Business

Brand Strategist & Business Performance Catalyst

Isabelle Mercier and Margarita Romano are ‘no-nonsense’ dynamos, born to catapult heart-centred entrepreneurs and business leaders to build impactful brands, businesses and lives.

Together, Isabelle and Margarita co-founded their first business venture a few years out of their teens, which quickly escalated to become one of Canada’s most awarded branding and creative firms; from prestigious international design awards to national entrepreneurs of the year. They are true pioneers in brand positioning, and to this day still continuously re-establish the way people do business. Throughout their careers, they’ve had the opportunity to work with more than 500 companies, including some influential and iconic brands like A&W, Robeez Footwear, Earls Restaurants, IMAX Corporation, and HSBC Investments just to name a few. With over two decades of hands-on experience in branding, marketing and business growth, as well as extensive learnings from traveling the globe, Isabelle and Margarita are more determined than ever to help entrepreneurs and thought leaders all over the world become The First, The Best or The Only.


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The key to a long career in pharmaceutical R&D

Dr. Allen Davidoff is the founder and CEO of XORTX. Allen has 15 years of drug development experience across a broad range of clinical, regulatory and senior management roles in pharmaceutical R&D. He has led two investigational new drug (“IND”) applications or supplemental IND’s, two phase I studies (four of which were multi-country), seven phase II studies, and one new drug application (NDA). Prior to forming XORTX, Allen was the Chief Scientific Officer, VP Product Development and co-founder of Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. (seven years) ( Trillium TRIL:NASDAQ) and Senior Scientist and Head of Pharmacology at Cardiome Pharma Corp.


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Running a public company is a whole business in itself

Payton Nyquvest is CEO of Numinus Wellness Inc., a leading, integrated mental health care company providing psychedelic-assisted therapies. Payton has an incredible personal healing story to share about his journey with psychedelics and what led him on this new path of conscious leadership and making psychedelic therapy available and accessible for everyone. Numinus Wellness Inc. is a leading, integrated mental health care company providing psychedelic-assisted therapies, with 13 wellness clinics across North America, four clinical research sites and a bio-analytical research lab. Numinus is one of the top revenue-generating companies in the psychedelics sector, working to address a growing societal need by providing a wide range of proven and innovative therapies to treat and potentially cure mental health conditions. Numinus is the only company in Canada with permission from Health Canada to grow and extract psilocybin for research for anxiety, depression and PTSD.


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Developing market intelligence tools for the construction industry

Chloe Smith is the CEO and Co-founder of Mercator AI, a construction intelligence platform that delivers project insights for general contractors, engineering firms, real estate firms, and building project manufacturers. Prior to launching Mercator, Chloe developed market intelligence tools for business developers in the marketing and advertising space, where she helped reduce time spent on gap analyses.

With a strong background in data strategy, big data, AI, and data monetization, Chloe was able to leverage her expertise to create Mercator. Today, Mercator analyzes millions of construction data activities—from conception to post-construction—to enable early project detection, uncover risk signals and surface competitive and client insights in real-time.

Together with her Co-founder, Hogan Lee, who has a background in building high performing multi-disciplinary teams, Chloe is building a company that is at the forefront of industry intelligence and innovation.


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Explaining why insurance policies, expectations and the reality of what you get, don’t always match up

Adam Niman has been selling life insurance for more than a decade, and as a result, he is committed to ensuring everyone understands that the insurance policies sold, the buyer’s expectations of the policies, and the reality of what the buyer is getting, don’t always match up. He is committed to building trust and educating Canadians because he believes that truth and transparency matters. His newest book, “Fortune or Fiction: Why the ‘Be Your Own Banker’ concept is flawed” is available now.


