Business

Keeping up is the biggest challenge for successful entrepreneurs

Alex Coombs has been working in the media industry for the past 12 years. One of Alex’s biggest successes and passions has been teaching classes (Photo, Video, Editing & Graphic Design) at Mohawk College which she started at the young age of 22. With 11 years of experience as a Professor, she has mastered these skills.

She launched Northern Spruce Media Inc. in 2018 and this has become her main priority. Creating a feeling of warmth and beauty through her photos and videos has become her specialty. She is putting every ounce of strength and effort to make this small business into something HUGE. She has a full, professional team to aid her in providing perfect results for clients.


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How this serial entrepreneur amassed $1 billion dollars in commercial real estate development assets

Frank Lonardelli is a “serial entrepreneur” who has been investing and developing Real Estate since he was 25 years old and built and sold two of his former companies to public entities by age 35.

Since launching ASI as his full-time focus in 2012, the company has amassed over $1 billion dollars in commercial real estate development assets and has attracted dozens of articles written about its successful strategy and projects from both regional and nationally recognized business and industry publications.

ASI owns some of the most high-profile development sites on and around Calgary’s 17th avenue corridor. ASI’s focus is the development of “Live, Work and Play” projects within these urban areas.

Committed to innovation, strategic thinking, transparency, accountability and performance, ASI has become a respected and sought-after real estate company. Winning multiple awards including the PCMA Commercial Real Estate Deal of the Year, Frank has also been recognized as one of Alberta’s 2016 Business Leaders of the Year and was recently named as an EY 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.

ASI creates projects which generate significantly higher returns than traditional Real Estate investment options. The company exclusively raises private equity from their growing list of accredited investors, family offices and institutional investment houses.

Frank’s proudest achievement to date is the launch of the Arlington Street Foundation Scholarship Program in 2009. He intends to expand the program nationally within the next 5 years.

Frank is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a major in Political Sciences and has completed the Executive Master’s Program through the Sloan School of Management.


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Building a real estate empire one property at a time

Bob Dhillon is the Founder, President & CEO of Mainstreet Equity Corp, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mainstreet is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:MEQ). As of Q1 2023, assets were valued at close to CDN$3B and MEQ reported its 23rd year of consistent, year-over-year, double-digit returns through its continued organic growth.

Year-to-date holdings currently consist of 16,802+ apartments across western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba). Along with its healthy balance sheet success, Mainstreet is a strong and proud champion of affordable housing.

In 2018, Bob gifted CDN$10M to the University of Lethbridge towards the creation of the Dhillon School of Business (DSB). Bob’s strong belief that education and entrepreneurship are the engines of national prosperity, along with his strong desire to give back to the province that provided him with so many opportunities, motivated his decision to make this substantial and transformative contribution. One of the primary areas of study at DSB is a world-class research and emerging technologies. Bob is also very proud of the fact that DSB was the first post-secondary institution in Canada to mandate an indigenous studies course requirement.

Bob is also the owner of National Payments, a Visa and MasterCard-approved merchant-processing business in the financial services sector.


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Treat yourself like a million dollar client

Cynthia Lockrey is a changemaker + communications expert. She shifts people, teams, organizations and cultures to go from overwhelmed to clear and activated. Having worked in public relations for 25+ years, Cynthia is skilled at breaking down communications fundamentals into bite size and easy to implement pieces. She does this in her writing, communications consulting, speaking, training and coaching. While based on Vancouver Island, Cynthia works with individuals, non-profits, businesses and organizations from across North America. She is passionate about helping people share their stories and be heard.


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Using engineering principles to educate homeowners and realtors on their foundations

Benjamin Heninger is a registered professional civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in the construction industry and is the founder of groon construction. He is a born-and-raised Calgarian, who takes pride in operating with integrity, efficiency, practicality and ingenuity. Using his engineering expertise, he solves complex problems and educates his clients. Heninger has been in good standing with the association of professional engineers and geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) for the past 17 years.

groon construction is a Calgary-based boutique construction company specializing in concrete foundation waterproofing solutions since 2003. They believe that your concrete foundation’s stability, functionality, and integrity are critical for a safe and healthy home.


