Vote for Us for Mom Entrepreneur of the Year!

Budding Artists has entered The SavvyMom Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a readers' choice contest designed to find “Canada's top Mom Entrepreneur.” The winner will be announced this fall, and will be awarded a $22,000 cash prize designed to help take a business to the next level.

Budding Artists is an art-based fundraising company showcasing children’s artwork. Budding Artists preserves children’s imaginations by creating unique customized keepsakes and giftware using original artwork. Budding Artists digitizes original artwork and prints them on t-shirts, mugs, aprons, and a variety of other media.

The idea was founded by London mom, teacher, and entrepreneur, Maria Calleja. Through her own art experiences with her two children, her students, and the development of Budding Artists, she launched Budding Artists in January 2008. Since then, Budding Artists has helped schools and day cares raise almost $10,000. This home-based business has grown steadily and continues to grow through an online presence and word of mouth and social media marketing. It has served local schools across the country, from British Columbia to Montreal. In addition, two percent of profits go to support a Filipino family microenterprise based in Iloilo, Philippines.

“As a teacher, I loved teaching art. While most kids love creating art, some students didn’t feel like they were artistic. To them, realism equated art. So I steered away from art projects that emphasized drawing and started to showcase their art in a variety of non-traditional ways. Reluctant artists began to see art as design-more than pages on a fridge door. This is the core of Budding Artists,” says Ms. Calleja.

With the title of Mom Entrepreneur of the Year, Budding Artists would use the award money to help build promote Budding Artists as an alternative to traditional school fundraisers. Building Budding Artists from scratch has been a rewarding experience, but it’s time to take it to the next level. This opportunity would allow Budding Artists to move beyond a one person operation to being able to access professional services.

Throughout the contest period, Savvymom will be hosting a 'Mom Entrepreneurs Gallery'. Click here to vote for Budding Artists.

Voters are also eligible to win a $500 cash back prize provided by PayPal Canada, the presenting sponsor of the award program.