Some people are born entrepreneurs while others - through temerity, tenacity and sometimes pure chance - become them.

Carol Madou, maker of a new boardgame designed to promote healthy eating, is convinced that she just fell into it. "I believe the game was given to me," says Madou, a Simcoe accountant, wife and mother.

Madou's Balancing Act Challenge is an accumulation game. Players age seven and up collect food-group serving cards based on Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating by working their way around a colour-coded board. The winner of the game is the first person to collect the minimum number of cards as recommended by the guide.

Madou woke up one day in October 2003 having dreamed of a hopscotch board with the guide on it. She sketched out the game on bristol board and enlisted her 11-year-old son, Edward, to play it with her.

Chris Thomas, Business Edge
Carol Madou, playing with son Edward, had a lot to learn about copyright and trademarks.

"It didn't work," Madou says.

Edward suggested a circle in the middle of the board and a challenge square that would allow players to challenge each other for food-serving cards. He also wanted more of the Canadian flags that allow players to go anywhere on the board.

Madou made modifications to the game and her husband John took the prototype to local schools for feedback. The Grade 3 students were hooked. "They weren't done at recess, so they stayed in to finish," Madou says.

Like Edward, the children wanted more Canadian flags and suggested challenges for category cards.

Buoyed by the feedback, Madou decided to "jump in with both feet," convinced that it was "a great game with a great message."

In March 2004, Madou secured permission from Health Canada to base her game on Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating. Since a make-up company was already using the name Balancing Act, Madou decided on Balancing Act Challenge to honour the challenge squares on the game board.

Madou's accounting background was helpful in launching the business, but only to a point. "I didn't know anything about copyright or trademarks," admits Madou, who did online research and took advantage of a local government program that provides guidance for small business startups.

Madou copyrighted the board design and rules and is in the process of securing the registered designation for the game's name. She registered her sole proprietorship, Cawwot Games, in the summer of 2004.

The choice of business name also came by chance.

"My nephew couldn't pronounce my name," says Madou. "He said Cawwot instead of Carol.”

The name stuck, and is also featured on Madou's licence plate.

Paris Graphics printed 500 copies of the game and recommended a company in Brantford to handle packaging. A friend helped Madou translate the game into both official languages.

Madou has sold more than 100 games, which are priced at $30 each, since they came on the market last December. Sales mostly have been through contacts made with local schools and organizations, as well as by word of mouth.

"Fund-raisers do chocolate all the time and the game provides a healthy alternative," Madou says.

Lesia Hucal, a public-health dietician with the public health and community services department in Hamilton, says the boardgame idea is "a fun way to teach anyone over age seven ... about getting the minimum number of servings" as set out by the food guide.

She noted, however, that the game does not address the issue of what constitutes a serving size for each of the food groups. "I'm not sure if learning the minimum number of servings via this boardgame would translate into better eating choices by those that play."

Susan Osher, a registered dietician in Toronto with extensive experience in pediatric nutrition, considers the game "good from an educational perspective.”

But providing a range of food servings based on the age and energy needs of a child - rather than a minimum number of servings - is preferable to a "quantitative seal," she says.

Madou would like to see Balancing Act Challenge picked up in schools nationwide as a curriculum resource and says retailers Toys "R" Us, Zellers and Giant Tiger are considering stocking the game.

Madou says working on the game has made her more confident and outgoing, although she is quick to point out her husband's support.

"There was one time when I was overwhelmed, just about ready to quit, if it weren't for him," she says.

"I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be an entrepreneur," Madou says.

"Life gets better after 40."

(MacLean can be reached at maclean@businessedge.ca)