CANADA'S TOP GROWING COMPANIES - The Globe and Mail

OCTOBER 2021

THE GOOD FAT COMPANYSUZIE YORKE,FOUNDER AND CEO

No.

CANADA’STOP GROWINGCOMPANIESBOSS-LEVEL STRATEGIES AND BLUNTADVICE FROM THE COUNTRY’S MOSTDARING BUSINESSES

THE AMBITION DRAIN:WHY DO EMPLOYEES

STOP TRYING?

INSIDE THE PUSHTO MODERNIZECREDIT SCORES

MAGNA CEO SWAMYKOTAGIRI ON THE FIRM’S

ELECTRIC FUTURE

THE THORNY ISSUEOF PAY CUTS FOR

REMOTE WORKERS

How did a small Canadian companyturn into a global design icon?

Find out what you don’t know about Umbra’s design ethos,global growth and partnership with HSBC Bank. See the full story:

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Iconic designs andinternational minds

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OCTOBER 2021 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 1

Contents

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A SCORE TO SETTLEWhen it comes to credit bureaus, everyone has a horror storyto tell, which is why Edmonton’s Evan Chrapko is lookingto upend one of the world’s most outdated and entrenchedindustries. /By Max Fawcett

GOOD GRIEFUp to half of small businesses go under within five years.Yet, no one ever talks about the grief entrepreneurs experience—and how long it can take to recover. /By Rob Csernyik

MEET THE TRENDSETTERSTheir businesses may vary wildly—from health food to hipfurniture to cutting-edge forestry tech—but they all have onething in common: phenomenal growth. /By Rosemary Counter,Stacy Lee Kong, Uday Rana and Joe Castaldo

PRACTICAL MAGICPooch apparel, eco-friendly detergent and oceanographicinstruments—we look at some of the products mastermindedby Canada’s Top Growing Companies. /By Liza Agrba

THE RANKINGThe Top 448 by the numbers: what they do, where theyare and how fast they’re expanding.

TO P G ROW I N G C O M PA N I E S

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2 EDITOR’S NOTE

7 SEVEN THINGSThe cost of luringworkers back to the office,why interrupting isn’talways bad and retail’sloneliness factor

9 BIG IDEAFor a certain type of boss,listening to employees’ideas has always been achallenge. Here’s how tofix that in a WFH world

12 WORK LIFEThe pandemic has put ahold on career ambition—and that’s not necessarilya bad thing

14 ASK AN EXPERTCan I legally pay myemployees less for workingfrom home? And how toform postive new habitsin an hour a day

16 THE EXCHANGESwamy Kotagiri, Magna’sfirst CEO with no ties to itsfounder, on why the partsmaker’s future is lookingpositively electric

72 WEALTHLee Goldman pickshis favourites from theREIT smorgasbord.And why it might betime to wake up to SleepCountry’s potential

76 TURNING POINTThe Shaw Festival founditself in much betterpandemic shape than itspeers, thanks to a savvymove by Tim Jennings

Kevin Lim ofLim Geomatics1

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Editor’s Note

October 2021, Volume 38, No. 1EditorialEditor JAMES COWANAssistant Editor DAWN CALLEJASenior Editor JOHN DALYCopy Editor SUSAN NERBERGResearch CATHERINE DOWLING

ArtArt Director DOMENIC MACRIAssociate Art DirectorBRENNAN HIGGINBOTHAMDirector of PhotographyCLARE VANDER MEERSCH

ContributorsDEBORAH AARTS, LIZA AGRBA, JOECASTALDO, TREVOR COLE, ROSEMARYCOUNTER, TIM KILADZE, JASON KIRBY,ALEX MLYNEK, JUDITH PEREIRA,CLAIRE PORTER ROBBINS

AdvertisingChief Revenue OfficerANDREW SAUNDERSManaging Director, Creative Studiosand Ad InnovationTRACY DAYSenior Manager, Special ProductsANDREA D’ANDRADEProduct ManagerRYAN HYSTEAD

ProductionVice President, Print OperationsSALLY PIRRIProduction Co-ordinatorISABELLE CABRAL

PublisherPHILLIP CRAWLEYEditor-in-Chief, The Globe and MailDAVID WALMSLEYManaging Director, Businessand Financial ProductsGARTH THOMASEditor, Report on BusinessGARY SALEWICZ

Report on Business magazine ispublished 7 times a year by The Globeand Mail Inc., 351 King Street E., TorontoM5A 0N1. Telephone 416-585-5000.Letters to the Editor:[email protected] 2021, The Globe and Mail.Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index.

Advertising OfficesHead Office, The Globe and Mail,351 King Street E., Toronto M5A 0N1Telephone 416-585-5111 or toll-free1-866-999-9237Branch OfficesMontreal 514-982-3050Vancouver 604-685-0308Calgary 403-245-4987Email: [email protected]

United States and countries outside ofNorth America: AJR Media Group,212-426-5932, [email protected]

Publications mail registration No. 7418.The publisher accepts no responsibilityfor unsolicited manuscripts,transparencies or other material.Printed in Canada by TranscontinentalPrinting Inc.Report on Business magazine is electronicallyavailable through subscription to Factiva.comfrom Factiva, at factiva.com/factivaor 416-306-2003.

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David Ogilvy used to send a set of Russian nesting dolls to new executives athis advertising agency. To divine the gift’s meaning, the recipient would needthe “curiosity to open it,” as the legendary ad man wrote in his book Ogilvy onAdvertising. And then keep opening it. The persistent would find a messageinside the smallest doll. “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are,we shall become a company of dwarfs,” it read. “But if each of us hires peoplewho are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

Elsewhere in the book, Ogilvy summarizes the moral of the story thusly:“Hire people who are better than you are.” Like most good advice, its wisdomis immediately apparent, but most people will likely have trouble following. It’sa sentiment I saw repeatedly while reviewing the applications for our annualranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies. To build the list, we require firmsto share financial information with us. But we also ask their executives to offerother insights as well, like what lessons about leadership have been gleanedfrom their entrepreneurial careers. And amid some very practical ideas aboutcash flow and inventory management, I discovered a theme about hiring greatemployees and then getting out of their way. “You can’t control everything, andsometimes it’s best to relinquish control early and often,” wrote David Whyte,the CEO of Irwin, a software company. “I focus on hiring people that are betteror smarter than me.” That notion was echoed by Somen Mondal of Ideal, an HRconsultancy: “Learn to delegate and empower other people at the company. Asuccessful business needs to scale and can’t have the founders micromanagingeverything.”

That’s true, despite contradicting the stereotype of the details-obsessedentrepreneur (see: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs). It’s clear many leaders are inclined toindulge their inner micromanager; a survey conducted by the Institute for Cor-porate Productivity found 46% of companies were concerned that employeesweren’t delegating effectively.

But one lesson of the 2021 crop of Top Growing Companies is that businessesthrive when their founders can let go. That doesn’t mean walking away. Onceyou’ve hired top performers, the job becomes ensuring they continue to per-form. “Set high standards for the team, and don’t let mediocracy creep intothe organization,” advises Utkarsh Bhatnagar of Cloud SynApps. That’s whatit takes to lead a company of giants—but you also get to enjoy the view as youstand on their shoulders. /James Cowan

Send feedback [email protected]

A company of giants

Advisory Board

JENNIFER DENOUDENPRESIDENT & CEO, AVANADevelops and manages real estatein Saskatchewan

My biggest concern, post-COVID, is the she-cessioncreated by the pandemic.Women in the workforcewere more severely affected.Canada’s prosperity dependson the ability of women tocontribute to the economy,fully and equally. We at Avanaare addressing this by creatingan equal and inclusive workenvironment for women andfamilies. We offer flexibility,family benefits, inclusivityand a full top-up for parentalleave. Our hope is that morecompanies will follow ourlead in creating space forfemale leaders to thrive.

CURTIS KILLENPRESIDENT, KBD INSURANCE INC.Brokers business, automotive andhome insurance

My concern is our rankingin Google; the pandemic spedup technological adoption,by about three to five years,so the space has becomemore saturated withcompetitors. We will needto think out of the box torank high in Google.

AMAD ABDULLAHPRESIDENT, KW SIGNSMakes metal sign frames

Supply chain issues will bean ongoing challenge for thenext two to three years formany companies in NorthAmerica. This is especially

relevant for companiesthat import products fromoverseas.

We have a hybrid approachto manufacturing. Wemanufacture higher-endproducts locally in Kitchener,Ont., and we import lesscomplicated products fromoverseas. Last year we wereable to import containers at aprice of US$3,500. This yearthe price has skyrocketedup to US$25,000 and wehaven’t seen the end. Theseprice increases will forcecompanies all across NorthAmerica to re-source theirproducts and considerdomestic manufacturing.The challenge is that manymanufacturers similar to usare not optimized to makeevery product (especiallymass-produced ones that aretraditionally coming fromoverseas). As a result, ourcompany is investing in state-of-the-art machinery andcreating more jobs in Canada.

ADRIAN TRAVISPRESIDENT, TRINDENTCONSULTINGProvides consulting for energy,health care and financial services

Business travel is anessential part of our firm’ssuccess. Our clients havebeen receptive to having usreturn to working on-sitewith their companies. I’veflown a number of timesdomestically—and I haveto say that the airlines andairports are doing their very

best to make it a safe andpleasant experience despitethe pandemic. We have yetto find a government thatdidn’t process a work visaor permit entry for businesspurposes (some requiringquarantine, some not). Wherewe fall down is overcomingthe significant paralysis andinertia that exists withinour internal staff. Thepandemic caused many of ouremployees to reconsider theconsulting/business travellifestyle. Many were simplynot willing to resume workin what is best described as a“nomadic” services industry.We’ve addressed it largelyby making new hires whoare more open to travel, andhave a tolerance for it, andletting people find a moreappropriate career given theirlifestyle reassessment.

