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IQALUIT - An Iqaluit art dealer has been named EBay Canada's 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year.

Bryan Hellwig, who displays his collection of 400 Inuit and Northern paintings, drawings and carvings on his own website but sells them on EBay, got the call from the popular online trading post last month.

Bryan Hellwig, online seller of Inuit and Northern art from his home base in Iqaluit, has been named EBay Canada's 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year. - photo courtesy of Tonisha Robinson

Hellwig submitted a self-penned biography about his business, talking about the challenges he faces operating in the North like shipping costs.

"I forgot all about it, because it was in July that I submitted it, and so when I got the call in September telling me I won, I said, 'Oh, right,'" said Hellwig, who also runs a recycling business.

This was the fourth annual EBay Canada Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Hellwig received a cash prize of $5,000.

"It's pretty neat, kinda cool," said Hellwig of the honour. "I've had a lot of people congratulate me. Usually when I wake up in the morning I've got 15 spam emails. This morning I had about 50 or 60 emails congratulating me.

"My 15 minutes of fame."

In order to win the prize, Hellwig had to be what's known as a "power seller" - an EBay member who makes at least $1,000 a month and is in good standing with those online buyers he's done business with.

"With art, it doesn't take much to sell $1,000 a month," he said.

Hellwig describes himself as pretty low profile, never openly advertising his business except for the sample paintings and carvings on display in his home office, open only on Saturdays.

But to hear him tell it, he doesn't have to. Most of the people who snatch up the items he offers - everything from Cape Dorset calendars to 1960s Eskimo menthol cigarettes from Switzerland - are hardcore collectors who know exactly what they want, not tourists off the boat with no clue as to who Kenojuak Ashevak is.

"You start talking (artists') names and they know what you're talking about," Hellwig said of his regulars.

As for the future, Hellwig plans on opening an art gallery, but not in Iqaluit and not until the current economic slowdown heals itself

"Probably in southern Ontario," he said of the location.

While 90 per cent of Hellwig's customers are American or Canadian buyers, he also gets winning bids from people in faraway places like the Czech Republic and Dubai.