Business

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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How to make payment processing easy!

Hamed Arbabi is the CEO and Founder of the Vancouver-based payments company, VoPay, and is recognized as an innovative thought leader in the fintech industry. Known for his drive to innovate and change how firms conduct business, Hamed has used his expertise to turn VoPay into a dominant force in the world of financial technology.

A serial entrepreneur, Hamed has successfully built and grown multiple startups and leveraged his knowledge of business expansion to develop them into successful, disruptive ventures. With over fifteen years of executive-level experience in spearheading comprehensive strategies and business developments, Hamed has a proven track record and an in-depth knowledge of the global financial industry.

Hamed’s overall vision for VoPay revolves around innovation and digital transformation. What began as a simple idea ultimately founded the pillars of his venture: that financial services should be easy, affordable and accessible to all.

Committed to his community, and dedicated to giving back, Hamed has founded and supported multiple non-profit organizations that focus on helping children access technology. He firmly believes that given the right educational tools, young people can expand their skills and take control of their futures by opening doors to new opportunities.


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Pour l’amour des sols et la culture régénératrice, découvrez cet artiste désigner de la biodiversité

Depuis 2007, Sébastien Angers pratique l’agriculture de conservation biologique sur sa ferme à Ste-Monique de Nicolet . Il est propriétaire de la Ferme de l’Odyssée.

Agronome de formation, sa passion profonde a toujours été d’optimiser le potentiel de la santé des sols. Il cherche à minimiser ses interventions et ainsi aider la terre à retrouver sa biodiversité naturelle. Pour se faire, il a su miser sur des designs culturaux novateurs, redéfinissant ainsi le visage de l’agriculture au Québec. C’est un peu comme si on faisait de la permaculture à grande échelle.

En usant d’ingéniosité, il a su trouver et adapter des équipements spécialisés lui permettant de tester un maximum de cultures de couverture différentes, et ainsi, maximiser le potentiel de synergies des plantes.

Curieux et créatif, son laboratoire à ciel ouvert lui permet d’être l’artiste accomplie qu’il est aujourd’hui.


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The Importance of Customer Success with Pierce Ujjainwalla

Pierce Ujjainwalla is a career marketer who has lived in the marketing trenches at companies like IBM, SAP, NVIDIA, and Marketo. He launched Knak in 2015 as a platform designed to help Marketers simplify email creation. He is also the founder of Revenue Pulse, a marketing operations consultancy.


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

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Set clear goals and create actions to support your goals

Ashlee Livingstone is the Chief Engagement Officer of Our Forte. She’s been working with leaders in the community for years to help them refocus on their mission, balance their priorities and learn the skills it takes to overcome the hurdles that are holding them back. She works off of the four pillars; engagement, development, gratitude and experience to build team connections and successful leaders.


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Ending plastic pollution while bringing to the world pristine Canadian spring water

Saawan Logan was the youngest of 3 siblings was born in Fiji and moved to Canada from Australia. She is the woman who makes it all happen. She turns dreams into reality, with persistence, drive and her supercharged energy. Her sense of adventure spans globally for both work and leisure. She has worked across Asia Pacific, Australia and more recently, Canada. In her travels, the only thing she never came across was Canadian water on international shelves. After spending the majority of her career in oil and gas she ventured into entrepreneurship and started North Water. North Water is a pledge to end plastic pollution while bringing to the world pristine, Canadian spring water.

North Water went operational in 2020 and has since expanded its distribution network across Canada. North Water is sourced from the Canadian Rockies and is naturally high in alkaline. North Water is currently carried in 5-star hotels, private jets, major retailers like Whole Foods Canada and more recently on movie production sets. The company is ready to expand overseas where it can showcase the great-tasting water Canada has to offer.

Amongst Saawan’s many favourite things to do, spending time in nature, travelling, and cooking top the charts. Saawan is involved in the community and is always looking at taking on volunteer initiatives where she can make a difference. She believes in hearing everyone out and providing meaningful opportunities for everyone.


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

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