DAVID CICCARELLICEO, VOICESOperates an online marketplacefor voice talent, audio producersand others

My biggest concern forbusiness as the world “returnsto normal” is the unintendeddivide that’s likely to occur asmany of us head back to theoffice while others prefer tocontinue working at home.Unless leaders are intentionalabout bringing employeesinto the office from timeto time by incentivizingtheir attendance rather thandemanding it, there’s a riskthat some employees mayfeel left behind, uninformedof key changes, and generallydisconnected from theircolleagues. Whetheremployees are adoptingin-office, hybrid or remoteworking models, it will beimportant for leaders tofind ways to unify the workexperience for all.

Future tenseMyriad COVID-related challenges remain for Canadian companies,but most leaders are also beginning to plan for the post-pandemicfuture. We asked executives of Canada’s Top Growing Companiesto tell us what worries them most and how they’re preparing for aneventual return to normalcy.

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It was a desire to spend more time athome with their growing family that

inspired Jennifer andTroy Denouden to startRegina-based rental home developer AvanaDevelopments Inc. in 2014.

Ms. Denouden, a successful private banker,was on maternity leave with the couple’s firstdaughter and pregnant with their second.Before the baby came along, she spent a lotof time travelling interprovincially, while Mr.Denouden, a firefighter, worked long shifts.The couple wanted to start a business theywere passionate about and that enabled themto work at home alongside each other andtheir kids.

Ms. Denouden’s brother, Matt Ackerman,was a journeyman carpenter at the time.Jennifer andTroy approached Matt and hiswife, Nicki Ackerman, with their businessplan to start a company that would buildand operate rental homes.The two familieslaunched Avana with a plan to build eighthouses per year for five years in Regina.Theplan was then to property manage those 40homes as a family business.

But then they grew more ambitious, witha focus on providing a very specific type ofaffordable housing for women and childrenfleeing domestic abuse.

Today, Avana has 1,500 rental units —about 1,350 of them are affordable housing— and more than $400-million of assets

Buildingfor a betterfutureAvana Developments Inc. is focused ondeveloping affordable housing for vulnerablewomen and children.

under management across Saskatchewan,Alberta and B.C. Revenue has grown from$19.7-million in 2019 to $34.5-million in 2020and is on track to reach $65-million this year.

Affordable housing for women has fueledthe company’s growth, Ms. Denouden says.

“Women and children have beenoverlooked in housing in our country for a verylong time and the need is super significant,”she says. “We know that there are men thatneed affordable housing too, but we decidedthat we would rather make a more meaningfulimpact to one demographic.”

Avana’s growth accelerated once thefounders figured out the industry and theirlong-term vision to provide affordable housingfor women in duress.The company hasan “aggressive but doable” plan to get to$1-billion in assets by 2030, Ms. Denoudensays, based solely on offering this niche, high-demand form of housing.

Avana self-funds all of its projects and plansto remain private. “Most enterprises thathave grown to our size would have, at thispoint, either gone public or partially public, orbrought in outside investors,” she says. “It’sbeen very important for our family, and still is,to remain a private family enterprise.”

The main reason is that the founders wantAvana to always be a purpose-led company.“The moment you bring investors in, it allbecomes about the rate of return and you

Advertising produced by The Globe Content Studio. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.

Avana Developments Inc. co-founder Jennifer Denouden (pictured in her Regina home office) says, “If everyperson who made it prioritized the community and paid it forward, the world would be a much different place.”

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avanabuilds.com

Committed to SomethingBigger Than Ourselves.

can’t make decisions the way you want to,”she says. “We wanted to be able to keep thatcontrol and power.”

Also, the two families now have seven kidsbetween them and are hoping it will become amulti-generational business.

To extend its community support, thecompany set up the Avana Foundation, a non-profit for its charitable initiatives. Some realestate projects are built within the foundationstructure, creating cash flow that is directlydonated to community programs.

“Even if we decide to slow down as anorganization someday, we always want to beable to give back,” Ms. Denouden says.

The founders created an EmpowermentFund within the foundation, whichsupplements the rent and provides otheramenities such as food and clothing forwomen and their children in need.

Ms. Denouden encourages entrepreneurseverywhere to run purpose-led companiesto not only do good, but to help focus theirbusiness.

“If every person who made it prioritizedthe community and paid it forward, theworld would be a much different place,” shesays. “And having a strong brand with strongowners that are genuinely good peoplelooking to do good in the world is actually verygood for business.”

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CANADA’STOP GROWINGCOMPANIES

It was just over a decade ago when MaggieAurocco’s mother decided to buy her a

piece of jewelry to commemorate a promotionat work.They visited a well-known luxuryjewelry retailer in downtownToronto, but Ms.Aurocco left underwhelmed.

“They make beautiful things,” Ms. Auroccosays. “But to me, it felt mass-manufactured,and I waited in line for 45 minutes to have areally impersonal experience. For somethingthat was such an intimate moment in my life Ithought, ‘there’s got to be a better way.’”

Ms. Aurocco decided to start her owncompany,Toronto-based bluboho jewelry, toprovide unique pieces and a more engagedand personalized experience.

“Jewelry is an intimate experience.Wewear and pass down these pieces throughgenerations. I wanted to create an experiencethat was worthy of the moments thatpeople were marking,” she says. “And thosemoments, of course, can be beautiful andcelebratory; engagements, and anniversaries,graduations and birthdays; but they can alsobe challenging and hard, like losing a loved oneor starting on a new journey.”

The ‘blu’ part of the company name comesfrom the colour of the water and sky, whichrepresents the feeling of endless possibility,while ‘boho’ reflects the free-spirited lifestyle

How blubohojewelry builta niche in acompetitive marketTheToronto company provides unique piecesand a more engaged buying experience

the founder wanted to celebrate in her pieces.The company started with its first brick-and-

mortar location in Oakville, Ont. in 2011, andyears later expanded to two additional storesinToronto, as well as an e-commerce site.

bluboho also evolved into designing andcreating its own pieces, using local artisansand jewelers to bring the designs to life.Thecompany has grown to 25 employees.

The jewelry is hand-crafted in Canada usingethically sourced gemstones and recycledmetals and packaging materials.

“Keeping our suppliers and productionlocal in Canada has allowed us to maintaina stronger hold on our values,” Ms. Auroccosays.

bluboho creates a line of one-of-a-kindrings, mainly for engagements and specialoccasions using ethically sourced Montanasapphires to create designs that are trulyunique.The collections often sell out withindays of being launched.

“Ensuring that the way we do business isconducive to respecting the environment andour communities is of the utmost importance.We are committed to maintaining ourvalues as we grow.” says Ms. Aurocco, who


bluboho jewelry founder Maggie Aurocco says she wanted her company to “create an experiencethat was worthy of the moments that people were marking.”

studied environmental science in university.“Businesses must play a role in protecting theenvironment for future generations.”

Ms. Aurocco loves the creative side of hercompany, but says the financial part, includingbootstrapping her own business, is veryspecial as it allows the company to maintainits culture and values.

It was particularly tough during thepandemic lockdowns, as Ms. Auroccobalanced caring for her newborn baby as wellas working through the temporary closureof bluboho’s retail stores. However, theshutdowns created an opportunity for her toexpand the company’s e-commerce platform,which grew 251 per cent in 2020 comparedto 2019.

She’s proud of having made the online pivotduring a challenging time for many companies.

“It’s just me at the end of the day, so everytime we take a risk, and we want to investin something that comes from me. I don’thave investors who are giving us funding andguidance to take risks,” she says.

“There’s also beauty in that because I canmaintain the values and the culture of thecompany, which is deeply important to me.”

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Companiesare offeringperks toattract talentMore than 40% ofCanadian firms intend toincrease their headcountin the second half of 2021,according to Robert Half.And they’re offering perks:

Millennialsskip thegrocery storeIt’s the generation thathas most embracedonline grocery shopping,says Morning Consult.

PRE-PANDEMIC NOWPERCENTAGE WHO SHOPS MOSTLY ONLINE

SOME COUNTRIESLOVE OFFICE LIFEA Word Economic Forum survey found workers aroundthe globe would prefer 2.5 days per week of workingfrom home, but there’s variation between countries.

INDIA3.4

Lonely peopleare more likelyto buy second-hand goods“Consumption of usedproducts has the potentialto symbolically connectpresent and previous usersof these products, somethingthat would be appealingto lonely consumers.”

—Feifei Huang andAyelet Fishbach, Journalof Marketing Research

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6 BOSSES MAY PAYTO SEE THEIRSTAFF AGAINThat’s how much of a raise the average Londonoffice worker wants to return to the office,according to Locatee, an analytics firm.£5,100

7%17%

14%25%

4%13%

GEN Z

MILLENNIALS

GEN X

GIVING MOREPAID TIME OFF

OFFERINGBETTERJOB TITLES

PROVIDINGSIGNINGBONUSES

40%

37%

35%

PREFERRED NUMBER OF DAYSPER WEEK TO WORK FROM

HOME, ON AVERAGE

UNITEDSTATES

2.8

GREATBRITAIN

2.7

RUSSIA2.4CANADA

2.3

JAPAN2.2

FRANCE1.9

CHINA1.9

SHIPPINGCOSTSEXTRA

2019

US$2,800

$3,610

2020 2021

$5,795

The price tag for a40-foot shippingcontainer hasskyrocketed in thepast two years,according toDrewry, a maritimeresearch firm.

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Interruptinga co-workerisn’t alwaysa nuisance“Workintrusions canhave beneficialeffects byproviding anavenue for thefulfillment ofinterruptedemployees’need to belong”—Harshad Puraniket al., Journal ofApplied Psychology

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When Donna Roberts joinedthe human resources team atDeHavilland Aircraft of Canadalast year, she, unlike many otherwhite-collar employees, actu-ally worked on-site at the com-pany’s headquarters in Toronto.But most of her team—and theemployees who rely on the HRdepartment—were still found invirtual meetings.

But odd things have happened.“Some people don’t want to be oncamera,” explains Roberts, whomoved to Canada from the U.K.“I’m working with people and Idon’t even know what they looklike, which is strange for me.”

O u r p a n d e m i c - e n fo rc e dtransition to virtual work hasbeen about much more thanthe quirks of navigating onlinemeetings. This shift has also dis-rupted employee-engagementprograms designed to enable

behaviour expert at Queen’sUniversity’s Smith School ofBusiness, showed that employ-ees who provided constructivefeedback—while also being care-ful not to inundate their manag-ers—helped their firms innovate.They also tended to be rewardedat promotion time.

