Canada’s Entrepreneur

Philippe Vachon, c’est un peu le Maurice Richard de la bobette. Malgré les nombreux obstacles, les débâcles et les difficultés, il ne s’est jamais arrêté et s’est toujours relevé.

Rêveur comme le petit joueur de hockey, il met sur pause ses études au cégep et se lance en affaires pour la première fois à l’âge de 19 ans avec la compagnie de sports Maverick. Vite sur ses patins, le jeune adulte connaît du succès rapidement. Mais, la puck n’est pas dans le camp de Phil : du jour au lendemain, un incendie emporte Maverick en même temps que son espoir pour une victoire précoce dans le monde de l’entrepreneuriat.

Lui qui considérait retourner aux études accepte une offre d’emploi intéressante à Xerox sans toutefois perdre de vue son rêve. Peu de temps après, un projet stimulant se présente à lui : son ami d’enfance, David Côté-Hamel, désire partir son agence de publicité web. On est alors en 2008. L’entreprise fleurit rapidement, embauche une vingtaine de professionnels et se démarque de sa concurrence. C’est la deuxième expérience entrepreneuriale de Phil. La deuxième saison de notre joueur ne s’augure pas aussi facile qu’il le souhaiterait. Hors de son champ d’expertise, Phil se sent parfois imposteur à l’agence.

En 2010, les étoiles s’alignent et il fait son entrée dans la ligue des grands. Son retour dans le commerce de détail se fait avec Mesbobettes. La compagnie de sous-vêtements masculins se veut un projet-test : les deux entrepreneurs essayeront leur stratégie marketing en ligne.

Phil réalise deux tours du chapeau avec Olivier Dion et la publicité Clic Clic pour le Club MesBobettes. On est alors en 2015 et malgré quelques blessures, Mesbobettes s’en tire bien. Toutefois, le double échec des magasins de la région de Montréal met en péril le futur entrepreneurial de notre athlète. Tenace et persévérant, Phil se retrousse les manches. Avec l’aide de Dave, il restructure et relance la compagnie, crée sa marque de boxers et passe aux Dragons. Depuis, les deux gars ne font qu’accumuler les victoires.

Si Phil est le Maurice Richard des bobettes, c’est bien pour toutes ces fois où il s’est obstiné et a fait preuve de détermination et de courage, tout comme la figure emblématique du hockey. En dépit de la perte totale de sa première entreprise et des nombreuses épreuves connues avec Mesbobettes, l’homme n’a jamais baissé les bras.

D’où lui vient ce trait de personnalité ? Son parcours sportif dans sa jeunesse, ses expériences de capitaine d’équipe. Phil a toujours été un fonceur, un gars qui avait la bougeotte. Président de son école secondaire, il a fait preuve de leadership dès son enfance.

Tout comme Maurice Richard, il ne compte plus s’arrêter. La prochaine étape : conseiller de nouveaux entrepreneurs et devenir investisseur.

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Peter Verburg is founder and CEO of Numi Health, a mobile medical services company that is disrupting the way healthcare is delivered in Calgary, Edmonton and beyond – from COVID-19 testing to general wellness screening and more.

He has a storied background, having co-founded and directed public and private companies in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy & tourism. His interest in entrepreneurship started with small ventures as a side hobby, including a medical training company, an import-export company and a landscaping business.

While working on his MBA to complement his Philosophy degree, Peter was recruited at 35 by Canada’s top investment banker and received training in corporate finance while running multiple deals simultaneously for three years. Tired of the IB culture and wanting to get more involved in new company creation as an owner, Peter accepted an offer from one of the country’s most successful energy entrepreneurs to form a venture capital shop. Their first fundraiser kicked off just as the 2008 financial crisis hit. Plans to raise a big fund were dashed, so they closed on a small friends & family fund and used the capital to seed two energy companies. Peter serves as a director at both and an executive involved in running deals in one of them. Prior to the energy crash of 2014, they had a combined EV of around $1 B. Both survived the crash and are solid companies today.

