Media Release

For Immediate Release

February 13, 2008

Sobey student hailed as top provincial entrepreneur

Brad LeBlanc (right) with his entrepreneur coach Dr. Ellen Farrell (Sobey School of Business Management Professor). LeBlanc has been named the Nova Scotia Student Entrepreneur Champion by national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE).

Brad LeBlanc, owner of Engaging Entertainment and full time student in the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University, has been named the 2008 Nova Scotia Student Entrepreneur Champion by national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and proud program supporter, CIBC.

Since 1999 Brad LeBlanc, a Bachelor of Commerce student from Moncton, NB, has owned and operated Engaging Entertainment, an entertainment solution company with services available across Atlantic Canada. Major services include event management, live entertainment, dj services, event production, strategic marketing and more. The company provides services to individuals, non-profit groups, government institutions, and corporations.

Operating Engaging Entertainment has provided him with the opportunity to increase his sales by over 400% in one year, hire four employees, as well as being selected as one of the “Top 20 Leaders of Tomorrow” by Atlantic Business Magazine.

"This competition has and certainly will continue to open many doors for myself and my company. This award truly is an honor and being selected as a recipient has fuelled my dreams even further,” comments Brad. “I am looking forward to celebrating this accomplishment and using it to further my dreams.”

The regional round of competition will take place at the 2008 ACE Exposition in Halifax on March 7th.

Provincial champions from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland will each present their company to a live panel of business professionals who will decide the two regional champions who will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and move on to the final round of competition at the 2008 ACE National Exposition in Toronto on May 14th. The National Champion will receive a $10,000 cash prize and represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.

"2008 was a record breaking year for the number of student entrepreneurs who will move on to the regional round of competition,” explains ACE President Amy Harder. “Once again we are inspired by the level of entrepreneurial activity among youth who will drive the Canadian economy into the next century.”

For more information about the 2008 Student Entrepreneur Competition, taking place regionally and nationally, please visit www.aceexpos.ca.

Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable not-for-profit organization that is teaching and igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities.

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For More Information:

Paul Fitzgerald
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: paul.fitzgerald@smu.ca
www.smu.ca