Five new Sunshine Coast business startups pitched their plans to a panel of business owners and community leaders on April 28, and Tracee Lang of the Sunshine Coast Salt Company came out on top, winning $500 for her pitch to the judges.
Lang was among five new business owners who graduated from the Community Futures and Simon Fraser University Local Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (LEAP) last month. The seven-week program is designed to help budding business people get their ideas off the ground. Those businesses must provide a benefit to the community.
Lang’s business model involves extracting salt from seawater surrounding the Sunshine Coast using direct heat and solar energy. That salt is then hand-blended with organic fresh herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers grown either on Lang’s property or sourced locally.
Lang tags all her salts with a GPS coordinate identifying where they were sourced from, which is one of the community benefits, she said.
“What we want to do is to promote the Sunshine Coast by putting on those GPS coordinates so people can see where their salt is coming from and what a beautiful area it is,” Lang said.
“Also with the progress of the company comes more jobs, and that’s where I really want to focus on. Of course, I’m never going to move this company off the Coast, because it is the Coast.”
The four other LEAP graduates who have now launched their businesses on the Coast include Deborah Reeve of Sunshine Coast Senior Services, Maryanne Brabander of Care for a Lift transportation service, Annette Clarke of the Exotic Fruit Nursery and Amanda Ridgeley of Be Eco, a blog about eco-friendly fashion that’s meant to encourage more mindful consumers.
