Calgary Business Podcast

This episode was a wonderful chat around how Kim successfully transitioned from a lengthy career in Real Estate to co-authoring a book around resiliency to founding and organizing a 4 pillar "Resiliency Series" featuring industry leading women sharing their stories and expertise.   To learn more about Kim's journey, including 5+ years of producing a TV series called "Kim's Kitchen", click on...

Balancing altruism and profitability, James and his team at Thin Air Labs have managed to compile a portfolio of 27 startups (as at the date of recording this podcast) since founding the firm in 2018. It appears that Thin Air Labs is just getting started. To learn more about how Thin Air Labs has created an ecosystem studio that supports early-stage ventures to propel and de-risk innovation, click...

In this episode, Mount Royal University students, Tyra Macdonald and Anthony Dang, shared their experiences of the first days of opening the new Code Ninjas franchise location in the Willow Park community of Calgary in April 2021.  As a marketing student at Mount Royal, Tyra has been able to apply a lot of her classroom theory into practical application including working on advertising and pr...

Chris and Jen return to the podcast booth after a 2-year absence (refer to Episode 42 on 12 December 2019).  This time we were joined by two student dances, Lucia and Avery, and dance instructor Cara.  The other difference is everyone connected on Zoom.  §§§  This was a terrific session whereby the girls shared their experiences of dancing from home during Covid; Chris shared s...

Noel shared the origin stories of his startup, AERT (pronounced "Art"), linked to the trauma his 6-year old brother experienced during Covid.  A finger caught from a house door being slammed on it.  Noel’s initial reaction was to Google to see what triage information was available and then call the 811 health line.  Conflicting information on line, a long waiting time on the phone a...

You may have heard the term “practice what you preach” -- Dr. Nicole Byers seems to have taken that personally. Not only does she operate a neuro-psychology practice for individual’s dealing with an accident or stroke that impacts their brain function, she also coordinates on-line courses, a podcast and confidence building bootcamps to help individuals in variety of areas including coping with str...

Mark combined his professional investment expertise with a family medical condition around a rare brain disease to start a life sciences venture fund with co-founders, Gord Anderson and Dr. Lawrence Korngut. The combined expertise of the founding team makes them uniquely placed to assess and evaluate startups at the ideation stage — including at the research level in the University labs.  Suc...

Evelyne Nyairo enthusiastically shared the origin story of how an extended oil and gas trip in Chad resulted in pivoting to her own business of producing sustainable and socially conscious skin care products.   To learn more about Ellie Bianca Beauty, click on one or more of the links below:   §§§   Ellie Bianca Beauty   Website | https://store.elliebianca.c...

Several key take-aways from this podcast include:  Fintech and traditional banking will remain in place to give people the option to choose (not “or” but “and”)  Traditional investing methods (via broker) and new self-trading platforms (such as Questrade) will provide individual investors with the options to do both  Keeping up with rapidly changing investment landscape requires a l...

SokoLocal may just actually become the defacto local “Google” for retailers and e-commerce companies – not only in Calgary but across the globe.  When an on-line order from a European clothing distributor required Nikhil to return the item at cost considerably more than the initial purchase price, Nikhil set out to help others like him by creating a website to “localize” such orders.  To...

The Work Experience Program at Mount Royal University has a rich 25-year history of providing students with practical skills that are immediately transferable upon completing their studies and commencing employment. During episode 41 of this podcast on 11 December 2019, Paul Varella referred to the Mount Royal University campus containing many “hidden gems”. It is likely my chat with Daniel Santia...

The simulation software of Endeavor Technologies is geared towards technical users interested in drilling oil & gas wells but it also enhances the user experience by utilizing the technology tools of Unreal Engine – the same visualization software that powers the popular gaming app, Fortnite. Click on one or more of the links below to learn more about Endeavor Technologies and their plans to apply...

Cynthia and her team at Virtira have been providing high impact value-added services to Blue Chip organizations for many years, primarily by helping companies manage their remote workforce. To learn more about Virtira, click on one or more of the links below: §§§ Virtira Website | https://virtira.com/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtira/ §§§ Cynthia Watson on LinkedIn | https://www...

