“Fashion in Nova Scotia wasn’t diverse. I wanted to bring afro-centric designs to the space.”

Funmi is the Owner and Creative Designer of MichNat Fashion, a business she created to meet the demand for Afro designs mixed with Western flair.

Funmi’s designs are bright, they are electric and her custom pieces include everything from dresses for baby showers, Bridgerton-inspired gowns, colourful pant suits, and elegant birthday dresses to casual bomber jackets and sweaters. Funmi’s design brings colour to an industry that can often be bland.

Funmi and MichNat Fashion have received multiple awards including the Award of Excellence from Black Designers of Canada, Entrepreneur of the Year from the Immigration Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), and Fashionpreneur of the Year from Canada Vendors.

Bringing Afro-Flair Fashion to Canada with Funmilayo Odeniyi

On the Startup Canada Podcast, we speak with the movers and shakers of Canada’s entrepreneurship community to give a glimpse into the future of business, and share insights on everything from social innovation to the future of work, investing, and why we need to think bigger to take our businesses global.

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Entrepreneurship

Cat Adalay is an experienced entrepreneur and business executive with a background in engineering, product design, and hardware development. This background was the perfect foundation to begin Aurea Technologies in 2017. 

Rachel Carr joined Cat and Aurea when Cat was prototyping a wind energy system for residential applications. Together, Rachel and Cat saw an opportunity to scale down this innovation and this is when the Shine turbine began - a portable wind turbine that can fit in your backpack! 


Propelling Clean Energy Forward with Cat Adalay and Rachel Carr

Jessica is the CEO and co-founder of Apricotton, the only bra brand globally that designs bras that “grow” as girls grow, so girls can fit into the same bra when they develop from an A to D cup, helping the 90% of girls embarrassed to wear their first bra. She's personally leading Apricotton's Gen Z community, growing it to 170,000 followers and 30 million organic views on TikTok and Instagram by becoming girls’ online big sister. Apricotton has been featured in Global News, CTV Television News, BuzzFeed, and Seventeen Magazine, and is the top Google search result for "teen bra".

Designing For A Forgotten Demographic with Jessica Miao

As the CEO and Founder of Loba, Kate is innovating health and wellness by taking pill and supplement management from routine to ritual. Kate’s own health journey led her to to search for a solution that combined sleek organization, convenient reminders, and a positive sentiment around taking her pills. Finding nothing that resonated, Kate took the reins and created a platform for pill and supplement management that empowers rather than stigmatizes.

Reasoning with Ritual: Innovating Healthy Habits with Kate Bouchard

Inspired by his own experience with a tutor, Will realized the power of a great tutor and started TutorOcean in 2018. Just one year later, Will was approached by a university to offer the platform as a solution which led him to launch QuadC. Today, Will and his team support more than 50 higher institutions across North America and have more than 250,000 users across both products.

Tutoring Powered by Talent and Technology with Will Li

David Souaid is the Chief Revenue Officer and member of the board of directors at Journey Capital (formerly OnDeck Canada,) a leader in online small business lending. Journey Capital offers fast and flexible financing to founders so they can refuel their business. Journey Capital uses technology and also the guidance and advice of real business loan advisors to evaluate the financial needs of entrepreneurs and founders.

Bringing Afro-Flair Fashion to Canada with Funmilayo Odeniyi

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