Business

What it takes to lead the entertainment industry

A driven and enthusiastic go-getter, Mike Anderson has been making waves in the entertainment industry for decades. After completing studies at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Ryerson University’s Event Management Program, Mike joined the NAIT Students Association’s team as Entertainment Marketing Manager.

After gaining industry experience, in 2005 Mike was up for a new challenge and decided to launch Trixstar – a 360-degree live event management & consultation firm that activates both city and rural markets with fairs, festivals, concerts, brand activations as well as celebrity and speaker events. Working alongside organizations that want to create brand awareness, generate excitement and raise funds through impactful events and unique experiences, Trixstar now operates out of Nashville, Calgary, and Edmonton supporting clients and events all over North America.

The scope of Mike Anderson’s career as an event management expert has attracted the attention of peers, international celebrities and the media who have celebrated him as one of Edmonton’s “Top 40 Under 40′′ as well as one of the “Top 50 Alumni” of his college (NAIT) over the last 50 years. He was also nominated as “International Talent Buyer of the Year” at the International Entertainment Buyers Association Industry Awards in Nashville. His foresight and careful planning allowed Trixstar to not only survive the pandemic in the face of public health restrictions, but adapt to provide safe live events that also created jobs. This adaptability and progressive thinking is what keeps Mike Anderson leading the entertainment industry.


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Make sure people are the core of whatever you’re doing

As co-founder of Vancouver-based real estate software company, Spark, Simeon Garratt has been responsible for landing some of Spark’s top real estate clients in North America. Years of living abroad in Asia and building his experience in the real estate industry fueled his ultimate vision — to transform and streamline how new developments are managed and sold. With an extensive background in selling and marketing property, Simeon has been involved in the sales of over 1,000 homes internationally which helped bring Spark into more than 80 cities worldwide. Recently, Garratt has been nominated to President of the BC Real Estate Tech Association, where he looks forward to sharing his expertise and institutional knowledge of the fast-changing industry.


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Entrepreneurs Require a Sense of Audacity. Do You Have What It Takes?

Graham Wong, Founder & CEO, Lauft Inc. Graham loves being a creative entrepreneur. The former founder and principal of Toronto-based ad agency Urban DNA has over twenty years of experience building and deploying brand strategies for some of Canada’s best known brands including Nike, Fujitsu, City of Toronto, Ontario Ministry of Health and CAMH (and many others). His work in UX strategy extends across a multitude of industries and in 2006, he introduced Canada to mobile proximity marketing.

Check out his new coworking space project at www.lauft.work


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Start thinking BIGGER

Since 2004, Colin Sprake has helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and their families make lasting changes in their personal and professional lives (https://www.mymsuccess.com). He’s been privileged enough to speak on Tony Robbins’ stage and present with Jack Canfield, John Assaraf, Joe Dispenza, Les Brown and countless other global thought leaders. He is a 4-time best-selling author and business mentor with a proven track record of personally building profitable companies from the ground up. He’s a highly passionate and engaging presenter that specializes in mindset, realizing personal potential, and is an absolute genius at business strategy.

Colin is devoted to making a difference on this planet where human beings live in love, financial abundance, and prosperity. Having been through a very tough childhood caused by severe bullying, he attempted to take his life at the age of 14 and thought he would never amount to anything significant. He has a deep desire for people to reach their full potential, and it completely fills his heart to the brim when people achieve what they thought was absolutely impossible or their biggest dreams are realized. Colin is not about motivation, which, as he says, is temporary, but is about inspiration, where there are long-lasting results. He will inspire any audience and engage them with psychological and physiological changes to allow them to rewire their brains and cellularly reprogram their bodies to attract unprecedented results and outcomes!


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Découvrez les règles de concurrence et de marketing que toutes les entreprises devraient connaître

Anthony Durocher, sous-commissaire

La Direction générale de la promotion de la concurrence encourage activement les entreprises, les consommateurs, les organismes de réglementation, le gouvernement et les partenaires internationaux à adopter des positions, des politiques et des comportements axés sur la concurrence. La Direction générale fait également des analyses économiques qui favorisent la mise en application de la loi, et elle dirige les processus de planification et de présentation de rapports du Bureau.


Découvrez les règles de la concurrence et du marketing que toutes les entreprises devraient connaître.

Apprenez-en plus à http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/fra/h_04456.html


Les entrepreneurs sont l’épine dorsale de l’économie canadienne.

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How to start a business with almost NOTHING

If you had told Mellisa Mills a decade ago she’d be at the helm of a growing plant-based cheese empire, she’d have laughed in your face. After all, she’d been fired from just about every job she ever held for insubordination. But it turns out, she just needed to do things her own way.

She started cooking for herself at a young age. Later, in between the many jobs that never seemed to stick, her DIY spirit and curiosity about nutrition and plant medicine combined with her love of quality ingredients to create Spread’Em Kitchen.

Mellisa turned a blender, a bicycle, and $500 into a thriving farmers market stand in Vancouver. A few years later, Spread’Em Kitchen moved into its own industrial facility, where it gradually grew into a celebrated manufacturer of plant-based dips, spreads and cheeses.

Mellisa makes sure all ingredients are ethically sourced and background checked. Her employees earn a living wage. Spread’Em is striving to become a zero-waste facility. The company also donates to several children’s programs, including breakfast clubs at local schools.

The business has since exploded across Canada, growing from $500 in sales to almost $4 million. Mellisa remains on a mission to disrupt the packaged food space. She believes that food should be nourishing, that it should be made with integrity, that it should make you feel good, and that it should be shared.