Burned out by the crash, Peter some time off in 2016/17, travelled to South America. He came back with three ideas for new companies: an app to facilitate bike tours; a licensed medical cannabis company in Colombia; and a mobile medical company offering private-pay services via an app – hence, Numi Health was born. Numi kicked into high gear when it was obvious that COVID would be the mechanism to create the market. Peter was living in Madrid in early 2020 and spent the first lockdown there huddled in an apartment working on the platform. He brought together the Numi team through the summer, returning to Canada and launching Numi in October 2020.

Peter also has a background as a journalist. He was western bureau chief, investment editor and columnist at Canadian Business, where he reported extensively on Canadian companies with operations abroad. He is also passionate about philanthropy and volunteering – he helped launch the Veteran’s Transition Network nationally, was also a volunteer on the Distress Centre suicide help line, and a director of Wordfest. When he’s not launching companies, Peter is cyclist, yogi and foodie.

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Susheela Ramachandran is an intuitive channel who shifts people’s frequency through sound and play. Her mission is to help purpose-driven souls who want to make the world a better place awaken and embody their full power and self-expression. She channels angelic soul songs and facilitates creative play experiences that catapult people into the next level of their power and self-expression. She also is the co-host of the Revolutionary Woman Global Table at Revolutionary Woman – convening global conversations for women and girls shaping the future of the planet. Susheela currently resides in Vancouver, BC. To learn more about Susheela visit https://www.susheela.co/

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Tyler Crowdis and his wife started Bramble Cider to create ciders that were not available in Canada, due to his diagnosis with Celiac Disease. From the kitchen of their tiny century home, his crafts were gaining many fans through friends and family. Wanting to bring their innovative ciders to the masses, Alicia and Tyler are embarking on a journey to bring craft cider to Calgary and beyond. Inspiration comes from the growing West Coast cider scene to the funky ciders of Northern France and sours of Spain. You can find Bramble at SunnyCider taproom and all the cool places to get beers and spirits in town!

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There’s been a resurgence of the commitment to "local food security" and with it a growing number of businesses foraging for food. The practice of hand gathering plants and animals for bait, money or the table has long taken place, but more recently top chefs have been popularising the idea, urban foragers have told of the lengths they go to find wild food in big cities, while rural foragers have access to an abundance of wild food...if you know what to look for.

But why, in an age where most things we want or need are only a few clicks away, do many seek the thrill of finding their own food? Why do local commercial gatherers choose to pursue these ancient livelihoods when there are less arduous alternative careers?

In today’s Podcast, Angela Faye speaks with Celia & Benjamin – a couple-preneur that has followed their hearts from France to Australia to Canada to follow their calling to provide greater education and access to Wild Food!

Collectively, Celia and Benjamin have formal educations in sustainable business development & administration, biology and agroforestry, plus lived experience as contract fruit pickers. Caring deeply for people and social justice, they advocated for fruit pickers' rights, leading to the creation of a platform known as "Pick the World". And, they knew their next venture would involve caring for the environment while integrating a sustainable business model. A true equilibrium between their passion for the wilderness and an opportunity to focus on an emerging market in the ‘food business’ led them to the creation of Forest For Dinner (http://www.forestfordinner.ca), providing foraging experiences, education and product harvesting and value-added boutique manufacturing, thanks in part to being part of a local Food Hub.

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Stone Yu is the CEO of Lucullus Bakery, a family-owned business currently operating 3 locations in the Greater Toronto Area. At 25 years old, he represents an exciting new generation of leadership in the food service industry.

The young entrepreneur has dedicated much of his life to the Lucullus brand. A child of Chinese immigrant parents, Stone grew up in Richmond Hill and spent most of his after-school hours studying the ins and out of the family bakery. He learned budgeting and inventory management from his parents, and recipe development and baking methods from the amazingly talented Hong Kong chefs his family employed. In 2016 at just 21 years old, Stone entered into Food Network Canada’s Doughnut challenge and won, proving his years of experience in the kitchen were paying off. At 22 he enrolled in a culinary program at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute where he spent 6 months honing his craft before returning to work for Lucullus.

Stone’s vision, creative spirit, and tenacious pursuit of excellence in all areas of the business have propelled the brand forward in a big way. Lucullus opened its first location in 1990, closely followed by the 2rd location in 1991 in Richmond Hill. Lucullus has recently been expanding, opening its 3rd location in downtown Markham in 2017 and has plans for two locations in 2021. The idea of franchising the business has always been on the table (not far from the pineapple buns). After years of planning, in October of 2020 the company bought 2.3 acres in Scarborough to build its head office and production facility. Lucullus will now offer franchise opportunities.