But the world of wall-to-wallZoom calls may have increasedwariness around offering well-intentioned advice to unrecep-tive managers. “I actually see vir-tual work as an opportunity thatwe can have more voice,” Bryk-man notes, “but in some of thosenew mediums, it is so much eas-ier to hide.”

When everyone was in theoffice, “it was easier to get peo-ple to feed off of each other’senergy,” says Karl Martin, CEOand founder of Nymiband, aToronto tech firm. “On Zoom,that one plus one equals threedoesn’t seem to be present. Fur-ther, because of audio lags andjust the nature of the technol-ogy, people seem more tentativeabout speaking up, so the conver-sations aren’t as flowing.”

This kind of back-sliding isconcerning.

Authoritarian, my-way-or-the-highway leadership is definitelyno longer in style, but many orga-nizations and executives stillhave difficulty actually listeningto feedback from rank-and-fileemployees, women and racial-ized minorities. “It’s always moredifficult for information to go upthe hierarchy than down the hier-archy,” observes GeorgetownUniversity linguist Deborah Tan-nen, author of “Talking From 9 to5” and other studies on how officepolitics affect women. “Thatwould be the same on Zoom.”

workers to express themselves.It’s now harder for them to offerideas for new products and mar-keting campaigns or provideinput about internal policies.

Some HR experts refer to thisbroad category of corporatefeedback as “employee voice.”And it can be a “catalyst for orga-nizational change,” says KyleBrykman, an assistant professorof management at the Universityof Windsor’s Odette School ofBusiness. Research in the U.K.has shown that enabling effec-tive employee voice contributesto better motivation, productiv-ity and reduced absenteeism.But there are hurdles, too. “Asyou can imagine,” he says, “mostpeople are pretty reluctant tospeak up when they want to initi-ate some sort of change.”

In a new study, Brykman andJana Raver, an organizational

BIG IDEA

Could you speak up?Listening to employees’ ideas has always been a challenge for somebosses. How to fix that problem in our new virtual working world

“Mybiggestpiece ofadvice isfor theleader tospeak last”


The number ofcompanies that gopublic in Canadahas been sharplydeclining, a possibledownside to stringentcorporate governance,according to researchby professors at theHaskayne School ofBusiness. Bryce Tingleand J. Ari Pandescounted an averageof 41 initial publicofferings on the TSXeach year between1993 and 2000. Butthe average then fellbelow 14 each year.The decline wasdriven by “a regulatoryand governanceecosystemthat has grownincreasingly hostileto and distrustful ofcorporate leadership,”the researchersargue, saying it’stime to abandon thenotion that “one-size-fits-all corporategovernance”is possible.

To ensure that employees doshare feedback in virtual meet-ings, Brykman recommendscommon-sense measures likecheck-ins, time limits for speak-ers, smaller groups, clear agen-das and even rotating the roleof meeting chair. “My biggestpiece of advice is for the leaderto speak last,” he adds, “so thateverybody else gets their opin-ions out. By doing that, you’reless likely to influence their ideasand make them feel pressured togo along with you.”

Tannen also says that becausevirtual meetings haven’t actuallymade shy employees more out-spoken, it’s important for manag-ers to organize one-on-one ses-sions “to make sure people saywhat’s on their minds. Asking forfeedback is important because alot of people won’t volunteer it.”

O n t h e o t h e r s i d e o f t h eemployee-employer relation-ship, Liane Mercier, a senior HRconsultant with Salopek Asso-ciates, has seen individuals inleadership positions becomeless prone to imposing theirview because of the shift to vir-tual management. “I’ve observedleaders who had a tendency totake over the meeting just gettired because they can’t keep upthat level of energy,” she says,describing the emergence of themore humane manager as “a sil-ver lining.”

After a year-plus of remotework, many companies havemuddled up new measures, and,not surprisingly, a small industryof consultants, online tips and“idea management” softwareplatforms has sprung up to pro-vide assistance for a fee. What

remains to be seen, however, iswhether these gerry-rigged ver-sions of employee engagementare truly substitutes for the morerobust approaches—town halls,break-out sessions, retreats—that have developed in recentyears.

Brykman also offers this cau-tion. When the pandemic ends,or at least recedes enough forpeople to go back to the office,a new approach to employeeengagement might be requiredto fit the hybrid model that willlikely take hold in many organi-zations, allowing some employ-ees to continue to work remotely.“I see the hybrid as a really goodidea in general,” he says, adding,“People who are at home mightnot be able to be as loud as thepeople who are actually present,and it could create unintentionalpressure to show up.” /John Lorinc

Big Idea is produced with the support of our advisory panel

Wanda M. Costen, Dean,Smith School of BusinessNancy Evans, Executive Director,Marketing and Communications,Smith School of Business.

Oanh Kasperski, director, marketingand community engagementGillian Mulvale, Associate Dean,Graduate Studies and Research

Yrjo Koskinen, Associate Dean, Research;Haskayne School of BusinessStephane Massinon, Director, PublicRelations; Haskayne School of Business

PUBLIC ENEMY

e founded HEXO in2013 with a mission

to help people by providingmedicinal cannabis to thosewho needed it. Today we areone of the leading cannabisplayers in Canada, and onthe path to becoming one ofthe top three global cannabisproducts companies.

As we have grown,we have integratedsustainability into ouroperations while managingour profitability, but weknew we had to do more.Climate change is a universalconcern that needs drasticand decisive action today.To continue down the samepath, with an over relianceon fossil fuels at the expenseof the environment, is not afuture I want to leave mychildren.

PROTECTING THE PLANETAND ITS PEOPLEAt the start of the summerwe set a new sustainabilitygoal, pledging that HEXOwould not only becomecarbon neutral by September2021, but that we would alsooffset the personal carbonemissions* generated byevery one of our employees.Today we are proud to say weare officially carbon neutral,having offset 25,965 tonnesof carbon.

We invested in carboncredits with Offsetters tocounteract the emissionsproduced by HEXO andour team. Climate changeis evident all around theworld, so it’s importantfor our investment to havethe same reach. We aresupporting a renewable

energy project and forestcarbon projects that willreduce carbon emissionsglobally. Closer to home,we are helping to reduceharvesting in our chosenCanadian project, the GreatBear Forest Carbon Project.This landmark projectbalances human well-beingand ecological integritythrough carbon finance, andis the first carbon project inNorth America on traditionalterritory with unextinguishedAboriginal rights and title.If the top 100 Canadiancompanies pursued similarsustainability initiatives,it would be a significantcontribution to Canada’srole in combatting climatechange.

We are also minimizingand offsetting our use ofplastic. We’ve alreadytaken steps to reduce theamount of plastic used in ourpackaging while improvingshelf-life by convertingto streamlined pouches.To account for the plasticwe do use, we’re workingalongside our primarypackaging supplier Dymapak,in conjunction with PlasticBank, to collect and recycleocean-bound plastic itemsfrom coastal communitiesaround the world. In doingso, we initially offset 63,000kilograms of plastic. ByOctober 1st, we will offset anadditional 8,000 kilograms– the equivalent of over 3.55million plastic bottles.

FREE ENTERPRISE ANDENVIRONMENTALISMEnvironmentally consciousconsumers are willing to

pay over a third more forsustainable alternatives,with significant commercialopportunities for thosethat provide exceptionalproducts and protect theenvironment in the process.Millennials and Generation Zare the most likely to makepurchasing decisions basedon personal values, whichoverwhelmingly includessustainability. Championingsustainability today isessential to HEXO’s sustainedgrowth in the future.

For too long scientists haveissued dire warnings aboutclimate change and millionsaround the world are feelingits effects. In the news weare seeing the impacts fromwildfires in British Columbia,to droughts in the westernUnited States, to record

heatwaves across the globe.It will take a collective effortto protect the planet, whichis why I am asking my fellowbusiness leaders to join HEXOby taking action on climatechange and invest in the long-term viability of the planetand your business.

We are just getting started,and for us, moving forwardstarts at neutral.

*Estimated personal emissionsbased on the average Canadian’semissions from heating andpowering their homes, driving andfood consumption

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Balancing profitabilityand protecting the planetis not only possible, it’ssensible and necessary

PAID POST • ADVERTISING FEATURE PROVIDED BY HEXO CORP. THE GLOBE AND MAIL’S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT WAS NOT INVOLVED.

SebastienSt-Louis,chiefexecutiveofficer andco-founder,HEXO Corp


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10/21work,” Vipula Gandhi and Jennifer Robison wrotein a summary of recent Gallup research into themood of American workers. “Many are reflectingon what a quality job feels like, and nearly half arewilling to quit to find one.”

The sentiment is similar north of the border: 28%of respondents to a recent study by recruitmentagency Robert Half said they had “a shift in per-spective” due to the pandemic that has spurred thedesire for more “meaningful or fulfilling” work. Andnearly one-quarter of Canadians surveyed by Life-Works (formerly Morneau Shepell) said the pan-demic led them to consider a job or career change.

This ennui matters, whether people actually quitor not. Ambition is the shadow currency of today’sworkplace, prompting folks to do extra, stay late, goabove and beyond their job description, with theimplicit understanding that doing so will advancetheir career. It’s the real reason a lot of businesseshave often been able to “do more with less.” Sowhen an employee loses their drive, it creates a veryreal management challenge.

Whereas burnout can be blamed on the unpleas-ant realities of pandemic life, lost ambition strikesdifferently. For starters, it’s more pernicious. It’s lesstemporary, less easy to soothe with extra vacationdays or free massages; it’s a symptom of existentialcrisis, not circumstance, which requires a deft man-agerial hand. And that’s tough, since most managersare themselves feeling unmotivated. A new surveyby LifeWorks and Deloitte Canada found that 51%of respondents are considering quitting, retiring ortaking a less demanding job.

So what can managers do? First, avoid dismissingthe situation as a pandemic blip. It’s unlikely thatCOVID-19 is the only factor influencing employeeapathy.

