New Brunswick

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.


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How this award winning serial entrepreneur is giving back to his community

Larry Hachey and his wife Donna reside in Quispamsis and have been married for 37 years and are very proud of their two children, Shawna and Christopher. Both are UNB Graduates with multiple degrees. Shawna is a Cruise Director for Celebrity Cruise Lines, as well as a fashion entrepreneur. Christopher is a software engineer working in cyber-security.

Larry enjoys woodworking during his downtime while he and Donna enjoy boating in the Summer and travelling to warmer climates during the colder months.

Career
Larry has spent most of his career, before becoming an entrepreneur, in business development roles of increasing responsibility. In 1998, after learning as much as he could from several important mentors, Larry took advantage of an opportunity to start his own business.

Founder of three start-up companies:

  1. First Affinity Capital. Built the company to become the largest small ticket equipment finance broker in Canada. Started in 1998 and sold in 2005.
  2. Gateway Capital Inc. Financial Services company offering retirement advice, services, and products. Started in 2008 and sold in 2010.
  3. Canlease Inc. Leading supplier of equipment finance services for small businesses in Atlantic Canada. Started in 2010 and is very active.

Community Engagement
Larry is very proud of his community, his province and of being a Maritimer. He feels blessed to live here and feels that he owes much back. Larry has severed on dozens of boards and committees of organizations that do good work and relevant work, including:

  • The University of New Brunswick Immediate past Chair (2 terms) of the Board of Governors for Canada’s oldest English Language University
  • Saint John Airport Inc. Immediate past Chair of the Board of the Greater Saint John Airport and its vital link to the world.
  • Enterprise Saint John. Past Chair of the Greater Saint John’s chief Economic Development Agency
  • University of New Brunswick Alumni Association. Past President of the Alumni Association, representing over 90,000 alumni across the world.
  • Greater Saint John Chamber. Past President of Canada’s second-oldest business membership organization.
  • Teen Resource Centre. Past Chair of Great Saint John’s leading youth engagement centre
  • Credit Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada. Past Chairman of Atlantic Canada’s largest debt counselling organization.

Awards

  • Province of New Brunswick Merit Award – Community Service
  • Ernst & Young Atlantic Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award
  • Saint John Board of Trade Entrepreneurial Achievement Award
  • Greater Saint John Chamber Business Excellence Award for Community Engagement
  • University of New Brunswick Alumni Award of Honour

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Doing business with the 2nd most consumed beverage on the planet

Tracy Bell is a corporate exec turned start-up CEO.

In 2016, a health scare in the family prompted Tracy and her husband to reimagine the way tea is processed in an effort to extract more antioxidants. That concept led to the creation of a new category of tea – called Fresh-Leaf TEA – and a product that is being called “the future of tea” by industry leaders.

In 2017 their innovation was named Best New Product (Innovation category) at World Tea Expo. And in 2019 Millennia TEA was one of eight companies globally selected for participation in the #1 food innovation accelerator in the world, Food-X, in New York City.

Before Millennia TEA, Tracy worked as PR strategist and television reporter, receiving national and international accolades for her work.

Originally from Southern Ontario, Tracy has lived in Atlantic Canada for 15+ years and considers herself a full-fledged Maritimer. Tracy and her husband Rory live in New Brunswick with their two (awesome!) kids.


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Massage expert does it differently than the average bear!

Kimberly White-Vincent began her career as a Registered Massage Therapist and solo-preneur in 2002 after graduating from the Kine Concept Institute of Massage Therapy. Having grown up in the beautiful countryside of Southern New Brunswick, she pursued her career in Saint John, N.B. where she grew her practice. As the first entrepreneur of her family, she navigated entrepreneurship on her own while growing her practice and her business into the current multi-disciplinary wellness clinic Serene Physique Inc. She is an active member of the CMTNB (College of Massage Therapists of New Brunswick), ANBMT (Association of New Brunswick Massage Therapists), The Chamber of Commerce,. She also holds certifications in several complementary modalities such as Virtual Massage Therapy Care, TDR-WM Cupping and Aromatherapy and volunteers as Chair Mentor with the ANBMT, and works as an examiner with the CMTNB.

Upon receiving mentorship and coaching for her business, she has researched and established the need to pursue workplace care. It is her passion to improve soft tissue health and mental health in the workplace (including the work from home setting), a need she has grown increasingly aware of over the course of her 20 year career. Having served as a corporate Massage Therapist for many corporations during her career, she has proven the concept and witnessed the many benefits that massage therapy brings to employees and corporations. Kimberley and her team at Serene Workforce believe that healthy and happy employees make healthy and happy corporations. As a thought leader and expert in the field of corporate massage therapy, Kimberley brings years of trust and enthusiasm to employees and companies she works with.


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The growth of the individuals for the mutual beneficial growth of the operations

Donald Haché, of Selltron Group, has years of professional experience managing startups and established companies. As a resilient, results-driven strategic and decisive leader, Don utilizes his entrepreneurial skills and the Scaling Up framework towards the growth of the individual(s) for the mutual growth of the company and operations.

Don brings focus to companies in all business development stages – start-up, scale-up, fast-growth challenges, steady-state business, relocation, downsizing and shut-downs. He has extensive experience in needs assessment, design, strategic thinking and execution planning (there is a difference), leadership development, coaching, performance assessments, mergers and acquisitions (USA/CND) and succession management.

