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Design

Se lancer dans la fabrication de cuir végétal

Fannie Laroche a grandi dans une famille ou l’entreprenariat était un mode de vie. Riche de 10 ans d’expérience en tant que styliste personnelle à son compte, elle se questionne depuis un moment sur les pratiques éthiques appliquées dans le milieu de la mode et, faute d’options intéressantes, décide de créer sa propre solution : La création de cuirs végétaux à partir de matières résiduelles.

Elle-même végétalienne engagée et motivée à faire avancer la cause, elle crée Flaura, cuir végétal afin d’offrir des cuirs haut de gamme durables, locaux et naturels aux marchés du textile et des intérieurs de voiture.

Passionné et curieux de nature, le parcours professionnel de Grégory Hersant l’a amené successivement à occuper des postes touchant à la recherche, à son financement et à l’enseignement. Chimiste de formation, il a tout d’abord travaillé comme chercheur et gestionnaire de projets en chimie verte puis comme conseiller en développement de la recherche (soutien administratif des activités de recherche) et en fin dans le domaine du transfert technologique. Tout ce bagage d’expérience lui a permis de bien maîtriser les éléments importants de la chaine d’innovation. Grégory s’intéresse également depuis plusieurs années à la valorisation des matières résiduelles. Il offre d’ailleurs depuis 2008 des services de consultation en chimie verte et plus spécifiquement dans le cadre de projets touchant à la valorisation de matières résiduelles organiques ou d’origine végétale. Il est profondément convaincu que toutes les matières que nous jetons constituent un formidable réservoir d’opportunités d’affaires. Flaura, cuir végétal est une formidable opportunité de prouver qu’on peut à la fois donner une nouvelle vie à une matière considérée comme un résidu, développer un projet d’entreprise viable tout en ayant une approche respectueuse de l’environnement.


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Tackling unexpected challenges with fearless determination

Nicole Matos is a Metis woman, wife, mother of three, President of Rivet Construction and Founder of Oonnie Food Technologies. Leading her construction company for over a decade and now founding a food tech company, Nicole loves to tackle unexpected challenges with fearless determination. You will often hear Nicole say that her successes have mostly come from trying everything the wrong way first.

As an indigenous business Rivet is open to talking about potential partnerships or joint ventures. Rivet currently operates mostly in Alberta, however has a satellite office in Kelowna and some presence in SK. Rivet’s focus is commercial construction, commercial preventative maintenance and design build.

Oonnie is Farmers Market online – it gives you an opportunity to sell your products all day everyday without ever having to set up a physical booth or stand in the rain. Oonnie is like Etsy for food. Oonnie provides a platform and tools to support and help food producers grow their business.


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If You’re Going to Spend the Time, Do it Your Way, with Your Own Style

Henry Rojas is a Sheridan College graduate in Architectural Technology. He started his career as an Architectural Draftsman and continued to grew his skills in various roles in the industry. He began to work with custom homes and progressed to designing and constructing commercial spaces and apartment buildings. He extended his passion by overseeing the development of apartment units. His company Rojas Empire of Design, founded in 2018, is based in Mississauga, Ontario in 2018.


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Alignement des coeurs et de la vision d’entreprise

Albin Poignot est cofondateur de Linky Product et Product Leader, avec une vaste expérience en développement de logiciels. Il a dirigé avec succès trois produits logiciels. Il a travaillé pour de grandes entreprises, comme Capgemini ou Ubisoft, ainsi que pour des startups comme Koolicar ou Lightspeed. Son objectif principal est de définir les bons objectifs business et de comprendre les utilisateurs, afin de s’assurer que la technologie peut servir les utilisateurs et soutenir le développement de l’entreprise.

Valentine Hoyet est cofondatrice de Linky Product et Product Leader, avec une solide expérience en conception UX. Ayant toujours l’humain à l’esprit lorsqu’elle prend une décision, elle est une Gestionnaire de Produits très talentueuse et une leader naturelle. Valentine a travaillé dans un ensemble très diversifié d’entreprises internationales : Capgemini, Orange Business Services, BDC, Ubisoft… Elle sait relever les défis Produits dans de grandes entreprises avec de vastes bases clients. Son objectif principal est de comprendre les utilisateurs et de créer l’expérience utilisateur la plus fluide possible, afin de s’assurer que le produit peut servir les utilisateurs et l’entreprise.


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It takes a lot of hard work by the right people to get there

Kyle Kotack believes in being extraordinary — you must be memorable or risk being missed. As the President of Skylar Media Group, a powerhouse integrated digital agency, Kyle leads a team of over 25 to build strategic plans and creative branding for forward-thinking clients. After the recession of 2009 through till 2012, Kyle took the instrumental risk to pivot the business away from print and began Skylar’s evolution. Through multiple pivots, Skylar ultimately has become a full solution digital agency that is dynamic by design, ideal for our rapidly changing world.


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Pivoting from a career in the financial industry to being an entrepreneur

Robin Kovitz is the President & CEO of Baskits Inc., one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Baskits designs, manufactures and delivers unique and luxurious gifts across Canada and the US. With over 50,000 customers from around the world, Baskits makes the art of gifting quick and easy through its online stores, catalog/call center, warehouse, and retail locations. In 2020, and again in 2021, Baskits was recognized as one of the Top Growing Companies in Canada by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine.

