Tooting Canada’s horn within the international business community is a big job. Luckily, Niloo Boroun, Executive Director of the Consider Canada City Alliance, is here to do it, and do it well. On this episode of Invested in Our New Reality, host Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh talks to Boroun about her work overseeing the CCCA and positioning Canada as the country of choice for global companies looking for a North American outlet.

Italy comes to Canada on the latest episode of Invested in Our New Reality. Host Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh welcomes Francesco Norante to the podcast. Norante is the President and Chairman of the Board of Leonardo Canada, a position he took over in 2018 after nine years with the company. Listen in as he offers a detailed account of the work his company is doing throughout Canada, and the world, and what they have on deck.

On this episode of Invested in our New Reality, host Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh talks to Kari Simpson, Vice President of Product Management and Strategy, Contact Centre Products at Upland Software. Simpson-Anderson gives a first-hand account of the growth strategy InGenius Software employed leading up to their 26.4-million-dollar acquisition by Upland Software.

We’re back! Season 7 of the Invested in Our New Reality podcast kicks off with Jens-Michael Schaal, the Vice-President of Global Expansion for Invest Ottawa. Find out why Ottawa is such an attractive city for growing global companies. Schaal outlines the city’s key industries and benefits and introduces the newly launched online resource whyottawa.ca.

To close out Season Six of Invested in Our New Reality, Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh chats with Aydin Mirzaee, CEO and co-founder of the Ottawa-based company Fellow. Fellow has created a tool designed to revolutionize meetings which recently secured $24M US in series-A funding and was also selected as one of the city’s top employers. Aydin joins the podcast to talk about the company’s remarkable success and its big plans for the future.

Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh chats with Nick Quain, Vice President of Venture Development at Invest Ottawa, where he leads all programming and support for start-up, early stage and scaling companies. Previously, Nick was co-founder and CEO at CellWand, a company which pioneered the use of abbreviated dialing codes in North America. Tune in to hear Nick talk about why he’s committed to supporting Ottawa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Alida Burke is the Co-Founder of Growcer, a company that sells plug-and-play hydroponic systems that grow fresh produce year-round in any climate, with a focus on schools, universities, non-profits, and northern and Indigenous communities. COVID-19 has affected many things, including our relationship to food. Alida joins the podcast to chat about how Growcer is helping communities rebuild and re-think their local food supply.

Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh chats with Tunch Akkaya, an entrepreneur and former University of Ottawa Gee-Gees football player who runs his own innovative sports software company called GameStrat. Tunch shares how his software helps coaches around the world improve their team and player performance in real time and how they’re revolutionizing the use of video for coaches and their players.

Kirsi Maharaj is the Manager of People at Rewind, a company that builds apps that protect critical SaaS and cloud data. Kirsi joins Shavonne on the podcast to chat about the growing importance of human resources in the modern world, and how companies can strategically adapt to the future of work to cultivate increased mental and physical wellbeing of employees as well as foster equitable and inclusive internal work cultures.

Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah is the Executive Director at the Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity (CCGSD), a national 2SLBTQ+ organization that focuses on empowering gender and sexually diverse people through education, research, and advocacy. Debbie joins Shavonne on the podcast to chat about how Ottawa’s business community can create truly progressive, inclusive, and equitable workplaces that make our broader community better for everyone.