Canada’s Entrepreneur

Chau Lui is co-owner of Paris Jewellers, which began as a small location in St. Albert, Alberta and today has stores across Canada. Lui talks about the company's humble roots and how it has become a national retail success story.

Born and raised in Squamish BC, Mike Schwarz went on to graduate from UBC Sauder School of Business with his Bachelor of Commerce degree (Marketing) in 1999. Since then, Mike has been self-employed, working on internet start-ups for over 18 years. Mike now has a rich history of successful dot-com exits including Clubvibes.com, Techvibes.com, The Massive Tech conference, DiscoverVancouver and clubZone.com. Mike's current focus is building out myZone Media, who's mission is to help event promoters operate more efficiently. Subsidiary businesses of myZone including myZone Printing, myZone Marketing, myZone Web Development, myZone Ticketing (aka ticketZone.com) and myZone Merch. Mike loves to travel and spends several months per year on the road working remotely. His latest start-up is his growing family including a wife & son. Recognized in 2005 as a BIV top 30 under 30, Schwarz has also spoken at numerous conferences and is passionate about building creative work environments that enable both work-life balance.

In this episode, Mike discusses "why it's essential to find out what part of your business is virus proof", and stresses the importance of pivoting your business offerings online during this tumultuous time. Mark also talks about how his businesses thrives within a remote work-from-home culture, and offers insights and tools he uses to connect with his domestic and international team members.

Mark sheds light on the impact COVID-19 is having on the event industry specifically. With the current outlook, which is changing daily, Mark anticipates events should be postponed until at least the Fall, if not the Spring.

James Connolly is the co-founder and CEO of VoxNeuro based in Toronto. VoxNeuro provides the world’s first objective concussion and acquired brain injury assessment that steps beyond diagnosis.

Darren MacLean is one of Canada's top-rated Chefs. He's Executive Chef and Owner of Shokunin in Calgary.

Dan Pontefract is the Chief Envisioner of the TELUS Transformation Office, where he helps organizations and leaders improve all facets of the ‘future of work’ including employee engagement, leadership development, collaborative behaviours and organizational purpose. He is an international keynote speaker, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria's Gustavson School of Business and the author of three books, including his latest, Open to Think: Slow Down, Think Creatively, and Make Better Decisions.