Prior to acquiring Baskits in 2014, Robin worked in private equity on the buyouts of mid-sized companies and as a Summer Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group where she led a part of a large-scale cost reduction project at a Canadian bank. She also played an active role in the sale of her family’s western Canadian food manufacturing and distribution businesses. She began her career in Mergers and Acquisitions investment banking at CIBC World Markets and was recognized with the Chairman’s Award in 2005.

As a sought-after speaker and commentator on “Entrepreneurship through Acquisition”, digital retail and the topic of “Mompreneurship” Robin frequently serves as a guest lecturer at both the Yale School of Management and the Harvard Business School. She and/or Baskits have been featured in a number of leading publications, including: Forbes, House & Home, Elle Canada, Canadian Business, Huffington Post, Style at Home and on Global News, Your Morning Show.

Robin currently serves as a consultant to the Admissions Marketing team at the Harvard Business School and as a member of Young Presidents’ Organization. She holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University where she was a Rutherford Scholar. In 2017, and again in 2021, she was recognized as a Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award winner. In 2021, Robin received the Women of Inspiration Award from the Universal Womens Network. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.


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NextGen Perspective: Built Environments, Smart Cities & NFT’s

Ebony Walsh is an Architectural Designer, enthusiastic about innovation and technology. She is currently an intrapreneur for a company in Toronto, Ontario in Design Research & Data. She splits her time between Canada and Brazil working as a digital nomad.

Ebony is an exponential thinker – curious, actively adaptive to our social and technological advancements and her personal purpose and “why” is to advance optimal human experiences through infrastructure design. Her entrepreneurial ambition is to make hardware – our built environment (architecture and smart cities) as efficient and user-friendly as software; and she is looking to connect with like-minded startups.

Ebony is also co-leading a community of change-makers to create their first NFT campaign that will be the gateway investment to events, programs – and perhaps in the future, a purpose-driven hybrid digital-physical coworking | coliving village.


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A woman of many hats as a lawyer, realtor and fashion retailer

Emma May is the Founder of the digitally native fashion brand SophieGrace and the boutique real estate brokerage Charles Real Estate. A former corporate lawyer, Emma has worked in film and television and was a senior staffer to former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice.

Emma has consistently demonstrated commitment to her community. Following the floods of 2013 she Co-Founded the Calgary River Communities Action Group and advocated on behalf of her fellow Calgarians for policy and mitigation that would protect the City of Calgary in years to come.

In 2014, because of her activism, Premier Jim Prentice appointed Emma Executive Director, Office of the Premier, Southern Alberta. Her responsibilities included stakeholder relations, strategic policy development, issues management, and public affairs. She was responsible for the management and public programming of McDougall Centre and directed and collaborated with Provincial Administration on Flood Recovery Policy and Process. Emma also assisted in the consultation and re-write of Bill 10 (Gay Straight Alliances In Schools) in order for it to achieve unanimous all-party support.

Emma was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2000 and to the Alberta Bar in 2002.

As a lawyer, Emma explored best practices regarding corporate structure, intellectual property matters, strategic planning, and contractual concerns. She was also responsible for the negotiation and drafting contracts relating to financing, insurance, cast, union and guild related matters.


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Learn how Elle AyoubZadeh operates a local business with global vision and mission

Elle AyoubZadeh is Zvelle Founder and Creative Director. Elle is a bold, ambitious Canadian entrepreneur, and a woman of colour who has founded a local business with a global mission and vision. She has had the grit to persevere in the finance industry as a woman and visible minority, and later dive into the world of entrepreneurship challenging us to rethink how fashion should portray female beauty and achievement. Zvelle has enjoyed commercial success and Zvelle’s shoes have been spotted on public figures from Sophie Trudeau to Bella Hadid.

This year Minister Chrystia Freeland purchased Zvelle shoes to wear to budget day. Read more at Toronto Star.


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Annabelle Mastalic went from trained nurse to interior designer in pursuit of her passions

Based in Calgary, Alberta – Annabelle Mastalic officially launched ADM Interiors in May of 2019. With 17 years of experience as a trained nurse, Annabelle transitioned to interior design, leaning into two of her passions, a love for minimalism and a life-long fascination for design.

Because of her background, she brings a unique lens in her approach to designing spaces that are both beautiful, but also take her client’s health and wellness needs into consideration. Through her medical training, she is able to identify solutions and prompt conversations with clients to consider how they can bring wellness to the forefront of their homes and designs.

She is the first designer in Alberta to become a Certified Living In Place Professional (CLIPP) from the Living in Place Institute (Living In Place focuses on making all homes accessible to people of every age and ability, including helping seniors to age in place) and a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) from the National Association of Home Builders. Both designations enable her to identify and offer solutions for home accessibility, comfort, and safety in every home.

Annabelle’s timeless aesthetic and ‘less is more’ design approach/philosophy, focuses on removing daily burdens to create functional spaces that allow people to live with ease, comfort and beauty. Her designs are inspired by three core values – wellbeing, minimalism, and bringing the homeowner’s story to the forefront of the designs. Especially as we have spent more time at home over the past year, she is passionate about designing homes that are beautiful, meaningful, and are spaces where we can live well and thrive.


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