UPEI business student Graham Watts named 2008 Prince Edward Island Student Entrepreneur Champion
Graham Watts, owner of a company called Nature Trails and a full time business student at UPEI, has been named the 2008 Prince Edward Island Student Entrepreneur Champion by the national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE).
Since 1999 Watts has owned and operated Nature Trails, a company that manufactures walking sticks, twig pencils, bird houses, bat boxes, and bird feeders. Most recently, he purchased 148 acres of land to supply the raw materials for his wood products. To replace the trees that he uses, he replants his land with fast-growing, high-quality trees.
Watts started his business at the age of 12 to make extra pocket money. Now 20, he is the owner of a business that employs three people full time.
“This competition provides the opportunity to recognize student entrepreneurs across Canada who have taken the initiative to start their own business endeavors at a young age,” says Watts. “I am proud to represent Prince Edward Island moving forward in the competition and look forward to potentially raising the profile of my business through out the country.”
Watts will compete in the regional competition at the 2008 ACE Exposition in Halifax on March 7. Provincial champions from Atlantic Canada will present their companies to a panel of business professionals who will select the two regional champions. The winners will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and will move on to the final round of competition at the 2008 ACE National Exposition in Toronto on May 14. The national champion will receive a $10,000 cash prize and will represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable not-for-profit organization that is igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE provides post-secondary students with the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial and leadership skills, outside of the classroom, through its team-based Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and individual-based Student Entrepreneur programs.
For more information about the 2008 Student Entrepreneur Competition taking place regionally and nationally, please visit www.aceexpos.ca.
