Calgary Business Podcast

Although the Clubhouse app is quite new, Calgary-native Tanisha Cherry was able to expertly navigate me from the “hallways” into the chat rooms. Tanisha provides practical advice on how to create your bio (or biography) on Clubhouse and recommendations on who to follow (or not). The idea is to “hop” Into chat rooms and “hop” onto the stage to create attention to what you are doing “outside of the...

This episode is the 2nd of a new series I started in which I bring together a trio of students from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and an industry expert from the business community. Master of Business Administration (or MBA) students Jagbir Randhawa, Bo Feng and Kenedy Assman are joined by Allie Knull, founder and CEO of ResumeFree in Edmonton. After a short introduc...

Today’s episode is part of a new series I started in which I bring together a trio of students from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and an industry expert from the business community.  Master of Management students Cassidy Sullivan, Dora Tamas and Omar Razavi are joined by Alitta Tait, head of partnerships at Harvest Builders here in Calgary. After a short introdu...

Natalie Gomersal was inspired by a “Boho Festival” themed wedding in the UK, whereby all participants slept in beautiful canvas tents with lush furnishings and fabulous internal decor.  After attending the free self-employment small-business support program of Momentum Calgary, Natalie has recreated such glamorous camping, known as “Glamping”, for individuals and families in Calgary seeking t...

Jamie took me through an historic journey of his history as a professional cyclist which lead him to design and engineer the core technology for improving the rear bike suspension for mountain bikes to working as a retail sales representative for Oakley to designing an ERP system for the marketing department of Oakley’s parent, the Italian eyewear conglomerate, Luxottica Group.  Jamie did not...

In a forever changing world, changing the way we approach the relationship we have with our cars is exactly what the Communauto team have done since the early 1990’s! Imagine that Adrianna and her team only started operating in Calgary in the summer of 2020? With over 3,300 vehicles in the Canadian fleet, the 150 units in Calgary represents tremendous opportunity for growth in the years to come!&n...

When a business has been around since 1945 (or 75+ years) there is a reason: personalized customer service, community-oriented focus, paying attention to detail and shifting their business activities, when appropriate, appear to have been successfully passed to Sheldon Fishman and his wife, Tasha, from the founders, Lily and Jack Fishman (grand-parents of Sheldon) and second generation owners, Ros...

Momentum Calgary has been helping individuals, entrepreneurs, startups and small business since 1991 by providing training, advisory, mentoring, coaching and even access to micro-loans.  Momentum is a change-making organization that combines social and economic strategies to reduce poverty. Momentum is the organization behind the Be Local Network - a Calgary network of community-focused busin...

Claudio provides inspiration for young and old; athletes and business people; celebrities and common folks. From his early experience as an 8-year old visiting Three Rivers Stadium for the first time to his most recent podcast with legendary race car driver, Mario Andretti, Claudio repeatedly referenced to his Italian roots and the life lessons passed on from his mom and dad. Claudio truly brought...

Judith may no longer “hold the broom” when it comes to the day to day cleaning the premises of her residential and commercial customers, she does not “sweep anything under the carpet” when it comes to understanding the key fundamentals to succeed in her cleaning business.  Judith focuses on education (staff, customers, community), customer service (including ensuring trust) and the use of tec...

What happens when three female high school students get together to compete in an international Technovation competition? This is not a riddle. They learn real life skills around creating a business plan, coding and developing an app for BETA testing, preparing a pitch deck and presenting to a panel of judges. As if that was not sufficient, the girls are seeking to remove the stress that many high...

While working in the construction sector, Jordan and Daniel saw an opportunity in 2018 to help small businesses with their storage of spare parts, light industrial equipment and dry goods (including alcohol-free beverages). They started with taking on a 10,000 square foot warehouse that has since grown to approximately 40,000 square feet today.  Daniel and Jordan place a lot of value on their...

The famous expression “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” pretty much sums up the work of Barry Lawrence and his company, Bastion Safety Solutions. Mix in years of experience with some Blue Chip industry players, a strong sense of the industrial work place and the latest in technological advances and it is easy to understand why companies choose Barry to meet their health and safety...

