The founder of Hope Blooms, a youth-run business that sells salad dressing, says she was surprised but appreciative to find the Halifax group mentioned in a blunt critique of federal Conservative leadership hopeful Kevin O'Leary.

Jessie Jollymore said she's received many emails from across the country asking about the business since Arlene Dickinson's column for CBC News this week.

Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications and an entrepreneur who appeared alongside O'Leary on the CBC business reality show Dragons' Den, wrote that her former fellow panelist has a "total lack of empathy" — and used his snub of Hope Blooms as a prime example.

"I was very proud and I was very impressed and moved that Arlene spoke her truth and spoke up," said Jessie Jollymore, the group's executive director.

Hope Blooms — a community garden group and salad dressing business run by youth from the Gottingen Street area of Halifax — appeared on the show in 2013.

The group's website says $1 from every bottle of salad dressing goes toward a scholarship for Hope Blooms youth. Another dollar goes toward a community charity chosen by the group.

'Nothing in it for Kevin'

Four investors gave the group $10,000 each. The only holdout was O'Leary.

"Kevin, not surprisingly, didn't give them anything except for an utter lack of consideration for what these kids were doing, and why it mattered," Dickinson wrote.

"Looking back, it's plain to see that he didn't participate because there was nothing in it for Kevin. He only saw how he'd lose $10,000 instead of seeing how he might change a kid's life."

Hope Blooms grew from humble beginnings in 2008. It has since opened a storefront location in Halifax and produces four types of salad dressings. (Elizabeth Chiu/CBC)

The Halifax program, which started in 2008, has expanded to produce four types of salad dressings and has a storefront location in the city.

Jollymore said O'Leary was "quite dismissive" from the very first moment.

'We invest in people'

"It was all about money being the bottom line for him," she said.

Jollymore said people moving on from the program will continue to impact the lives around them. (Elizabeth Chiu/CBC)

She said the youth who were on Dragons' Den are graduating this year and will soon go to university to continue making an impact.​

"From my experience, what I see is that there is more than one bottom line, and if your bottom line is only making money then you're missing out on the many dimensions that make this country a great country," Jollymore said.

"We invest in people. We invest in diversity. We invest in inclusiveness. We invest in a social return on investment. We celebrate those things, and so it has to be more than just making money as a priority."