Hosted by the Fred C. Manning School of Business Administration, the competition is sponsored by Ottawa entrepreneur Wes Nicol. It is designed to generate interest in entrepreneurship by students and to help them develop skills that will assist them as entrepreneurs.  

This is the 10th and final year for the Nicol Award, but since its launch in 1997, 3,500 students across Canada have participated in the Nicol at some level and more than $1 million in prize money has been awarded to help winning teams pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

Ian Hutchinson, director of the F.C. Manning School of Business Administration at Acadia, says, “I am very grateful to Wes Nicol for the support he has offered Acadia students over the past decade. The Fred C. Manning School of Business Administration has been very proud to host this competition and we thank the Nicol organization for its support as well.  Our students will miss this annual event, but I know it has played an important role in kick-starting more than one business venture.”

“Wes Nicol took a chance 10 years ago, offering the Fred C. Manning School the opportunity to be the first host outside of Ottawa of an innovative business plan competition,” says Conor Vibert, professor of business strategy at Acadia. “He wanted to encourage undergraduate students to start their own businesses and venture into the world as entrepreneurs.  We did a good job that first year and the result has been a decade of exciting annual competitions and $100,000 of funding to support Acadia student entrepreneurs. It truly has been a pleasure being associated with the Nicol organization over these last 10 years and I know that our students have enjoyed it as well.”

Pictured after the results were announced are: (left to right) Tiffany James, Justin Kavcic, Maureen Gillis, Jeffrey Surette, Conor Vibert, Paul Richards, Sharon Horne, Wesley Booth and Chris Moore.

For more information on the F.C. Manning School of Business Administration, please visit: http://business.acadiau.ca/

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