Don has a background in small, medium and large-scale development, implementation and system integration projects, with emphasis on taking small to medium privately held businesses to the next level for growth towards structured corporations, sustainable revenue, acquisition or sale, in domestic and international markets. Don has exposure to public sector, international trade service-based economies, industrial automation, commercial, transportation industries, professional services, IT, Telecom sectors and software development environments. He has a successful record of managing and motivating diverse teams, providing guidance, mentoring, committed to quality and client satisfaction.

Having started small to medium size companies, Don understands the challenges entrepreneurs are faced with, and has a track record of building these companies and turning them into successful operations. As a resilient, result-driven, strategic and decisive leader Don utilizes his entrepreneurial skillset towards the growth of the individual(s) for the mutual beneficial growth of the operations, as a consummate learner he shares what he learns. Don is an Engineering graduate. Fluent in English and French, with basic conversational Spanish, Don enjoys world wide networking, traveling with family and friends.


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Creating a fashion and accessories brand popular among celebrities

Lisa Drader-Murphy designs and produces seasonal collections of fashion and accessories that are of the moment yet enduring and classic in quality and expression of timeless design, all from her 250-year-old sea captain’s estate in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Willow Vale Estate, co-managed by her husband, Carey Murphy, also operates as a 5 star boutique resort, boasting multiple spa amenities.

Her label has received extensive international coverage including CNN, New York Times, Entertainment Tonight, BFM Europe, NRJ France, European Vogue, Cosmo, Flare, ELLE, CTV, CBC, SLICE, Canadian Learning Television, Global TV, and has been seen on runways across Canada. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Missi Pyle, Linda Cardellini, and Michelle Rodriguez are among the many celebrities who have selected Turbine for their wardrobes. Turbine has been invited to present at celebrity gifting suites during the Toronto International Film Festival, Golden Globes, Oscars, and the Cannes Film Festival and their signature leather handbags have been spotted on the red carpet.

Established in 1997, Drader-Murphy’s design house is unique in that it is one of few vertical fashion companies remaining in Canada. Her collections are sold exclusively at her 5 privately held retail locations and online.


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Sex & Success in Business

Nakula Das’ semen retention lifestyle made international news during his run for office in the 2021 Canadian Federal Election. For most North Americans, this ancient practice was unheard of and elicited a wide range of reactions. While there was no correlation between his political campaign and his semen retention practice, it brought international awareness to the population’s lack of sexual knowledge and current battle with porn addiction.

Nakula has declared #WarOnPorn and is making sex education and semen retention mainstream.

With the rise of internet pornography and the over sexualization of modern culture, Nakula is challenging the mainstream narrative and culture on its views and understanding of sex and sexuality.

He is the creator of the ‘Semen Retention Army’, a full training and accountability program dedicated to helping men quit porn, regulate their ejaculations, become better lovers for their partners and become more focused and disciplined. His program teaches men how to use breath-work, muscle control and meditation to develop a new relationship with their sexual energy and redirect those urges into healthy pursuits.


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Paving the way to Success!

Lewis Vandervalk (www.lewisvandervalk.com) is a serial entrepreneur located in New Brunswick, Canada. With a background in construction and trades and a degree in mechanical engineering, Lewis started a business doing digital marketing for contractors in 2019. With no formal business or sales experience, he has ridden the roller coaster of business and personal development and surrounded himself with coaches and mentors who have helped him grow and develop. Currently, Lewis is the owner of Blue Crocus Solutions, a digital marketing company providing web design, SEO, and Google ads to contractors. As well, in May of 2021, he partnered with and helped grow a local junk removal company using these results-driven marketing tactics.


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Helping entrepreneurs realize their full potential by developing the person behind the title

Terri-Ann Richards (www.terriannrichards.com) helps entrepreneurs and leaders realize their full potential by developing the person behind the title.

Leadership transformation and true life success begins on the inside first.

She is a 16+ year serial entrepreneur, starting in business at just 18 years old.

Terri-Ann has built six-figure businesses, bought, sold, and partnered in over 8 companies, all while raising two beautiful children.

She is a Graduate of the Wallace McCain Institute’s, Entrepreneurial Leaders Program, Certified by MHS as a EQi-2.0 Emotional Intelligence Assessor and Facilitator, Certified by the William Glasser Institute in both Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, a Certified Personality Dimensions Trainer and Facilitator, and a Certified Coach.

TA’s superpower is cutting through fluff, finding tactics and hacks in developing the full human, maximizing potential, and showing leaders how to leverage their unique superpowers.


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Marketing for Different Markets: From Canada to the United States to Ecuador

Born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo graduated with a BA in Spanish and English Literatures from St. Thomas University in 2003. In 2004 he was elected a Rhodes Scholar for the Maritime Provinces in order to obtain a Masters in Philosophy from The University of Oxford. In 2008 he joined Google as a Manager and in 2011 he worked at The World Economic Forum in Geneva, before joining Twitter in 2013 as Latin America Partnership Manager. In 2014 he founded Centrico Digital, a managed marketing services company based in Ecuador and focused on delivering marketing automation services to companies based in Canada and the United States. In 2022, Centrico Digital was acquired by Uhuru Network, a leading US-based inbound marketing company. Matthew is married to the Ecuadorian Entrepreneur and investor Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter. They have twin boys and are based in Quito.

Check out Matthew’s TechCrunch article at https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/13/does-atlantic-canada-have-a-blueprint-for-rural-revival-in-the-post-pandemic-era/


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