Second, re-emphasize the “why” of the work.Most jobs aren’t glamorous, but almost all can beconnected to some broader purpose that may havebeen forgotten by a staffer sequestered in a base-ment home office. An honest, human conversationabout the importance of a project or launch won’tnecessarily turn a Troy Dyer into a Tracy Flick, butit might remind them of why they chose this path.“Reversing the tide [of apathy] in an organizationrequires managers who care, who engage and whogive workers a sense of purpose, inspiration andmotivation to perform,” Gandhi and Robison writein the Gallup report.

Finally, be open to the uncomfortable possibilitythat the era of the overachiever might be done—atleast until the pandemic is behind us. The ambitiondrain probably won’t last forever, but it’s here now,and ignoring its causes or penalizing those expe-riencing it will benefit no one. Sometimes goodenough really is good enough. If we can get used totaking Zoom calls from our laundry rooms, we canget used to that. /Deborah Aarts

he pandemic has razed many pillars of modernoffice life—from the notion that nine-to-five officesare the ideal conduit of productivity and that teamsmust breathe the same air to foster camaraderie, tothe now-unimaginable obligation to shake hands incrowded conference rooms.

Now it’s after another stalwart: career ambition.A sense of resigned stasis is permeating the

white-collar office dwellers of the knowledge econ-omy, infecting previously high-achieving, highlyeducated ladder-climbers for whom “career” hasbeen interchangeable with “identity.” Look closely:Erstwhile keeners aren’t putting their hands up forextra assignments. They’ve given up on network-ing. They’ve cut-and-pasted last year’s goals intotheir career plans. Their spark is dimming, if notentirely gone.

“It’s a hard-won lesson for the goal-settingAmerican worker: that as much as you might loveyour work, work won’t love you back,” declaredwriter Kelli María Korducki in a New York Timesessay that went viral this summer. “The pandemicchanged the way people work and how they view

WORK LIFE

Drive not foundHave your office keeners stopped trying to impress?The pandemic may have sapped their ambition.Here’s how to add some muscle to their hustle again

Paul Fisher remembers a time, not that longago, when golf was on the wane. It was in

the aftermath of the 2008 recession and thegame seemed expensive and too much of atime commitment.

Iconic playerTigerWoods, who inspiredmillions to start golfing the previous decade,also started to fall from grace amid a mix ofpersonal problems and injuries.

“Golf was in a really bad spot” says Mr.Fisher, president and managing partner atModern Golf, a Canadian golf club fitter andacademy chain.

Fast forward to today and the game hasarguably never been hotter. A mix of thepandemic lockdowns – which turned golf intoan unofficial physical distancing sport – and thegrowth in baby boomers with more time ontheir hands, are partly to thank.

However, Mr. Fisher says the game hasalso evolved to attract more players: It’s moreinclusive and livelier. For instance, somecourses now play music and have relaxed theironce-strict dress codes.

“There’s a lifestyle movement awayfrom the country club atmosphere towardssomething that’s more casual and fun,” hesays.

Modern Golf has adapted alongside the

How ModernGolf iscapitalizingon the sport’scomeback‘Golf has exploded, and business has exploded,’says company president Paul Fisher

game.Through its club fitting services that usethe latest technology to identify clubs that suiteach golfer’s game best, to lessons from topPGA of Canada professionals, the company hassomething for golfers at every experience level.

Mr. Fisher, who took over as presidentat Modern Golf in 2019 after an early careerin commercial real estate and a successfulstartup, says the company aims to offer valueand expertise at competitive prices to helpattract more people to the game – and keepthem there.

“I think a lot of people see our brand andsay, ’They know their stuff.They offer a greatservice, and this is a fun environment in thestore.’ At the end of the day, we are not just inthe retail business, we are in hospitality.”

Modern Golf, which started in 2012 withone store in Mississauga, Ont., now has sixlocations across Canada, including three inthe GreaterToronto Area (GTA), two in Calgaryand one in theVancouver area.The companywill soon add two more locations in differentparts of the GTA and one in both Halifax andWinnipeg.

Business has been good in recent yearsbut really took off during the pandemic, Mr.Fisher says: revenue doubled from 2019 to2020 to nearly $5-million and he expects it to


Modern Golf president Paul Fisher’s vision is to grow the company to about 15 stores across thecountry within the next three years, with annual revenues of more than $30-million

TORONTO | CALGARY |MISSISSAUGA | OAKVILLE| VANCOUVER | VAUGHAN

www.moderngolf.ca

double again to $10-million this year, despitepandemic shutdowns. Next year’s numbers areforecasted to spike yet again.

“Golf has exploded, and business hasexploded,” he says.

Interest in the game is way up, but Mr.Fisher also credits the company’s success toits decision to add new revenue streams suchas coaching programs and its retail options,including a new outlet concept that offers used,demo, and other equipment both online andin-store.

His vision is to grow the company to about15 stores across the country within the nextthree years, with annual revenues of more than$30-million.

Mr. Fisher’s big fear is overexpansion. “Youhave to be very careful not to oversaturate themarket” he says. “Even though golf is hot rightnow, Canada is still a seasonal climate.”

Instead, his strategy is to build the businessin key markets and maximize revenue in eachwith continued focus on always finding optimalstore footprints in locations that are easy forcustomers to access.

“I think golf is in the early stages of a 10-yearrun” Mr. Fisher says. “So, I think we go out andexpand the business, mature the business; andenjoy the run.”

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ASK AN EXPERT

Get out of townCan we ask staff who moved during thepandemic to take pay cuts if they’re now livingin smaller, lower-cost communities?

In the summer, Mark Zuckerbergsaid Facebook employees—50%of whom will be workingremotely in the next decade—may have their salaries cut ifand when they relocate frombig cities to boonies. Twitteris contemplating a similarmove, while Google releaseda pay calculator to employeesthat suggested they could seetheir compensation reducedby as much as 25% if theychoose to work from homerather than commuting to theoffice. Whether these policiesare legal, however, makes it abusy and exciting time to bean employment lawyer, saysJennifer M. Fantini, partnerat Borden Ladner Gervais inVancouver. “I’ve seen manytimes when an employee wantsto relocate and the employeroffers essentially a new, lower-salaried contract,” says Fantini,“but I haven’t yet heard ofemployers trying to impose a paycut for someone who’s alreadymoved.” (Even Zuckerberg hasn’ttried that move, for now.) But

it’s a complicated question, inan unprecedented time, and apotential legal minefield. Yes,employers can ask/offer staffwhatever they want to, butno, staff don’t have to agreeor accept it. Forcing a pay cutcould easily be considered aconstructive dismissal, explainsFantini, which she admittedlyhasn’t seen much of lately.“In a pandemic, people wantto keep their jobs.” In thecoming months, however, we’removing into a worker’s market,so employers should thinkhard about whether shavingsomeone’s salary is worth thelegal risk or hit to companymorale. Instead, try this bestpractice: “Make a policy goingforward, be upfront and honest,and negotiate fair compensationwell in advance,” says Fantini.

I’ve gained weight over the past18 months and my office wearis now snug. Should I buy newclothes or hit the gym?More than 40% of Canadiansare coming out of the pandemic

cushier than they went into it,but if you’re not loving yournew bod, squeezing it into your2019 wardrobe won’t help onebit. “Your clothes should fityour body—not the other wayaround,” explains wardrobestylist Rebecca Jacobs. Thisdoesn’t mean you need all neweverything, nor that new garbsand a gym membership aremutually exclusive, only thatyour clothes should fit nowto make you feel your best.“Always dress for today, not somehypothetical future scenario,”she says. More practically, startwith a closet analysis. “Figureout what fits, what doesn’t, keepyour favourites but get rid of thefiller clothes that just take upspace.” Now go shopping just abit: “Invest in a few staples andgo-to pieces that you’ll wear allthe time—a suit jacket, skirt anddress pants,” she says. Noticethat each item can be trimmedand tailored if and when thoseworkouts start paying off(but no pressure).

I want to go back to the office abetter me. How can I form a fewgood new habits?In related news, you can startreaping health benefits rightnow, at home, for free. “Join the5am Club,” suggests leadershipexpert Robin Sharma, author ofThe Everyday Hero Manifesto.Night owls can start at 8 or11, thankfully, as it’s not actu-ally about the clock. “It’s aboutgetting a good start to the daywith the 20/20/20 formula,” saysSharma. That’s 20 minutes ofexercise (however gentle), 20minutes of reflecting (a to-do list,grateful journal or meditation)and 20 minutes of learning (reada book or the paper, or listen toa podcast). “I call this theVictory Hour,” says Sharma.“Start your days this way andafter the 66 days it takes to forma new habit, it will be easier to dothan not do it.”/Rosemary Counter

Empowered Startups Ltd. wants morestudents to consider starting their own

business, so theVancouver-based globalincubator createdYoung EmpoweredStartuppers (YES) — a program that teacheshigh schoolers entrepreneurship.

The program, launched in 2019 and currentlytaught in seven school districts across Albertaand B.C., takes students through a cutting-edge curriculum that covers various aspectsof being an entrepreneur: from outlining aproblem to finding a solution and taking anidea to market.

It’s a “plug and play” program that can bedone virtually, in a classroom or via a hybridmodel.The coursework includes assignments,collaboration and assessment tools deliveredin a fun and engaging style that studentscan easily follow, says Naheed Henderson,chief executive officer of the Global StartupAccelerator at Empowered Startups.

“It’s not a lemonade stand builder — itcould be — but you can also build a real-world solution through it,” she says. “It’s anall-inclusive road mapped edtech journey andthat’s what makes it stand apart.”

The program was initially created for globalentrepreneurs and then revamped for highschool students, says Chris Lennon, presidentand general counsel with EmpoweredStartups.

While theYES program is a smallpercentage of the company’s revenue —schools pay a subscription to use the platform— it’s an area Ms. Henderson expects willgrow. Empowered Startups plans to expandthe program across Canada and globally. Aschool in NewYork is currently using it and thecompany has partners in India andVietnam.Discussions are also underway to bring it toJapan.

A key element to the program is thatit’s for both teachers and students, whichmeans schools don’t need a specially trainedentrepreneurship instructor.

