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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
When business award finalist Tara Newbigging started her fitness company FIT2theT in Yellowknife in 2008, she quickly realized fitness, health and wellness were lacking in the community.

Tara Newbigging, owner and operator of Yellowknife fitness company FIT2theT, has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Business Development Bank of Canada Young Entrepreneur Award. - photo courtesy of FIT2theT

"I've made a change here in the past four years helping people become fitter," the health and wellness consultant says from Pilot's Monument, in a video outlining her own business innovation project to get fitness programs started in remote communities. "I've made a change here in the past four years helping people become fitter," she said. "I now want to improve my business and outreach to further communities in the North, in hopes of making the Northwest Territories healthier, and fit to the tee."

In response to the video application, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has selected Newbigging as one of eight finalists for the 2012 BDC Young Entrepreneur Award, advancing her business innovation idea to the national voting stage of the contest, which opens today.

"It's very exciting," Newbigging said. "I didn't think that it would actually happen. I just need the support of the North now. I've worked so hard to improve their health and wellness and fitness, and now I need their support to help vote for me. It's up in the air now. It all relies on votes."

With the support of Yellowknifers and other followers across the country, who can vote online on the BDC's website and Facebook page until June 19, the health and wellness consultant's goal to bring fitness across the North will come true within the next year.

As part of her project proposal, Newbigging wants to travel to remote communities and help build skills, awareness and tools needed to get started in fitness with intensive workshops. She hopes to also find local fitness liaisons in the communities she reaches, to help mentor and continue the programs after she leaves. In addition, she wants to create an online video service where these communities can log in, download new workouts, access educational materials and even connect via Skype to her weekly classes.

With fitness instruction including personal training, Zumba, and bootcamp-style fitness, Newbigging has grown her business from six participants in her first class, to an estimated 300 people per week attending her classes in Yellowknife.

Finalists were chosen by selection committees across the country from different provinces and regions across Canada. Newbigging was selected to represent the North, a category which included applicants from the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and across the Arctic.

In a statement prepared in support of Newbigging's participation in the competition, Michel Bergeron, senior vice-president, marketing and public affairs at BDC, congratulated her for bringing her project to the finals of the young entrepreneur award contest.

"All the finalists competing for the Grand Prize for Innovation have projects with a solid potential to generate growth and prosperity," he stated. "The eight finalists have proven that they have ability to run a successful business and to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industries. It is now up to Canadians to choose which project will come to life in the following year."

The grand prize to implement the innovation is $100,000. The project with the second most votes will receive a $25,000 prize to implement an Internet strategy by BDC consulting experts.

Newbigging was nominated for another prestigious award last year, that recognizes excellence in the field of health and wellness. She has again been nominated for the canfitpro Canadian Fitness Professionals Fitness Professional of the Year award for 2012.

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