Adao Institute for Change Web Developer and Business Partner Named CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year - 5 May 2005
Joseph Fung, co-founder of Lewis Media and student at the University of Waterloo, was named the 2005 CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year at an awards ceremony held last night in Toronto. The award recognizes Joseph for the development and operation of the most innovative and entrepreneurial business by a Canadian post-secondary student.
Joseph received the distinction for founding and operating Lewis Media, a Waterloo-based web development company. Their flagship product, WebAdmin(TM), allows website owners to easily update their websites without the ongoing cost of a webmaster. Joseph was selected from among three finalists who competed in the ninth annual CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award presented by CIBC and ACE (Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship). The award celebrates and showcases the accomplishments of Canadian student entrepreneurs, and is open to full-time university and college students running their own business. Lewis Media was founded in 2001 by Fung and partner Jeff Lewis.
"A recent CIBC report predicted that 500,000 small business owners will retire in the next five years - so encouraging young entrepreneurs is vital to Canada's future prosperity," said Rob Paterson, Senior Vice President, Small Business Banking. "The talented finalists in the CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award competition are truly exceptional and we are proud to honour Joseph for his success with Lewis Media."
The competitors' businesses were judged by a notable panel of Canadian business leaders including Mark Farrell, CEO, KidsFutures Inc; Rob Paterson, Senior Vice President, Small Business Banking, CIBC; Ian Portsmouth, Editor, PROFIT Magazine; Beverly Topping, President and CEO, Institute of Corporate Directors; Vivian Woytiuk, CEO, Canadian Youth Business Foundation; and William Young, President, Social Capital Partners.
Nominations for the 2005 CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award were submitted through the ACE website from September 7, 2004 to November 5, 2004. Nominees were then encouraged to submit an application outlining their business, which were evaluated based on how effective the student was in:
- Demonstrating a need for a unique product or service, and its competitive advantages;
- Identifying, reaching and impacting their target market through innovative marketing and public relations strategies;
- Expressing their vision and future plans for both the company and themselves;
- Demonstrating how they applied the learning from their experiences to increase their success;
- Ensuring the company is socially responsible and makes a positive impact on the community; and
- Presenting their business to the panel.
The awards were presented at the ACE Awards Ceremony held at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. The awards event was attended by 300 students and faculty representing 42 university and college campuses across the country, as well as some 30 leading Canadian business executives.
About CIBC Small Business
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with more than 500,000 small business customers in Canada. CIBC is committed to helping small businesses succeed and has more than 1,400 small business employees across the country working with entrepreneurs to help them achieve their business and personal financial goals. A founding sponsor of ACE, CIBC is proud to support Canada's up-and-coming small business owners through the CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. For more information, visit: www.cibc.com/smallbusiness.
About ACE
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national, 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 organizes and motivates teams of university and college students who practice and teach others the principles and values of entrepreneurship and market economics. Today, ACE is reaching thousands of students through 50 highly dedicated ACE Teams across Canada.
About Joseph Fung - Lewis Media
Joseph Fung is currently completing his fourth year of computer engineering at the University of Waterloo. He has been recognized as a student leader by both the Engineering Student Society and the University's Federation of Students. Lewis Media is a leading Waterloo web development company that provides unique solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Lewis Media is a proud supporter of the Kitchener/Waterloo area, as well as the Simple Machines Forum open source project that provides free software that powers over 1,400,000 million web pages world-wide.
For further information: Rina Cortese, CIBC, (416) 980-7458, rina.cortese@cibc.com; Paula Worthington, ACE Canada, (416) 304-1566 ext. 220, paula@acecanada.ca;
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