“It takes a huge load off schools,” Ms.Henderson says. “We’ve had a lot of uptakesin more rural, remote school districts wherethey don’t have the ecosystem around them tootherwise support a robust entrepreneurshipprogram.”

The program is gaining traction as moreeducators realize the importance of teachingentrepreneurial skills to help students succeedin today’s fast-paced and rapidly changingbusiness environment, Ms. Henderson says.

The skills taught in the course, such asresilience and problem-solving, are usefulacross many industries and professions, Mr.Lennon adds.

“There’s value to learning these skills even ifthey never start their own business,” he says.


Kyle Kirkegaard, the company’s outreach and educational experiencemanager, checks in with a student working in the YES edtech platform.

Ms. Henderson says many students in theprogram come up with amazing ideas, citingthe example of one participant working on azero-waste edible tape to keep sandwichesfrom falling apart. Students have also createdsocial platforms and technology to try to solvesocial issues, she adds.

Empowered Startups also has EmpoweredNations, an edtech platform that helps train,grow and support Canada’s Indigenouscommunities in entrepreneurship. Ithas reached more than 200 Indigenousentrepreneurs to date.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Ms. Henderson says.“We’ll see the impact grow and expand.It’s been hugely successful and warmlywelcomed in community.”

Most of the company’s revenue is earnedby facilitating research and innovationcollaborations between universities,entrepreneurs and industry, Mr. Lennon says.It has strong relationships with universitiesand research institutes, where many ideasemerge.

“You could describe us as a universityindustry liaison office for hire,” he says.Thecompany has operations in Canada, Portugaland France and is making inroads into theU.S., “which will probably be our biggest newaddition to our growth,” he adds.

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Empowered Startupsprogram helps highschoolers think likeentrepreneursTheYES platform guides teachers and studentson an innovative edtech journey


BY TREVOR COLE

THE EXCHANGE

Playing the partsSwamy Kotagiri—the first CEO of Magna International withno link to its founder—on pandemic-related slowdowns,electric versus internal-combustion vehicles and why theautomotive industry is ground zero for technological disruption

If the first prerequisite for success is being in the rightplace at the right time, Swamy Kotagiri seems to havethat covered. Right time? With the rapid adoption ofelectric vehicles, the rise of alternative fuels and themarch toward autonomous cars, the auto industry is sud-denly a hotbed of innovation. There may be no companybetter situated to profit from that potential than auto-parts giant Magna International, with more than 330

assembly plants and 158,000 employees worldwide, a diverse productlineup and the ability to assemble full vehicles to order. Right place?Well, all of that, plus the fact that Kotagiri is the first CEO to take overat Magna in the post–Frank Stronach era. The company bought outits colourful founder in 2010 and stopped paying him a salary in 2014.With Stronach out of the picture, then-CEO Don Walker (Stronach’sformer son-in-law) tapped Kotagiri—who’d started as a simulationsengineer in 1999 and wound up leading Magna’s entire engineeringeffort—as his likely successor. Kotagiri spent the next few years get-ting a crash course in Magna operations, launching facilities in Indiaand Thailand, taking on the role of chief technology officer, and run-ning the company’s electronics group and powertrain divisions beforebecoming president in 2020 and, finally, CEO this past January. As thepace of change accelerates in the auto industry, it’s now up to SwamyKotagiri to keep Magna on course. He spoke to us from Detroit.

I think you’re the first CEO ofMagna who hasn’t had any ties tothe Stronach family. How do youthink that will affect the company?I don’t think it should affect itin any way. Even when Don wasrunning Magna, I think he waspretty agnostic and objective interms of—call it the constitution.(1) His demeanour, how heran the company, was more acompany culture. My intent is toleverage the foundational stancewe have and build on it.What’s your strength as a leader?I’ve grown up in Magna. So thereis a sense of familiarity. I alwaysenjoyed the culture, whichpresents very few obstacles

or hurdles, or putting you ina box and saying, “You’re atesting engineer, so you’re doingtesting.” You have the freedom,the ability to act on your own.The decentralized structure andcompensation structure allowsthat. Every general manager ofa plant owns the profit-and-lossstatement of their plant, andtheir compensation is based ontheir profitability. So everybody’san owner. All of those thingshave really kept me enthused.From a personal perspective, Ilike systems thinking—lookingat the extent of Magna, the broadproduct portfolio we have andwhat we should be doing. Wherethe world is going in the nextfive, 10, 15 years. To be able toconnect the dots—I enjoy doingthat.Do you see the company changingover the next few years?I thought of it this way, Trevor.I was at the table as the strategywas discussed over the pastthree to five years. I’m sittingin a different chair right nowbut at the same table. Our focusis accelerating investments inthe megatrend growth areasof the automotive or mobilityindustry. I purposely use theword mobility, because it’s aboutmoving people and goods frompoint A to point B in the mostefficient way. With the broadportfolio we have, I think we canplay a larger role. The industry’sgrowing, it’s transforming.It’s a $3-trillion industry, and

1. In 1984,Magna adopteda corporateconstitutionto define theparticipationof employees,shareholders andmanagementin the profits ofthe company. Italso establishedexpectationsaround charitablegiving, R&Dinvestment andshareholderrepresentationon the board ofdirectors.


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2. In August, thechip shortageforced Magna tocut its revenueforecast. Thecompany alsosaid that thenumber ofvehicles theauto industrybuilds this yearwill be 7.7% lessthan originallyforecast.

3. Originalequipmentmanufacturer—inthis case he’sreferring to theautomakers.

4. Linamar’sautomotiveproducts arefocused aroundthe powertrain.

5. Veoneer, basedin Stockholm,designs andmanufactureshigh-tech autosafety sensorsand systems.

we are $40 billion. We have along ways still to go.I want to touch on some challengesMagna’s facing right now. Oneof them is the chip shortage. (2)First, is the shortage preventingyou from fulfilling your orders,or have the orders themselvesbeen cut?No OEM (3) had to shut downbecause Magna couldn’t supply.The chip shortage has causedthe demand to be reduced by theOEMs. The market demand isthere, but the OEMs are not ableto build, and therefore Magnais impacted. Not because wecouldn’t make it.What’s the main cause of theshortage? Is it a lack of materials?A bottleneck in shipping?It’s a complex story. WhenCOVID first came, in the firsthalf of 2020, the automotiveindustry stopped in stages.First it was China, then Europe,then North America. Then theyall started back up. I think theexpectation of the industrycoming back so soon was notthere. And so the semiconductorindustry reallocated capacity toother areas. And when the autoindustry came back, we startedseeing the bottlenecks.Were you aware that reallocationwas happening?I don’t think there was muchattention paid to it, until itstarted hitting. Definitely one ofthe lessons learned is that thevisibility needed for the supplychain in semiconductors is not inweeks; it’s in months, and maybeeven a full year. So there is thatfundamental question beingasked right now: How good is“just-in-time,” or should we starttalking about buffers so we don’tface the issue? There is no clear-cut answer.Do you think it’s the chip-shortagehiccup that has affected yourshare price? Since June, it hasfallen by 20%.Definitely overall the industryhas been impacted by the chipshortage. By next year at thistime, I think there is going tobe stability. But to be honest,

we really look at the long term.If you continue to look at thestock price every day, it’ll bevery difficult to operate. Thebetter way to look at it is, how isMagna performing compared toits peers? I think relatively, if youlook at it, we are outperformingthe peer group.Vis à vis your peers, Linamar’sprofit margin is twice that ofMagna’s—4.8% versus 2.3%.Again, you have to look at it froma long-term perspective. Andyou say Linamar—it is just oneaspect of Magna, right? (4) Wehave body and chassis. We havefull vehicle. We have seats. Wehave a whole bunch of things.So Linamar wouldn’t be a fullcomparison, apples to apples.But they are a peer, for sure. Ourseating group has been moreadversely impacted by the chipshortage, and the OEMs havestopped particular vehicle lines.It’s kind of a mix of everything.In July, you made big news withthe announcement that Magnawas buying Veoneer. (5) Thenin August, Qualcomm swoopedin with a bigger offer. Whathappened, and where do thingsstand now?I can’t talk about Qualcomm,obviously, but part of ourstrategy was to strengthen ourbusiness in the driver assist area.We felt it was complementaryto a good business that wealready have. So we followed ourstrategy. There’s always a chancethat somebody could come in,and that’s what happened.Did you actually have an

agreement with Veoneer?We have a merger agreementwith Veoneer that is signed.Actually the proxy was filed,I think, in August.How does the Qualcomm offeraffect that?Qualcomm made an offer and,from my understanding, theboard of Veoneer has to lookthrough it and see what’s goodfor their shareholders. Andthat’s what they’re going throughright now. We’ll be looking at alloptions.You’ve identified threemegatrends in the industry:electrification, autonomy and newmobility.There are four, I would say.The three you mentioned, andconnectivity—for example,5G and the new developmentshappening there. The consumerwants a seamless transition fromthe office or home into the car.How do we stay connected?What does “new mobility” entail?I would define new mobilityas the most efficient, effective,economical way to get frompoint A to point B. Mobility asa service is one aspect of it. Dopeople want to own vehicles?Or do they just want to havethe service? The other aspectis micromobility. You’re ina big city, you use a publictransportation system, but thenyou have the last mile. You wantto get from there to wherever.And goods delivery. People aretrying to order things now ratherthan go personally to stores.Two- and three-wheelers are

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6. The Arcfox isa line of electricpassengervehicles Magnaassembles at itsZhenjiang facilityfor China’s BAICGroup.

7. Based inSouthernCalifornia, FiskerInc. is the seconditeration of acarmaker thathas been workingon electricvehicles since2007. Its firstcar, a plug-inhybrid called theFisker Karma,was produced forroughly a year in2012. The FiskerOcean will be itssecond EV.