Stone attributes the bakery’s 30-year success to its high standards for quality ingredients, artistic detail, and traditional baking techniques. Lucullus offers simple, classic Asian food and drink items that feel nostalgic and gourmet at the same time, appealing to both older and younger generations in the communities they serve. The bakery team takes pride in every product they offer and are always looking for ways to improve their menu selection. New recipes are regularly rotated into the mix alongside classic favourites.

Stone is enthusiastic about the growth of the business but is keen to keep the quality of the product and essence of the brand intact. His goal in the next 5 years is to open 30 new locations, with each individual franchisee running their store like their own family business.

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Jasmine Marra is the founder of Gypsy+Jasmine a beauty company that has one singular mission; to craft earth inspired beauty products that make you feel pampered and beautiful without compromise. After having children, Jasmine took a keen interest in the ingredients of products that were entering her home as both of her young boys were experiencing terrible skin sensitivities and eczema. Eager to help her children get some relief, she spent hundreds of hours researching and understanding what ingredients were safe for her kids and family. This also allowed her to take a closer look at the ingredients in the products she was using on her own skin. She was shocked to learn about the preservatives, additives and harmful chemicals linked to disease, inflammation and hormone disruption that were found in almost every beauty product she put on her body. It seemed nearly impossible to purchase a beauty product that wasn’t loaded with fragrance or toxins at the everyday drug store. She walked through the aisles of beauty departments with this newfound knowledge, and knew she had to do something. That’s when she founded Gypsy+Jasmine.

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Jacqueline Frederick truly believes life is a gift every day. Her goal in life is to always live, laugh, love, and fulfill her plan and purpose. As a personal trainer, she saw the struggle as her clients tried to achieve their goals but experienced setbacks and failures through a lack of self-esteem and confidence – the very same issues she had struggled to overcome herself. Believing that she was not smart or capable enough kept her confidence low and her achievements minimal. Finding the strength to have confidence in herself was a game-changer; she learned that she can trust herself and that she can do anything. Now, she shares that same experience with her clients.

I show them that self-confidence is making a commitment to yourself and following it through. By creating a safe space for being vulnerable, I help my clients shed the weight of other people’s expectations, their own fears and stand with them every step of the way as they power through to their goals.

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Dr. Joseph Tucker is President and CEO of MagicMed Industries Inc., a biotechnology company founded in 2020. The company is focused on creating a library of novel derivative molecules based on classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, ibogaine, MDMA and LSD. MagicMed’s molecular derivatives library, the Psybrary™️, is intended to be an essential building block from which industry partners can develop new patented products. MagicMed’s mission is to unlock the full potential of psychedelic-derived medicines. The company is focused on the discovery and development of novel drug candidates, structurally related to classic psychedelics but with improved pharmaceutical characteristics.

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Carolyn Cooper-McOuatt brings a deep passion and purpose to nurture, guide and lead each person to their unlimited human potential and to build the business they have always dreamed it to be. She has been learning and leading people to "Live above the Line" for more than 3 decades. The focus is to build a positive business future with a crystal-clear vision, meaningful direction, purpose and plans of action as well as experiencing a community of support. Through her Grand Connection meaningful mastermind groups and inspired business planning programs, people transform their businesses and become the leaders they are meant to be, set strategic goals, take bigger risks, and have a community to celebrate their wins!

She brings a spirit of energy that is contagious, uplifting, and inspiring.

Carolyn was the captain of her cheerleading team in high school and continues her mission to lead by contributing to business owners as an advocate, mentor, cheerleader and sounding board to support them to move and grow towards their Grand Potential.

Her commitment is to always be curious, open-minded and intentional in life and business and go after her Grand adventures.

Carolyn feels honored and blessed to be the Co-Founder of the Grand Connection virtual networking community along with Susan Jarema. She knows it is their true calling to create the place and the space for businesses from around the globe to have the Grand Connections, create new opportunities, and collaborate to grow together and impact the world in meaningful ways.

Carolyn is grateful to live in beautiful Kelowna British Columbia where each morning she appreciates hiking her dog Tucker and enjoying her yoga.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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