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Starting up… get some great insights from a start-up master

Matthew von Teichman is a serial entrepreneur and one of the country’s biggest leaders in the Natural Products category (founder of Spore Wellness, GreenSpace brands, Life Choices, among just a few). He’s started 9 companies and it’s obvious he loves the energy and innovation of a startup! and he’s made his entrepreneurial drive pay off. He’s now going back to his roots and doing startups in the e-commerce and food space, as well as helping entrepreneurs with their businesses as an investor, mentor, and advocate to help them avoid some of the many mistakes I’ve made. Check out his latest venture at Purplesful.


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How to grow your business with software

Scott Lionello is the Co-Founder and President of Omnae Technologies a Vancouver-based Supply Ops Automation startup. Born and raised in the lower mainland, Scott has a passion for music, invention, lateral thinking, and entrepreneurship. Through the journey of building Omnae, Scott has learned how destructive innovation within a legacy business can be a path to achieving success with ideas too big for the conventional lean startup model.


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Helping people stay charged across the GTA

Theo Theo is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Batteries Inc®️️️ a consumer battery rental service. They provide customers with the comfort knowing their phone will always be fully charged wherever they may be. Their battery towers are in businesses across the GTA, so be on the lookout for one that could be nearby! Since it’s inception, Theo imagined this company as an entity people look for when they are in need of help.

“Whether it’s needing a top-up while you are with some friends at a café, or desperately needing your phone to stay on while waiting for an Uber®️️️ after a late-night concert, I want our company to be your oasis. I want our company to be what you look for when you need to stay connected. This is our focus.”


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Bringing Latin-inspired cuisine to Edmonton

Hifa Maleki specializes in fast-paced strategic planning for aggressive growth models and is known for building, scaling, and executing brand and business systems/best practices to support strategic, successful and sustainable growth.

For the last 13+ years, she has been incredibly active and relentlessly committed to building and growing great franchise brands in Canada. She has driven unparalleled growth across Canada through effective Strategic Growth Planning which includes impacting high-level achievement in both Franchise and Unit Level Sales. She has been directly responsible for the growth of Orangetheory Fitness in Canada, building over 110 locations within 4 years while ensuring that quality and company values were being retained and delivered through each location. She believes in working with talented people, training, developing, and coaching them to drive the success of the companies she works with. She feels very strongly that the success of a brand is highly connected to the people behind it at corporate and the people in front of it, the staff. Her approach to successful business development is to appropriately and carefully select great people, select great real estate, and work very hard to protect the brand promise for the consumers.

Hifa is currently an owner and managing partner at El Corazon, El Beso and Pablo Cocktail Lounge. For El Corazon, as a new brand, she built all the systems, processes, training, and resources to ensure the business was set up for success operationally and supports managing the operations with the current management team. Hifa is also incredibly experienced with cocktail and menu development, working closely with her business partner and the Chef to ensure that all brands in this group’s portfolio are aligned with the respective brands while maintaining profitable cost control thresholds.

Prior to Orangetheory Fitness, she was in the hospitality industry in senior-level positions for over 12+ years. Operating one the busiest Joey Restaurant in Canada with over $11M annual revenue then joining the Famoso Neapolitan Pizza brand and supporting its growth of over 40+ locations within her 4 years with the company.


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Inspiring Future Leaders

Colby Delorme is one of the founding creators of Influence Mentoring Society, and was appointed Chairperson of the IMS’ Board of Directors in December 2020. With over 26 years of experience in business and as an entrepreneur, Mr. Delorme has built multiple businesses and is currently the President of the Imagination Group of Companies. Mr. Delorme’s experience has spanned the construction industry, brand development and marketing, a certification practice, franchise development, tobacco manufacturing, and business consulting. Mr. Delorme is also a celebrated industry leader; in 2010, he was inducted into the Calgary Top 40 Under 40 and won the Big Idea 2. In 2014, Mr. Delorme was the recipient of the Dr. Douglas Cardinal Award from the University of Calgary. Colby Delorme has a long and varied career in Not-For-Profit and Corporate governance, sitting on many boards over the past 15 years. Mr. Delorme holds an Institute of Corporate Directors Designation from the Rotman School of Management and was recently awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee award in Alberta. Colby is passionate about creating new and sustainable opportunities in business and for Indigenous peoples.


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