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Wes Hall of Dragons’ Den invites you to submit your pitch and gives some helpful tips

Dragons’ Den and Canada’s Podcast have partnered to give away 3 golden tickets to pitch to the dragons! Get your golden ticket to Dragons’ Den today by uploading your 60-second video pitch to our entry page at https://canadaspodcast.com/dragonsden. The best 3 elevator pitches will get a golden ticket to audition to the Dragons’ Den producers.

Wes Hall is Executive Chairman and Founder of Kingsdale Advisors. He is the newest Dragon to the Den – Canada’s first Black Dragon. He has been married for 30 years and is father of five kids. Wes was originally from St. Thomas, Jamaica and he immigrated to Canada at 16 years old. Raised by his grandmother in a tin shack with 13 siblings and no running water, Wes is truly a self-made Canadian dream success story. His favourite sports team: the Toronto Raptors. Wes is very into fitness (yoga, pilates, peloton, treadmill, weights, all sports). Wes is known for his generosity, leveraging his business success to benefit others with a number of impactful charitable initiatives, and serves as a Board Member of the SickKids Foundation, Pathways to Education, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and The Black Academy. He is also a Member of the Board of Governors at Huron University College. Wes is Founder and Chairman of The Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism and the BlackNorth Initiative, committed to the removal of anti-Black systemic barriers negatively affecting the lives of Black Canadians. He has also changed the lives of thousands of children in the Caribbean and Canada, donating both his money and time. In 2015, Wes was the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Award and in 2017 received an Honorary Doctorate, both from the University of the West Indies.

Maybe you can join him and begin your success journey. Take a listen to the podcast. Give us your 60-second video pitch and who knows, you might get to meet the Dragons. The best 3 elevator pitches will get a golden ticket to audition to the Dragons’ Den producers. Go to https://canadaspodcast.com/dragonsden and make your pitch.

Decarbonizing Your Business with Dr. Jamie Stephen

This episode with Dr. Jamie Stephen will provide information on the decarbonization solutions that entrepreneurs can consider as they build and grow their businesses. Now more than ever, there are expectations for companies to integrate carbon-conscious decisions into operations. Dr. Stephen will specifically discuss how the forest sector can support the most effective decarbonization efforts that business can adopt.

The efforts that will be focused on include:

  • Building with wood – carbon capture through wood infrastructure
  • Thermal energy – heating buildings sustainably which is the largest climate liability for businesses
  • Bioenergy carbon capture and storage – options for permanent CO2 removal from the atmosphere

Dr. Jamie Stephen is Managing Director of TorchLight Bioresources, an energy and resources consulting and project development firm based in Nova Scotia, Canada.

He has managed bioenergy and cleantech projects for a broad variety of clients including national and provincial governments, utilities, airlines, manufacturers, investment funds, First Nations, and technology developers. Projects have focused on industrial growth strategies, facility feasibility, technology deployment hurdles, policy options, and investment prioritization.

Originally from Saskatchewan and the UK, he holds a PhD in Forestry (bioenergy techno-economics/strategy) and a Masters in chemical engineering from the University of British Columbia and a BSc(H) in Life Science from Queen’s University.

Learn how you can become net-zero at https://www.forestryforthefuture.ca/


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Entrepreneur, Community Builder, and Humanitarian

Desirée Amanda Bombenon has over 30 years of business operational experience, and strategic leadership. Awarded Ernst & Young 2019 Entrepreneur of the year for the Prairies in Communication Technology, she is a bold innovator, futurist, and purpose driven leader. Her portfolio includes business strategy, social enterprise, and culture building. Desirée is an active member of a number of organizations including YPO (formally Young President’s Organization) and International Women’s Forum, and has chaired several industry boards and focus groups. She is a past director of the National Music Centre, is a past Chair of YPO Alberta Chapter, and a past Chair of YPO Canada Region. Desirée currently serves as Chair of the Governance & HR committee for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Chair of Governance, HR & Nominating committee for Children First Canada, and Vice Chair with CAMX, the Canadian Call Management Association. She also currently Chairs the YPO International Wine Network and is an Executive Committee member of the YPO Sustainable Business Network. She is a cohort for Singularity University and a Harvard Alumni for the Advanced Leadership Initiative 2017 Cohort. She is involved in mentorship programs in her community and through Women’s Executive Network. Desirée has earned her B Admin, CIAC Certification as a Strategic Leader, and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently enrolled in Queen’s University EMBA program through Smith School of Business.

Under Desirée’s leadership SureCall has been recognized for numerous industry awards for service excellence, ethics, and integrity. The Centre for Economic and Leadership Development, in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, recognized Desirée as a transformational leader naming her “Champion of Sustainable Development” and honouring her with the ‘Enabler of Vision’ award at the 2017 UN Summit in New York.

Desirée has pivoted her company into a social enterprise and through the “GoodCall” program has established SureCall as a “purpose driven” organization. SureCall became a Certified Benefits corporation (B Corp) in April of 2019 and was named a ‘Best For the World’ Honouree in 2019, rounding out Desirée’s vision of utilizing business as a Force for Good.


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The Commissioner of Competition discusses the importance of competition for business in Canada

Matthew Boswell was appointed Commissioner of Competition on March 5, 2019, for a five-year term. He first joined the Competition Bureau in January 2011 and served in various senior management positions throughout the organization, leading merger reviews and directing major investigations targeting criminal cartels, abuse of dominance and deceptive marketing practices.

Before joining the Bureau, Mr. Boswell worked in a private practice in Toronto, served as Assistant Crown Attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario, and was a Senior Litigation Counsel at the Ontario Securities Commission, where he primarily prosecuted securities fraud and related matters.


To learn more about creating an effective compliance program, visit http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/h_04456.html


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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