Excellence Awards: Megan Devries named youth entrepreneur of the year
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A high school entrepreneurship class provided a chance for Megan Devries to learn to work with a large group of people and also earned her a business award.
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The 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Chatham Christian School took on two leadership roles in a student-led company SikSox, which made custom dyed and custom embroidered socks.
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Although much of the work that went into creating and operating SikSox was done in a classroom setting, Devries said it wasn’t like a typical school project where you are paired with one or two people.
“It’s different when you’re with a big group and you’re trying to do different things at the same time,” she said. “So, I think it taught me how to work well with a variety of different people.”
Devries has been named youth entrepreneur of the year as part of the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce’s 136 annual Business of Excellence Awards.
She initially was appointed as vice-president of finance for SikSox but ended up serving as interim president when needed during the three months the company operated.
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She was not expecting to receive this honour. She recalled providing her teacher some information to apply for the award, but wasn’t expecting to hear anything back.
“I was very surprised and also very grateful,” Devries said.
Despite the success achieved with SikSox, she is not sure if her future includes a career in business, but felt this was a worthwhile endeavour.
“If you have an opportunity to do something like this, do it, because it teaches you a lot about yourself and people, and how to work with others and how to build a company,” Devries said. “It’s really cool.”
Devries and other honours are being feted at the awards event Thursday at the Everest Convention Centre in Chatham.
THIS YEAR’S OTHER HONOUREES
Business individual of the year: Kaleena Cryderman, TekSavvy
Entrepreneur of the year: Tina Hodgson, Neighbourly Care
Business of the year (large): Dakota Hodgson, Neighbourly Care
Business of the year (medium): Laurie McCarthy, Styled Co.
Corporate citizen of the year and business of the year (small): Greg Hetherington, CKXS 99.1 FM;
Young entrepreneur of the year, young business person of the year: Maxwell Abraham, Abraham Orthodontics
Citizen of the year: Susan Bienstman
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