8. ADAS standsfor AdvancedDriver AssistanceSystems,encompassingthe variouselectronicdetection andavoidancetechnologiesmeant toincrease vehiclesafety.

going to play a bigger role.Is there one megatrend that willaffect Magna more than others,at least in the short term?Magna has a broad portfolio.Whether mobility becomes aservice, or you have electricpowertrains instead of theinternal-combustion engine,you’re still gonna have a body, achassis, some form of seat. Areall of these products evolving?Absolutely, yes, but we are verywell positioned to address thatevolution. So that’s one pieceof it. The other piece—theelectrification, and driver assistandmobility-as-a-service—we’lluse what we have and continueto accelerate our investmentsthere to take a leading position.The ability of Magna to designand engineer full vehicles, andmanufacture them for OEMs, isunique. So as new entrants comeinto play, all the existing OEMswanting to do a different variantof a vehicle—Magna is very wellsuited to do that.Looking ahead a few years, howmuch of Magna’s product line willbe devoted to EVs versus internalcombustion?It’s difficult to quantify.Powertrain, which is about$6 billion in sales today—more than half of that will beelectric-based products by 2025,roughly. Our body and chassisstructure is not typically relatedto electrification in anybody’smind. But we form batteryenclosures. Any vehicle that hasa battery needs an enclosure.Every vehicle that needs abattery is an addressable marketfor us. That’s a huge market—itcould be up to $25 or $30 billion,even if it’s 30% electrificationby 2030. That’s all additionalbusiness for us. And obviouslywe are making electric vehicles.Wemake the Arcfox (6) in ourjoint venture in China.We aremaking the Jaguar I-Pace andE-Pace; the I-Pace is electric.We’re gonna bemaking theFisker. So if you take all of thatand tie it to electrification,it’s a big number.

You mentioned your deal withFisker (7) to begin assembling theOcean SUV. How many vehicleswill you be producing?I don’t knowwhether I’mallowed to talk about theirproduct plans, because thevolumes are usually given by thecustomers. All I can say is thestart of production is plannedfor November 2022.Are you seeking out more of thosesorts of partnerships?I would say we are seekinggrowth, as far as it meets ourmetrics. It needs to have thereturns. It needs to have thelongevity and the roadmap.Once those two fall into place,then we start looking at whatmakes sense. Fisker is really aproof point. With a newcomerthat is focused on the consumerinterface, new business model,we bring to the table thesupply-chain management,the full-vehicle engineering,the build.We can also bringcertain platforms, which helpspeak to market.We broughtthe electrical architecture,we brought the entire ADASsystem. (8) That doesn’t stopthem from having flexibilityto change, which gives themtheir brand differentiation.But you’re not starting fromground zero. Everybody doesn’t

need to reinvent the wheel.You’ve talked about the industrytransforming, and in the pastyou’ve discussed the importanceof disruption in technology. Whatis Magna’s role in all that? Shouldyou be the disruptor, or should yoube responding to disruption?I don’t think you can separate thetwo. If you’re not the disruptorsometimes, I don’t think you’ll bea good Tier 1 supplier. If you’rewaiting for the OEMs to comeand tell you what they want,you are not a true partner.Welook at material advancements,process advancements, andbring synergies to productsand a value proposition to thetable. You have to say, “Hey,there’s a new steel coming. Ideveloped a process so youcanmake B pillars, or A pillars,that could help you in yourcrash resistance.” You have tofigure out what’s happening invarious parts of the industryand see how it applies, so you’llhave an advantage at the table.That’s where you need to bethe disruptor. The other one isbeing able to implement.We arelooking at disruptions in roboticsand automation in other fields,like medicine and packaging.We try to learn from that, andwe bring it to the automotiveside in our own factories.What excites you most about thechanges coming to automotivetechnology?Whenever there is atransformational change, thereis an opportunity. Technologicalchange is happening incommunication, in computing,in AI, in machine learning,and automotive is one of thoseindustries that has all of theseelements. All of the things cometogether. If you’re not excitedby that, I don’t knowwhat elsewould excite you.

This interview has been editedand condensed.

Trevor Cole is the award-winning authorof five books, including TheWhisky

King, a non-fiction account of Canada’smost infamous mobster bootlegger.

In the midst of Ontario’s agriculturalheartland, Bruce Power, thesupplier of a third of the province’selectricity, periodically performs adifferent kind of harvest – the kindthat saves lives.

This harvest involves the removalof cobalt-60 from Bruce Power’sBruce B generating station, where

this gamma-ray-emitting long-lived isotopehas been created by bombarding cobalt-59with neutrons. From there, cobalt-60 makesits way into health-care facilities in Canada andaround the world to be used to sterilize medicaldevices, battle cancer and treat brain tumours.

“For more than 60 years, Canada has beena global leader in the research, developmentand production of medical isotopes andradiopharmaceuticals, leading the world in thefight against cancer and keeping our hospitalsclean and safe,” says James Scongack, chiefdevelopment officer and executive vicepresident, Operational Services, Bruce Power.

This impressive track record – combinedwith a well-developed nuclear supply chainfor medical isotopes – has cemented Canada’sleadership position for “developing new andinnovative technologies and approachesto deploying isotopes for improving globalhealth,” says Scongack, who also chairs theCanadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC).

Representing nearly 70 Canadian companies,non-profit organizations and research institu-tions, the CNIC is “a way of leveraging the scaleof what we have in Canada and bringing thebest talent together,” he says. “We have a lot ofplayers – and components of the value stream– with a very focused expertise.”

Clean & STERILEMedical sterilization is an aspect of modernhealth care that has always been importantbut has moved even more to the forefrontduring the fight against COVID-19. “Decadesago, health-care facilities faced considerablechallenges related to creating clean, sterileand safe environments in order to reduceinfections,” says Scongack. “Cobalt-60 hasplayed a key role as an effective and safe way ofsterilizing massive volumes.”

Demand for medical sterilization rose sharplydue to the coronavirus pandemic, and BrucePower met the challenge by producing enoughcobalt-60 to sterilize up to 25 billion pairs ofmedical gloves or COVID swabs or other piecesof medical equipment in 2020 alone, he says.“The world has always relied on Canada for the

cancer in their lifetime. An even largernumber of people around the world willbe touched directly or indirectly by cancer,and these people are counting on Canada.”

INNOVATIVE & collaborativeToday, more than 10,000 hospitals aroundthe world use medical isotopes forsterilization, diagnostic imaging and cancertreatment. “Canada’s nuclear isotopeprogram pioneered a number of medicalapplications that are widely used today,and much of that work has been focusedon the diagnosis and treatment of cancer,”says Scongack.

Bruce Power is currently spearheadinganother innovative isotope technology,focused on producing lutetuim-177 byirradiating the stable isotope ytterbium.

“Lutetium-177 is regarded as one of theemerging medical isotopes since it’s usedfor some very severe forms of prostatecancer and neuroendocrine tumours,”he asserts. “There is a growing demandworldwide, and we work to ensure morepatients have access to these treatments.”

Partnerships are essential for maximizingCanada’s potential in medical isotopeproduction, he believes. Bruce Power, forexample, collaborates with key industrypartners and has also teamed up withthe Saugeen Ojibway Nation, on whosetraditional territories the generating stationoperates.

“We formed a unique partnership forcreating economic opportunities for ourlocal First Nations communities related tothe production of lutetium-177,” he says.“We plan to take this methodology andlater expand it to other applications.”

Canada has already established itselfas a leader in sustainable, reliable andscalable isotope production, and this canserve as a strong foundation for economicrecovery, Scongack says. “By focusing onareas where we are known to play a criticalrole, we are contributing to the Canadianadvantage as an isotope superpower. Andthe world looks to Canada to continueits position as vanguard of isotope andnuclear innovation.”

supply of cobalt-60, and Bruce Power isone of the largest providers of cobalt-60used in sterilization.”

ACCURATE & life-savingPeople typically picture brain surgery as aprocess that involves opening the skull andmembranes surrounding the brain to treatinjuries or illness affecting the brain tissue.In Gamma Knife surgery, however, some200 invisible radiation beams are usedto treat a tumour or another target withsub-millimetre accuracy. While a strongdose of radiation is delivered to the placewhere the beams meet, they have verylittle effect on the healthy brain tissue theypass through.

It is, in other words, a surgery withoutincision that relies on “the life-savingpower of high specific activity cobalt-60, ofwhich Bruce Power is a leading producer,”says Scongack. “For many brain cancers,cobalt-60 therapy is one of the mostprecise and advanced forms of radiationtreatment available.”

Investments in cancer control – includingprevention, early detection and treatment– have helped to increase overall survivalrate in cancer patients from about 25 percent in the 1940s to 60 per cent today,he notes. “Continuing to make thoseinvestments is critical at a time when theCanadian Cancer Society predicts that onein two Canadians will be diagnosed with

SPONSOR CONTENT

This content was produced by Randall Anthony Communications in partnership with Bruce Power.The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.M

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When it leavesBruce Power (top),cobalt-60 makesits way across theworld to fight cancer,including braintumours in GammaKnife surgery(shown here).

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Innovation is an element of nuclear power generation.

In addition to producing carbon-free electricity for Ontario,Bruce Power is committed to providing a stable supply ofmedical isosopes used in medical research and life-savingtreatments. To learn more, visit brucepower.com/isotopes.

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TOP GROWING COMPANIES

Welcome to the third annual Reporton Business ranking of Canada’sTop Growing Companies. Amongthe 448 businesses on the list, thereare four breweries, six insurancebrokers, five apparel designers(four for humans, one for dogs) andone maker of robots. Regardless ofwhere they’re located, what theymake or whether they’ve been oper-ating for five years or two decades,all these companies have one thingin common: Each managed to growin unprecedented times. And theirstories of success offer a blueprintfor others to follow.

METHODOLOGYLaunched in 2019 by The Globe and Mail, theprogram ranks participating private and publicCanadian businesses on three-year revenuegrowth. Canada’s Top Growing Companies is avoluntary program. We accepted entries frombusinesses through to May 2021.

Applicant companies had to complete a fullapplication and supply supporting financialdocumentation for both 2017 and 2020. Weevaluated companies based on the most recentfiscal year for which financial statements wereavailable, with a latest year-end date of April 30,2021. In some unique cases, companies wereevaluated on calendar years instead of fiscal.

