Peace By Chocolate Founder Wins National Entrepreneurship Awards
ANTIGONISH — Peace By Chocolate founder Tareq Hadhad has won a pair of prestigious awards recognizing the positive impact he’s made on his community as a new Canadian.
Hadhad was named on Tuesday one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. He also received the organization’s 2020 Entrepreneurship Award.
Presented by Canadian Immigrant and sponsored by RBC, the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards are people’s choice awards that aim to recognize “inspirational immigrants who have made a positive impact on their communities since arriving in Canada.”
The organization’s Entrepreneurship Award is an additional honour given to a Canadian immigrant who has achieved notable success as an entrepreneur.
“I did not expect to win either of these awards,” Hadhad told Huddle Tuesday morning. “I was on a list with 75 amazing immigrants, Canadians, who have contributed way more than me and have done really amazing things. So it’s just such an honour to be on that list.”
Hadhad and his family came to Canada in 2015 after a civil war forced them to flee their home in Syria in 2013.
He had been studying to become a doctor in Syria but language and qualification barriers hampered his ability to enter the field here in Canada.
His family had owned a chocolate company in Syria, so shortly after arriving in Antigonish he revived the business with a new name and a new mission to promote values of peace and acceptance.
“It’s not about the dollar value as much as the humanity value, as much as we are focusing on our community. At the end of the day the goal for our company is not focusing as much on the profit, it’s focusing on the community, the environment, the planet, just all of these amazing values that govern us here,” he said.
Hadhad said he’s proud of what he’s built during his relatively short time in Canada and winning a national entrepreneurship award is further recognition of that.
“For me, just arriving in December 2015, less than five years after arrival winning that national award, and being the only person from Nova Scotia… is something I’m really proud of,” he said.
“By winning the two awards, I am representing the three places that make me who I am: Nova Scotia, Syria, and Canada, and the values that we stand for by being the nation of freedom and opportunity,” he added.
“May we continue to have our country enriched, strengthened, and nourished by big dreams and limitless passions of everyone who is seeking a better life and a brighter future.”