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How to be a badass superstar seller

Jackie Rainforth (https://rainmakersgroup.ca/) is a highly sought-after international speaker, trainer, author, and consultant specializing in B2B sales, leadership, and business growth. As a trusted partner to business leaders and decision-makers, she possesses extensive knowledge of various industries and best practices, offering customized and cutting-edge training, keynote presentations and workshops to her clients helping them improve their efficiency, revenues and growth. With her award-winning career in top sales performance spanning decades, she has earned the nickname “The Rainmaker”; Recognized as a Global Top 200 Power Voice of Leadership 2023, one of the 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Making Change 2022, and a Global Thought-Leader and Influencer to Watch 2021. Nominated as RBC Woman Entrepreneur of Canada and RBC Women of Influence Award, she is also a Top 500 LinkedIn All-star Influencer and Navigator Influencer with a Social Selling Index Top 1%. Let her help you MAKE IT RAIN RESULTS IN YOUR BUSINESS!


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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Sharing successful entrepreneurial stories

Faisal Karmali is an author, business expert and media personality, business and market expert for 770CHQR and CTV Morning Live in Calgary, and an entrepreneur. He brings his passion for helping people succeed in their businesses to his interviews and advice straight to you.

The Karmali Exchange with Faisal Karmali is a monthly web show and podcast, featuring successful entrepreneurs sharing their stories about how they achieved their goals, some of the challenges they have had along the way, and their advice that can help other business owners learn and grow their own companies.

He describes his mission this way:

“No entrepreneur does it by themselves. Every day, I speak to entrepreneurs about their businesses, and analyze and report on dozens of companies for thousands of people. I’ve noticed a pattern: what makes the basic building blocks of a successful business.

“I also know that entrepreneurship is a difficult, and often lonely endeavour. The best way to find solutions for your business is to talk to other entrepreneurs for insight and unique perspectives. But it’s hard to find those people to talk to when you are working so hard.

“That’s why I’ve decided to create a community to share advice, ideas and insights from experts, as well as the things I’ve learned from decades of studying successful businesses. Join us today to get the help you need to take your business to the next level.”


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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Creating a Culture for Success

Marcus New is a pioneer in the pre-IPO asset class, with a career that spans over three decades in the private and public financial markets. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InvestX, a firm headquartered in Vancouver, that delivers access and liquidity to the growth equity asset class and empowers the sell-side to invest and trade in institutional quality private equity. Marcus is also the Founder and Chair (and previously CEO) of Stockhouse Publishing – one of North America’s leading online financial communities and a global hub for accredited investors. Prior to launching Stockhouse, Marcus built Stockgroup Media, an online information company whose client base consisted of the top Canadian brokerage firms, global institutional sales desks, and hedge funds.

Marcus is passionate about entrepreneurship and has made it his life’s mission to be at the forefront of innovation and leadership in the financial markets. He has served as the past President of the Vancouver Chapter and Canadian Conference Chair for the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Pacific Region. Marcus is an alumni of MIT’s “Birthing of Giants” program and holds a B.A. with a Business Major from Trinity Western University.


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Improving social outcomes and launching products into underserved markets

Justin Sweeney is a social entrepreneur who uses the tools of business and finance to improve social outcomes and launch products into underserved markets. He leads an eco-friendly cosmetics company (alongside his wife, Judith) that specializes in healing salves and great-smelling daily-care products for eczema and sensitive skin. On the finance side, he has managed the social finance activity of Kaleidoscope Social Impact since 2018 and has grown their pool of capital from a few hundred thousand well into the millions, catalysing 100’s of affordable housing units and over a dozen social enterprises in the process. He lives in Kings County, New Brunswick, where he and his wife raise their two children close to nature.


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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Emphasizing safety and service in the trucking business

Matthew Halstead is president of Sharp Trucking Services, joining the company in 2020 as general manager. He began his career in logistics and transportation in 1994.

He has extensive management and leadership experience in specialized bulk transportation, serving the mining, industrial, and commercial and retail oil and gas sectors. Having led a variety of transportation and transload operations across western Canada and Ontario, Matthew has always taken a safety-first approach to daily operations – ensuring consistent client satisfaction and, most importantly, that the people he leads go home safely every day.

To provide great service, Matthew follows a core strategy that anticipates market needs, solves problems and exploits opportunities.

Matthew has a Bachelor of Arts from St Mary’s University and a supply chain & logistics diploma from Sheridan College. He lives in Edmonton with his wife and their two dogs.


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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