News

Business event to be held in five Atlantic cities

By Craig Babstock - Times & Transcript Staff

The first annual Greater Moncton Entrepreneurship Expo was such a success in October that the event will be held in several Maritime cities in 2010.

Riverview entrepreneur and expo founder Brad LeBlanc said the reaction from people in attendance was excellent. It didn't take long before he was asked to expand the event.

"The Moncton expo was all it was going to be and I was OK with that, until I started being hounded by entrepreneurs asking me to come to their city," said LeBlanc at yesterday's launch.

Atlantic Lottery Corporation is the title sponsor of the 2010 Atlantic Canadian Entrepreneurship Expos and the corporation hosted the news conference yesterday announcing the expanded version of the expo. The news conference was attended by Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc, Business New Brunswick Minister Victor Boudreau and many people from the business community, including representatives from expo sponsors such as Staples Business Depot, Bell Aliant and the New Brunswick Securities Commission.

Five separate day-long entrepreneurship expos will be held this year starting with Fredericton April 9, Halifax Apr. 22, Charlottetown May 12, Moncton Oct. 19 and Saint John Oct. 22. Enterprise Greater Moncton will host the local show.

Brad LeBlanc said the Moncton expo, which will be held during small business week, will be the biggest. It's being moved from the Delta Beausejour, where it was held in October, to the Moncton Coliseum.

"This is going to be a massive show," he said, adding there were 52 trade show booths at the October expo but there will be more than 100 this year.

The expo runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in each city and consists of a trade show, a networking lunch, breakout sessions, and several speakers. The keynote speaker at all five expos will be Richard St. John, author of 8 to be Great, a book about the traits that lead to success.

Tickets cost $50 plus HST and go on sale online at www.atlanticexpo.ca. The event is open to entrepreneurs, business owners and students and the New Brunswick expos will have both French and English speakers.

Boudreau talked to the crowd about the importance of nurturing entrepreneurs and reminded them that Google, one of the best known brands in the world, started in 1997 when two university students in California created the Internet search engine as a research project.

"Every day I see excitement, energy, innovation and a real entrepreneurial spirit that manifests itself all across our great province," said the minister.

Moncton's mayor said this expo is the type of event that can help small businesses, which is important for growing prosperity in the city, province and Atlantic region.

"Prosperity and quality of life are two key things we try to focus on in this city and prosperity comes through entrepreneurship," said LeBlanc.

Expo featured on News 91.9

Click below to hear the full interview from News 91.9 that aired on February 8th.

News 91.9 Interview (MP3)

Press Conference @ The Dream Centre for February 9th

On Monday February 9th the official launch of the 2010 Atlantic Lottery Entrepreneurship Expos will be held at the head office of ALC on Main Street in downtown Moncton – appropriately named "The Dream Centre".

The event is going to take entrepreneurship by storm here in Atlantic Canada says Chief Entrepreneurial Officer Brad LeBlanc, of the Momentum Group who are organizing the expos.

The Minister of Business New Brunswick the honorable Victor Boudreau will be sharing the podium with the other major partners who believe in them dreams and potential of our entrepreneurs.

The launch kicks-off at 9:30am sharp and space is limited. Media boxes & notes will be provided and all are welcome to attend.