Jannette Festival and her team at NorthernStar have created a real community in Calgary, in Alberta and across Canada comprised of hospital and healthcare workers, mothers and infants that benefit from breast milk that otherwise would not have been readily available had she not taken the decision to pivot from her career in oil and gas.  The serendipity of her decision to get a nursing degree...

Healthcare is such an important part of everyone’s life and when chronic illnesses such as cancer arise, Shaneel Pathak and his co-founder, Cory Kapser, want to ensure that each individual has the data that is relevant to them as they seek to manage through the process. This includes using the ZoeInsights app to track, graph, analyze and view trends in your symptoms, activities and health data.&nb...

Ellen Parker not only owns and manages a public relations and media business, she lives it! From her relentless charity work in the community and schools to helping small businesses manage through the Covid crisis to having a solid understanding of the nuances of each ot the main social media platforms, Ellen  really relates to what is happening with her public: the Calgary community.  T...

Kevin’s 17+ years with Sturgess Architecture has clearly gone beyond the 3D CAD drawings, the cladding of a city building or the fence surrounding a house. His ideas on community, connecting, combining old and new (social media, technology), spatial awareness, Covid and creativity, training and learning and even issues of climate change, provides a real indication that the firm he has taken over f...

“You had me at Chocolate” is one of the key phrases when you visit the website of Dwarf Stars and it is clear from the photos of the Pumpkin Seed Butter Cups on their Instagram page why that phrase exists!  Kathryn has done her homework when it comes to understanding the key ingredients in the Dwarf Stars vegan and allergy-friendly chocolates and it seems that she is helping others to gain su...

It appears that the “Sober Curious” movement has become a thing in Calgary and the founder and CEO of Sexy AF Spirits (AF stands for “Alcohol-Free” in case you are wondering) wants to ensure your “Liquid to Lips” experience is amazing without the “next day” side affects.  To learn more about Jo-anne and her Sexy AF Spirits business, click on one or more of the links below:  §§§  Sex...

In my view, Andre really takes the “personal” side of being a Personal Financial Planner seriously and he does this by continuously asking his clients to think of two personal questions: (1) Where am I? and (2) Will I be okay? In fact, a lot of our chat frequently reverted back to these questions whether it was Covid, market volatility, Crypto-currency or small business digitation.  To learn...

Jeffery (also known as Jeff or JP) has been “Open” with startups and founders for a long time, dating back to his days as an internal IT / dev guy for the Loblaw’s grocery chain. In those days, Jeffrey used his server room to meet with startups that “pitched” their ideas for the Loblaw ecosystem; fast forward a few years and now Jeffery and his Open People Network (“OPN”) team use Zoom, YouTube, P...

From a Grade 9 science project to an MBA assignment and ending in a business plan to help provide a second income to Canadian farmers, Victoria Ross and her Agro Systems team are currently helping both farmers and craft brewers by transporting spent grains from the beer producers to be used as feed stock for farm animals.  To learn more about the work of Agro Systems Inc, click on one or more of t...

The Venture Mentoring Service of Alberta (VMSA) follows the MIT framework set in place in the year 2000 to provide free mentoring advice to entrepreneurs from volunteer mentors. The MIT program has 100+ organizations like VMSA across North America and other global locations, that matches local entrepreneurs with seasoned mentors from their local community.  As Chris Doble, the project manager...

Finding a fresh salad for lunch inspired Jon Karwacki to join with Derek Rucki to create “Inspired Go”, a tech enabled platform to order fresh salad — at work. When Covid hit, Derek and Jon found that their customers, although working from home, still needed to eat. That inspired them to change their method of ordering from text messages to a mobile-enabled app.  Two key partnerships ensure t...

Graeme Math, and his co-founders Jeff Weaver and Kevin Black, are seeking to democratize HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) for the small to medium sized oil & gas, mining and industrial companies that may not be in a position to engage full-time HSE experts. Combining years of practical experience, a mobile-enabled technical platform and a focus on data management, InUnison ensures it clien...