In order to qualify, a company had to haveat least $2 million in annual sales in its mostrecent fiscal year. Companies had to be for-profit,Canadian-run, headquartered in Canada andindependent. In rare cases in which companieswere recently acquired, they were admitted onlyif the acquisition occurred following the close ofthe companies most recent fiscal year.

This year’s list was expanded to includequalifying companies that saw their three-yearrevenue grow by 50% or more. As a result, the2021 ranking includes 448 companies, comparedto 400 in previous years.

Franchisors were ranked on corporate revenueonly, not systemwide sales. All revenue figuresare in Canadian dollars, unless otherwiseindicated.

Research was conducted by Deborah Aarts andClaire Robbins. To learn more about the programor to apply for the 2022 ranking, please visittgam.ca/TopGrowing.P

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Aamir Baig, co-founder of Article

MEET THE TRENDSETTERSThe 448 most daring businesses in the country


By recognizing changingviews on nutrition, thiscompany managed to

appeal to consumers byembracing the f-word

GOOD FAT CO. LTD.

BY ROSEMARY COUNTER PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK BINKS

Suzie Yorke had an all-too-familiar problem: “I followeda low-fat diet for 20 years,exercised all the time, andwas still always trying to losethe last 10 pounds,” says theToronto marketing exec-utive. A career in the foodindustry—Yorke’s workedeverywhere from FritoLay toWeight Watchers—made herweight struggles especiallyfrustrating. But she finallyfound an answer within yetanother diet book grabbedfrom an airport kiosk.

After devouring The BigFat Surprise by Nina Tei-cholz, Yorke decided thateverything she’d been taughtabout fat—in a nutshell, eat-ing fat makes you fat—waswrong. “There was one studyfrom the 1960s that said fatis bad, and it’s been all mis-conceptions for the next 60years,” Yorke says. Teicholz’sclaims were a pretty easysell for North Americans in2015, and the welcome returnof fat was splashed acrossnewspaper headlines andmagazine covers.

But not all fat is createdequal, of course. “Most of ushave a loose idea that thereis good fat and bad fat,” saysYorke. “There are actually 56types of fat.” York realizedshe could lecture endlesslyabout saturated vs. monoun-saturated vs. omega-3s, buther skills were better usedelsewhere. “I’m not a doc-tor, I’m a marketer, and I wasconvinced I could launchand sell a brand that screams,Fats are good!”

Using the f-word was adeliberately flashy choiceat Suzie’s Good Fats. Thecompany has since beenrebranded as Love Good Fatsbeneath its parent company,Good Fat Co. Ltd., whichspent a few years “doingthe entrepreneurial dining-room-table thing” in Yorke’sToronto home before launch-ing properly with a single

peanut butter-chocolate barin the fall of 2017. Yorke per-sonally marched into stores,introduced herself and hand-delivered samples in hopesthey’d love her creation asmuch as she did. (One yearat the Boston Marathon, shestood with a tray and handedout over 40,000 samples.)

She made a particularlygreat impression at Good-ness Me! Natural Food Mar-ket. “The bars make it soeasy for keto consumers tomaintain ketosis,” says RobinLangford, a product categorymanager at the market, refer-ring to the biological processwhere the body burns fatinstead of carbohydrates. “Ifyou’ve never tried one, I sug-gest lemon.”

But for all Yorke’s hardwork, Love Good Fats didenjoy a bit of right-place-right-time good luck. “A fewsources aligned for me,”explains Yorke . Amongthem, concerned consumerswere demanding transpar-ency about the food theyconsume, as well as “prod-ucts with a social cause that’sclear and offer fair-tradeingredients from respon-sible companies.” Venturecapital ists noticed thischange and invested accord-ingly. Meanwhile, healthstores like Whole Foods—which brought Love GoodFats to American shelves atthe beginning of 2019—arenot just stocking the prod-uct, but actively supportingthe success of small busi-nesses. “You go, you present,and if they see your poten-tial, they’ll happily give you achance,” says Yorke.

Soon enough, beside theinaugural peanut butter barwas Chewy Nutty ChocolateCaramel, Ridiculously Deli-cious Lemon Mousse andMint Chocolate Chip TruffleBars—all of them low-carb,low-sugar, keto-certified,non-GMO, respons ib ly

#1

Toronto


sourced and kosher. “Weare a niche product, but wedon’t want to be too niche,”says Kelsey Ingham, thecompany’s director of brandand innovation. “We wantto appeal to these dieters, ofcourse, but also just be deli-cious for everyone else.”

When the line was readyand sales were strong enoughto move south of the border,consumer research showedthe bar needed a boldername to go global, and thebars were rebranded as LoveGood Fats. But the big launchin America got curve-balledby the pandemic, in moreways than one.

While sales of comfort foodlike Kraft Dinner soared,business for health foodcompanies like Yorke’s—especially on-the-go prod-ucts—slowed. (Three in fiveCanadians gained weightover the pandemic, whilethe American Psychologi-cal Association reported theaverage American gainedalmost 30 pounds, so safe tosay public interest in healthplummeted.) Albeit disap-pointed, Love Good Fatspivoted into online survivalmode just like everyone else.For offerings that poppeda n d e n c o u r a g e d s a l e sdirectly to the consumer,Ingham turned to nutrition-ist Lindsay Mustard, whomshe affectionately calls a“recipe wizard.”

A long-time fan of thebrand, Mustard reached outand offered her services toconvince Good Fat shop-pers that on-the-go bars havecountless other possibili-ties in the kitchen. “I lovedthe ingredients in the barand started looking for waysto—no pun intended here—blend it into other recipes,”says Mustard. For example,a ground-up bar doubles aslow-sugar chocolate chips.Among the ever-creativereimaginings of the bars

Suzie Yorke



A focus on customerconvenience—and

controlling its supplychain—meant this online

furniture retailer waswell-positioned to

meet surging demandduring the pandemic

ARTICLE

BY STACY LEE KONG PHOTOGRAPH BY KITT WOODLAND

in action are Triple ThreatChocolate Keto CoconutBrownie Ice Cream, a KetoChoco la te Caul i f lowerBreakfast Smoothie and hermuch-loved “Mother’s DayPancakes.” All make formouth-watering Instagram-worthy food pics, naturally,but the brand’s social mediafeed is deliberately authenticand personal. Yorke’s ador-able puppies appear promi-nently, as does her partner(in work and life), Melanie,all among Rainbow Prideflags and “Love is Love”T-shirts.

It’s one thing for a brandto privately support a cause,but that’s not enough at LoveGood Fats. “We partneredwith Rainbow Railroad tomake unique Pride-themedproducts where proceedsgo directly to benefit theLGBTQ+ community,” Yorkesays. The colourful bars lendthemselves perfectly for amixed box, which is rede-signed for Pride month withan impossible-to-miss rain-bow that doesn’t shy awayfrom politics or controversylike other brands might.“We’re gonna keep doingwhat we’re doing,” says Ing-ham, “loud and proud.”

For now, Love Good Fatsi s operat ing with whatYorke describes as a “leanmachine” from its office inToronto’s St. Lawrence Mar-ket neighbourhood. As LoveGood Foods closes in on $130million in sales in just fouryears, Yorke is fondly look-ing forward to opening againand getting back to businessas usual, and to consumers’inevitable return to healthyeating post-pandemic. To beready, Yorke has a mountingpile of new ideas and recipesmoving their way along the“innovation pipeline.” Thegoal remains to make themdelicious, healthy and feel asgood in your body as they doon your conscience.

Here’s how it happened:During the pandemic, ayoung professional in aNorth American city foundherself stuck at home, work-ing from her kitchen table,or worse, her sofa. Eventu-ally, maybe mid-Zoom callor while placing an onlinegrocery order, she looked upfrom the computer screenand realized she wanted—no, needed—to change upher space. So, she navigatedto article.com, where shespent $2,000 on a velvet-upholstered sofa with mid-century modern lines and$800 on a sleek walnut desk.Then, it happened again andagain and again, with otherpeople in other cities acrossCanada and the U.S., to thetune of 220,000 new custom-ers and 70% year-over-yeargrowth in revenue for theVancouver-based direct-to-consumer furniture brand.

It’s not surprising to learnthat Article saw a sales boostduring COVID-19; for retail-ers in the home decor space,the pandemic providedan excellent climate forgrowth. According to mar-ket research firm NPD, “unitsales in the home industrygrew 25% over the first quar-ter of 2020.” People becameaware of their environmentand wanted to make it morecomfortable. “This acceler-ates the overall demand,”expla ins Chunhua Wu,associate professor in themarketing and behaviouralscience division at UBC’sSauder School of Business.“But beyond that, lockdownsalso shift consumers’ chan-nel choices.” With manyretailers shut down, or atleast limiting how many peo-ple can shop in-store, cus-tomers’ attention is directedto online stores—especiallythose with a reputation forconvenience and good cus-tomer service, like Article.

But it’s what the company

#159

Vancouver


did before the pandemic thatset it up for success.

Back in 2011, Article CEOand co-founder Aamir Baigwas thinking about the nextproblem he wanted to solve.He’d previously co-foundedEtilize, an e-commerce data-base of photos, titles, prod-uct descriptions and speci-fications for more than 20million electronics. Next,he wanted to tackle a mean-ingful problem that affectedmany people. Along withhis co-founders, Andy Pro-chazka, Fraser Hall and Sam-uel Prochazka, he settledon upending the “painful”process of shopping for fur-niture—though not becauseof any particular interest orbackground in home decor.

“We landed on furnitureas the vertical to try it onbecause it’s far easier to fillcontainers with furniture,”Baig says. “Initially, the ideawas called Fill the Container,because literally, the prod-uct would come off the fac-tory floor, into containersand into people’s homes. Butas we got deeper into fur-niture, the model changedcompletely.”

As they learned about thesector, they saw the tribula-tions experienced by con-sumers when trying to fur-nish their spaces. By launch,Article’s mission was to offercustomers the “easiest wayto create a beautiful, modernspace,” with emphasis onthe “easy.” At the time, therewere few, if any, options forbuying furniture online, andthe co-founders knew they’dhave to overcome shoppers’resistance to making big-ticket purchases withoutbeing able to touch and seethe merchandise. So, theymade convenience one ofthe company’s core values,alongside style and value.

