Fireworks and fireballs.

• Author: MILLS, PATRICIA
• Position: Brief Article

Anyone who attended this year's Northern Ontario Business Awards Generation of Excellence event was surely left with fond memories of the uniqueness of the venue (held in a former Eaton's store in downtown Sudbury), the spectacular indoor fireworks display and the quirky golf, carts that carted attendees to the "facilities" of choice.

But the most memorable impression of this year's awards has to be the calibre of the winners, in particular, the young entrepreneurs who stole the show with their honesty, spirit and humour.

Don George Aiken was 16 when he started his first business. The Red Lake-based entrepreneur, whose full story is printed in the NOBA Generation of Excellence Souvenir Program, had the room in his hand when he accepted his award as Young Entrepreneur of the Generation in front of 700 business leaders from around the North.

This 23-year-old, who now owns four chip wagons and the local Kentucky Fried Chicken/Pizza Hut franchise, is finding enough energy and interest to run for municipal council in this November's...