Having a rocket science degree may or may not help when working in the financial profession but a degree in neuro science from McGill University provided Jeremy Clark with some of the core skills that have helped him be successful in his 22+ years in the financial management industry. 

To learn more about the work of Jeremy Clark and CH Financial, including philanthropy work with the Calgary Philharmonic, McGill University and the Calgary Police Foundation, click on the links below: 

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CH Financial website | https://chfinancial.ca/ 

CH Financial on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/ch-financial-ltd/ 

CH Financial on Instagram | @ch.financial 

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Jeremy Clark on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyclarkcalgary/

Self-employment is difficult at the best of times and if there is a lack of support during crisis periods, the challenges for such individuals increases dramatically. In fact, it was only recently that I heard about the MNP “Self-Employment” program and I thought:

 “…what a terrific initiative to make available to small businesses and entrepreneurs during the Covid pandemic…”. 

I quickly learned from Troy Deck, the senior manager at MNP here in Calgary, that the program has been in place since 1992 and to date, over 2000+ entrepreneurs have moved on to start their own businesses. Although jointly funded by the Governments of Alberta and Canada, the MNP team brings together an array of advisors from within their firm and experts from the business community §§§ 

To learn more about how MNP Calgary is helping professionals pivot into self employment, click on the links below: 

MNP website (English) | https://www.mnp.ca/en 

MNP website (French) | https://www.mnp.ca/fr 

MNP on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/mnp/ 

MNP on Twitter | @MNP_LLP 

MNP on Instagram | @mnpllp 

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Troy Deck on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/troydeck1/

Pivoting from oil and gas has been a consistent theme on the Calgary Business Podcast. After a 17-year career as an electrical engineer, Tammam Altajar converted his hobby with flight simulation into a startup business. 

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To learn more about Tamman’s journey into entrepreneurship with his business, Altitude Flight Simulation, click on the links below: 

Altitude Flight Simulation website | https://nicerr.org/ 

Altitude Flight Simulation on Instagram | @AltitudeFlightSimulation 

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Tammam Altajar on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammam-altajar-8a6b2551/

It is rare when the underlying business model seeks to help more than one party at the same time. The Nicerr platform does exactly that. It is designed to bring volunteer advisors together with entrepreneurs / small business owners to provide them with targeted guidance for a fee. In parallel, Nicerr contributes a portion of such fees to a charitable cause. 

In my view, it does not stop there. The advisor indirectly benefits from learning about a new business in which he/she can share experiences with similar businesses, including the charitable organization adopting such advice to their own activities. Finally, each transaction expands the Nicerr community to benefit future newcomers! 

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To learn more about Nicerr, click on the links below: 

Nicerr website | https://nicerr.org/ 

Nicerr on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/nicerr/ 

Nicerr on Instagram | @teamnicerr 

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Robin Daltauni on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/robindaultani/

In what initially started as a hobby tutoring children on maths and sciences, Launchpad learning started offering coding courses to students in a Southeast Calgary recreation centre. Covid required them to shift virtually all classes to their on-line platform (which they named “Learning Management System”) to allow students to submit their code for immediate review and comment by instructors 

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To learn more about the Launchpad Learning team and their plans to scale up their coding for grade 3 to 12 students, click on the links below: 

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Launchpad Learning website | https://launchpadlearning.ca/ Launchpad Learning on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/l2iyyc/ 

Launchpad Learning on Instagram | @launchpadlearning_l2i

Launchpad email | [email protected] 

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Sam Begai on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sampada-bagai/ 

Yash Purwar on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashasvi-purwar-a542915/ 

Abhishek on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishek-abhishek-554b9324/

Since 2006 or so, Eric Crowell has been coaching CEO’s and senior executives across Canada and the globe. As Eric highlighted, the first 9 months of 2020 has brought about more change and complexity than he has seen in the 10+ years that preceded this year.

Eric does a wonderful job articulating some of the major trends he has seen with CEO’s and leaders as they manage through such complexity.

Eric finished our chat with a heart felt story and words of wisdom from Suzanne West, who had a successful career in Calgary as an executive, entrepreneur and Board member. Sadly, she passed away from cancer in 2018 at the age of 52.

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To learn more about Eric and his work with CEO’s from across Canada and globally, click on the links below: 

Awesome Journey website | https://www.awesomejourney.ca/ 

Awesome Journey on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/awesome-journey/ 

Eric Crowell on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-crowell-ba212214/ 

Eric Crowell email | [email protected]

Colin and his team at Canadian Distribution Network benefited from an existing product (handsanitizers) and an existing network (with major  supermarket chains) to help other small businesses when Covid hit.  One example was "white labelling" a product for third parties to get them shelf space with such food retailers.  This creativity and innovation extended to the development of a new product called "Mask Careier" to provide a means for individuals to store surgical / medical masks that are mandated in public places across Canada.

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To learn more about Colin and his work as a Calgary entrepreneur, click on the links below:

Mask Careier Kickstarter campaign (expires early December 2020) | https://bit.ly/2H8NFcz

Canadian Distribution Network website | https://thecanadiandistributionnetwork.com/

Canadian Distribution Network on Instagram | @canadiandistributionnetwork

CDN Citrus Clean on Instagram | @cdncitrusclean

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Colin George on Instagram | @CNG649

Colin George on LinkedIn | http://linkedin.com/in/colin-george-1bb6abb4

Pivoting from a career in social services, Jason found a co-founder, Michael Knisely, to form a company focused on helping businesses reduce their environmental impact, reduce expenses and improve the efficiency of their energy consumption.  The unique feature of their platform is to require customers to pay nothing upfront for the capital costs and seek to earn their revenue by sharing in the future savings experienced by their customers.

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To learn more about Origin Energy, click on the links below: 

Origin Energy website | https://www.originenergy.ca/ 

Origin Energy on Twitter | @originenergym 

Origin Energy on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/originenergyefficiency/ 

Jason Gravelle on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-gravelle-a8102145/

Yassine provides a unique view of how he used his own personal experiences with Covid to pivot into raising funds for healthcare workers in Algeria and now coaching Canadian startups to match them with investors from private family offices in the Middle East. 

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To learn more about Yassine and his work, click on the links below: 

Coach Business Solution | https://www.messenger.com/t/MyCBSauto 

Algeria fundraising on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/algerians-vs-covid-19/

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Yassine Azzouni on LinkedIn | hhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/yassine-mohammed-azzouni-73339962/