TERRACE competitors stood out at the Third Annual ThriveNorth Business Challenge competition held May 18 in Prince Rupert by taking three out of possible award categories.
Kevin Febril won $10,000 in the 18-28 age best new business category for his Wandering Bear catering concept, Bryan Last and Aleksa Havelaar won $10,000 in the 29-39 age category for their custom-roasted White Goat Coffee business and Andrea Harmel and Kory Yamashita won $5,000 from audience voting.
In the fourth award category, Marcie LeBlanc of Prince Rupert won $10,000 for having the best growth opportunity.
An initial number of contestants was narrowed down to a list of finalists who then gave their business pitches before a panel of judges.
More than 100 people came out to the event held at the convention centre in Prince Rupert and 4,500 people voted online as part of the audience award category.
ThriveNorth is run by the national Futurpreneur Canada organization which fosters business development among young people and is financed by Prince Rupert LNG, at one time a potential liquefied natural gas plant in the Prince Rupert but which has shelved officially this year after its original BG Group owner was purchased by Shell. Also providing support is the provincial government and Northern Savings Credit Union.
Terrace cleaned up the rest of the awards. ThriveNorth winners were Kevin Febril with Wandering Bear, his catering service, and Bryan Last and Aleksa Havelaar with White Goat Coffee, and the audience award went to Andréa Harmel and Kory Yamashita with Butter Hair Salon.
ThriveNorth is managed by Futurpreneur Canada and support came from Prince Rupert LNG, the Government of British Columbia and Northern Savings Credit Union.
