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Lewis Media Founder Named Central Region Semi-Finalist

TORONTO - December 9, 2004 - Joseph Fung, co-founder of Lewis Media and third-year student at the University of Waterloo, today was named a Central region semi-finalist in the 2005 CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award competition. He was selected from 70 nominees from Ontario and Quebec for starting and operating a successful business while attending college or university full-time.

Lewis Media is a Waterloo-based web development company. Their flagship product, WebAdmin, allows website owners to easily update their websites without the ongoing cost of a webmaster.

"In our recent small business study, we found that education plays a key role in entrepreneurial success," said Rob Paterson, Senior Vice President, CIBC Small Business Banking. "These regional semi-finalists have the winning combination of entrepreneurial vision and education. CIBC is proud to help showcase Canada's up-and-coming student entrepreneurs like Joseph, who has already put Lewis Media on the map, even while he is a full-time student."

Fung is one of three semi-finalists who will compete at the regional level of the 2005 CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award, presented by Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE). The award celebrates and showcases the accomplishments of Canadian student entrepreneurs, and is open to full-time Canadian university and college students.

The other regional semi-finalists are David Bissinger and Peter Clarke of the University of Western Ontario for Stix Furniture, and Greg Stark of Wilfrid Laurier University for Grassboy.

All will compete in Ottawa, Ontario in March, 2005 for the opportunity to represent their region as a finalist at the ACE National Exposition in Toronto in May, 2005, where the CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year will be selected. More than 500 students and educators representing university and college campuses across the country and prominent business leaders are expected to attend the event. Last year's judges included Ian Portsmouth, Editor, PROFIT Magazine; Vivian Woytiuk, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Youth Business Foundation; and Catherine Swift, President and Chief Executive Office, Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Nominations for the 2005 CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award were submitted through the ACE website from September 7, 2004 to November 5, 2004. Nominees were then encouraged to submit an application outlining their business, which were evaluated based on how effective the student was in:
- Demonstrating a need for a unique product or service, and its competitive advantages;
- Identifying, reaching and impacting their target market through innovative marketing and public relations strategies;
- Expressing their vision and future plans for both the company and themselves;
- Demonstrating how they applied the learning from their experiences to increase their success;
- Ensuring the company is socially responsible and makes a positive impact on the community; and
- Presenting their business to the panel.

Joseph Fung
Joseph Fung is currently completing his third year of computer engineering at the University of Waterloo. He has been recognized as a student leader by both the Engineering Student Society as well as the University's Federation of Students. Joseph expects to graduate in May, 2006.

About CIBC Small Business
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with more than 500,000 small business customers in Canada. CIBC is committed to helping small businesses succeed and has more than 1,300 business advisors across the country working with entrepreneurs to help them achieve their business and personal financial goals. A founding sponsor of ACE, CIBC is proud to support Canada's up-and-coming small business owners through the CIBC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. For more information, visit: www.cibc.com/smallbusiness.

About ACE
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national, not-for-profit organization that is igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE organizes and motivates teams of university and college students who practice and teach others the principles and values of entrepreneurship and market economics. Today, ACE is reaching thousands of students through 45 highly dedicated ACE Teams across Canada.

*** For more information, please contact: Paula Worthington 416-304-1566 ext. 220 or paula@acecanada.ca