Wood’s Homes has been around since 1914 when it was initially set up to house orphaned children during World War 1. It has evolved over its 117 year history to provide treatment and support for children, youth and families with mental health needs. To learn more about Wood’s Homes, including the recently introduced Elbow Springs Counselling program, click on one or more of the links below: §§§ Woo...

Athennian has developed a platform that automates many of the routine functions of a lawyer working in either a professional practice or as general counsel with a corporate entity. One of the key features of the Athennian platform, that Josh Malate, and his fellow co-founders, including CEO Adrian Camara and others have developed, is the ability to reduce the workload of the paralegal and other as...

Cherry Health may just actually become the defacto “LinkedIn” for Locum network affiliated medical professionals across Canada. When Covid highlighted the lack of a suitable platform to coordinate work for Locum professionals like himself, Jordan Vollrath teamed together with Max Kerz and Adrian Mitchell to develop a free to use and highly effective mobile app.  To learn more about Cherry Hea...

This podcast is an extension of the series of episodes started in February 2021 in which students from Calgary post-secondary education institutions have engaged in a Q&A session with an industry expert from the Calgary and Edmonton business communities.  §§§§  In this episode, Pamela Torres, Femi Bode-George and Scott Luxton, learners from the full stack developer program coordinate...

Numi Health is simplifying the booking of routine healthcare diagnostics, starting with vaccinations for Covid-19. Key partnerships with Calgary and Edmonton airports along and other strategic employers is a strong indication of the potential to scale the Numi Health platform  To learn more about Numi Health, click on one or more of the links below:  §§§  Numi Health  Website | https://numihealth....

This is the 15th episode in which students from Calgary post-secondary education institutions have engaged in a Q&A session with an industry expert from the Calgary and Edmonton business communities.  §§§  In this episode, three students from the Bachelor of Commerce faculty at Haskayne, Taylor Van Hell (completed 1st year), Rachel Hughes (graduated) and Gabby Gueco (completed 3rd ye...

Yr Plans is seeking to work with employers to help their employees better manage their student debt.  To learn more about Yr Plans and their plans to grow their business across Canada, click on one or more of the links below:  §§§  Yr Plans  Website | https://yrplans.com/ Instagram | @yrplans  Facebook | @yrplans  LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/yr-plans-i...

A Twitter post in 2012 lead to Tessa starting a campaign to promote Gluten Free foods in Calgary (and the GFYYC campaign) which then lead Tessa to attend a social media conference in May 2014. Those early musings lead to a thriving social media business, Marr Media Group. As Tessa explained during the podcast “Stay Curious” is how her team manages to remain on top of the fast-paced and forever cha...

To learn more about Abram Averbach, Stacey Lee and their focus on Family Law within the SVR Law practice, click on one or more of the links below:  §§§  SVR Law  Website (Family Law) | https://familylaw.svrlawyers.com/  Website (Full practice) | https://www.svrlawyers.com/  Instagram | @svrfamilylaw  Facebook | @svrfamilylawyers  LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.c...

To learn more about Catherine and the work of The Awakened Company, click on one or more of the links below:  §§§  The Awakened Company  Website | https://awakenedcompany.com/  Instagram | @theawakenedcompany  Twitter | @AwakenedCompany  Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/awakenedcompany  YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5XwzGZacXitTYvb4NPdhgw  L...

Vadim has used the Covid period to build out his business, CoSquare, to help entrepreneurs incorporate their businesses, submit government filings, help them navigate a shift to a more on-line presence, provide input on their social media strategy and he even runs a podcast to draw about the successes (and failures) of entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses.  §§§  To learn more abou...

When most people win a championship at any level, they are pretty much satisfied. It is my view, that 11 world championship kickboxing & karate titles is not enough for Maeghen Cotterill and that when Covid opens up across the globe and injuries have fully healed, Maeghen will continue pursuing more world titles.  Of course, Maeghen’s athletic accomplishments were obtained in parallel to...