Summerside couple wins $10,000 in RDE P.E.I. Dragons' contest

A pair of Summerside entrepreneurs will be raising a glass to success after coming away winners in a francophone business development contest.

Karine Gallant and Iain MacInnes of Summerside were selected as the winners of "Dragons' Contest" for RDE Prince Edward Island.

Their pitch to the judges for a malthouse to supply microbreweries in Atlantic Canada won the pair $10,000.

They received their prize at an event heldSundayin Summerside.

Rachel Chappell, community economic development officer for RDE P.E.I. said the finale was as exciting as the popular CBC TV show the contest was based on.

"It was very tense, you could tell finalists were nervous -not easy to do that in front of a big crowd of 100 people," said Chappell.

"I think overall the exposure, even if they didn't win the 10grand, the exposure for their business was really good and we got really good feedback from everybody all around."

The three finalists made their pitches in front of the judges and family and friends.

Chappell said they had 15 applicants for the contest. Thirteen received pitch training from a consultant in Nova Scotia.

"They really helped them develop their idea and what they wanted to present to the judges," she said.

The semi-finals were held in mid-February and the 13 participants were pared down to three finalists.

The goal of the contest was to encourage entrepreneurship within the Island's francophone community.

The contest received a total of $42,500 in funding, with $40,000 from theAtlantic Canada Opportunties Agency'sbusiness development program.