One key to delivering allthree is proprietary e-com-merce software that stream-

Aamir Baig



You can’t judge a book byits cover. But in the age of

social media, this companyrecognized that people

will judge food by its box

GEORGETTEPACKAGING

BY UDAY RANA PHOTOGRAPH BY ALICIA WYNTER

lines every possible process,from sourcing and purchas-ing raw materials to man-aging Article’s warehousesto checkouts, and allowsthese different functions to“talk” to one another to findefficiencies and improvecustomer experience. Forexample, Article’s inventoryand routing systems are inte-grated, so the site can dis-play real-time delivery ETAsbased on customers’ zip orpostal codes. And since thesoftware code for this appli-cation belongs to Article, itcan remove extraneous partsor customize based on itsown needs, without puttingin a request to a third-partydeveloper. Over the past fewyears, Article has focused oncontrolling more of its sup-ply chain, particularly on theshipping side, by buildingfulfillment centres acrossNorth America and hiring anin-house delivery team. Theresult? Customers can orderbeautifully designed mod-ern furnishings in just a fewclicks—and get it deliveredjust as seamlessly.

These innovations helpedthe company grow evenbefore COVID, but duringthe pandemic, they becamea differentiating factor. Asshoppers tried to spruce uptheir homes with new fur-niture, supply-chain woesled to months-long delays,not to mention lost revenuefor Article’s competitors.Overseas, factories facedincreased demand, short-ages in raw materials andan unpredictable workforce,as workers might get sickor have to quarantine aftercoming into contact withsomeone else who did. Ontop of that, high demandmeant shipping contain-ers were scarce and expen-sive. Crowded ports alsomade it difficult to importproducts. It’s no wonderLa-Z-Boy recently reported

it lost out on $30 million insales in the first quarter of2021 due to manufacturingand shipping delays. Articlewasn’t immune to these fac-tors, Baig says, but previousefforts to “re-architect thesupply chain” meant it wasstill able to deliver most ofits orders within two weeks.

Wu says Article’s abilityto be nimble sets it apartfrom its competitors in thedirect-to-consumer space.“Before the pandemic, manyof these retailers adopted alean model—it was more ofa ‘just-in-time model.’ Theydidn’t want to hold ontomuch inventory. But withthe pandemic, companiesneeded more buffer. Articlehas made sure they have thatbuffer.”

And while North Ameri-can consumers are begin-ning to spend more time out-side their homes, Article’sgrowth hasn’t yet slowed.This spring, sales for thecompany’s 2021 outdoor col-lection were 450% higherthan the same period in2020, and May 2021 was itsbiggest month ever.

But Baig is still focused onproblem-solving. His nextgoal is figuring out how toprovide customers with anoption to completely furnisha space to their tastes withina few days, instead of spend-ing months shopping aroundfor pieces of various quali-ties from different retail-ers with staggered deliverytimes. “We’ve always hadhigh aspirations and a strongbelief in the differentiatedand better-value proposi-tion that we’re bringing tothe market,” he says. “Thepandemic, made it veryclear [that we’re an option]to a market that was not evenconsidering things online.That keeps us excited. Itmakes the problem harderfor us to solve—but it’s agood problem.”

#217

Kitchener, Ont.


If there’s one thing SarahLandstreet can promiseGeorgette Packaging’s cli-ents, it’s that she under-stands how difficult it is tocreate striking containers ona tight budget.

The McGill Universityengineering graduate wasonce on the path to a cushycareer, having moved fromLondon, Ont., to London,England, for a career in sus-tainability consulting. Butin 2008, she noticed thatNorth American bakerieswere storming the UnitedKingdom. So she took a riskand moved to her mother’shometown of Belfast, whereshe started a bakery.

Three years later, she soldthe company. But the expe-rience gave her plenty ofinsight into running a foodbusiness. Smaller bakeriesand restaurants don’t havethe wherewithal or exper-tise to compete with massivechains in creating attention-grabbing packaging. That,she says, is a lost brandingopportunity.

“There were a lot of re-sources for smaller busi-nesses in terms of designinga logo or getting a websitebuilt. But somehow packag-ing seemed to be this mys-tery. It’s a very old-schoolindustry that’s very hard tonavigate,” she says.

In 2013, two years afterreturning to Canada, Land-street started GeorgettePackaging in Kitchener,Ont. Before even launching,she interviewed roughly 25bakeries across the countryabout their packaging needs.“I spent the first year and ahalf incubated at a factory,”she says. “I based myself ata box factory to understandhow packaging is manufac-tured. I wanted to have thesame kind of grounding inthe other side of the busi-ness as I did on the bakeryand the food-business side.”

Sarah Landstreet



“IT’S A VERYOLD-SCHOOL

INDUSTRYTHAT’S VERY

HARD TONAVIGATE”

The birth of GeorgettePackaging coincided withthe rise of Instagram as oneof the world’s most popularsocial media platforms, mak-ing recognizable packagingand branding even morecrucial. “People are tak-ing pictures of what they’reeating. It can be a picture offood or it can be a pictureof food with your brandattached to it,” says ReubenVanderkwaak, a Georgetteclient and the owner of theHamilton, Ont.-based DonutMonster. “You can easily getyour name, your brand, yourlogo and your message outfurther.”

When it comes to design,Georgette partners withdesign firms while lettingthe client take the lead. Butthe company does offeradvice on what works forsocial media. “I would rec-ommend lots of colour, lotsof contrast, so that no matterwhat you put on the pack-aging, it’ll really pop,” saysLandstreet.

After running the busi-ness by herself for the firsttwo years, Landstreet nowhas a team of 14 peoplewho serve nearly 250 cli-ents across Canada and theUnited States. These includepackaging consultants, whoadvise clients on differentpackaging techniques, andan operations team, whichhandles logistics such asshipping and storage. A thirdgroup, the technical designteam, works on how to exe-cute design ideas.

“Our objective is to be likeyour packaging departmentthat shows up and teachesyou everything,” Landstreetsays.

That’s what happened toDonut Monster. As it grewfrom a wholesale providerto also running its own caféin Hamilton, the company’spackaging needs grew aswell. This was compounded

by the COVID-19 pandemic,which all but brought din-ing in to a halt. Vanderwaaksays it has given him peaceof mind to know packagingis entirely someone else’sheadache. “Georgette han-dled a lot of those logistics,and it simplified things onour end to the point whereI almost don’t need to worryabout it. I just wait to hearfrom them about how thingsare going,” he says.

Landstreet says DonutMonster insisted on usingeco-friendly kraft paper, butit was hard to make black inkstand out on brown paper.“We used particular inks andprinting techniques to maketheir design pop,” she says.

Georgette also helps busi-nesses research environ-mental sustainability andcost . Each municipalityacross North America hasits own recycling rules andregulations. “We emphasizebeing aware of what’s pos-sible,” Landstreet says. “A lotof packaging that’s labelledas compostable can’t berecycled, and it can’t evenbe composted in most com-munities. A coffee cup isrecyclable in some munici-palities, but not necessarily

in your community. If wegive them that information,maybe the business ownerwill think about their nextpurchase differently.”

Simon Blackwell, ownerof the Blackbird Bakery inToronto, was keen on usingrecycled material for itspackaging and was drawnto Georgette by a sharedvalue system. “Georgette hasstrong values in terms of thematerials they’re using andwhere they’re producing,”says Blackwell. “And they’rea carbon-neutral company,paying to offset their car-bon footprint. We also standbehind all those things.”

While Georgette Packag-ing boasts that most of itsproducts are paper-based,Landstreet admits it won’tbe entirely feasible for foodbusinesses to go plastic-freeany time soon. Most restau-rants survived on take-outduring pandemic-drivenlockdowns, which exacer-bated the problem of plasticwaste. But Landstreet saysfood businesses are eagerfor change, adding that thoseopting for sustainable mate-rials will have an edge as theCanadian economy gradu-ally moves away from plas-tic. But a government pushwould certainly help hastenthat transition. “Right now,it’s so cheap to make newplastic that no one bothersmaking sustainable packag-ing,” she says.

Georgette’s future is pred-icated on its commitment tothe environment. “We wantto be educating businesses.We want to be sharing theinformation we’ve learned,and helping to developmore printing and packag-ing techniques that reducethe environmental impact ofpackaging,” Landstreet says.“Our aim is to be the mostenvironmentally preferablepackaging suppliers on themarket.”

Kevin Lim


This company found a better way ofseeing the trees for the forest. Thenit patiently waited for the rest of its

industry to see things the same way

LIM GEOMATICS

BY JOE CASTALDO PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN KEALEY

#371

Ottawa

From above, a forest appearsas an indistinguishable massof bulbous green shapes,like florets on a giant headof broccoli. All that unifor-mity presents a challengefor foresters, who need toknow what lies beneath thecanopy. In the past, forestrycompanies would fly air-planes over swaths of treesand snap photos from thesky. A specialized group ofindividuals would then scru-tinize the photos throughstereoscopes and makejudgments about the typesof trees and estimate thevolume of wood. With thatcrucial information, forestrycompanies could then plantheir harvesting operations.

But analyzing photos is aslow, inexact process thatcan yield mistakes—some-times costly ones. KevinLim was well aware of theseissues. As a PhD student atQueen’s University sometwo decades ago, Lim beganresearching a new methodto survey forests with lidar,an acronym for light detec-tion and ranging. The tech-nology uses a laser to fire apulse of light, which bouncesoff objects and returns to asensor. By timing how longthe light takes to zip back,lidar can calculate the dis-tance travelled. Repeatedhundreds of thousands oftimes per second, the tech-nology can build an accurate3D model of the surroundingenvironment.

Lim’s thesis was the basisfor the company he foundedin 2006. Lim Geomatics,based in Ottawa, now has21 employees and a suite ofsoftware products to helpforestry companies managetheir operations and pro-vide accurate data on for-est inventories, right downto the height of trees. Thegrowth of Lim Geomat-ics, 80% over a three-yearperiod, is not due to any one



factor. Rather, the industry isfinally catching up to KevinLim. “We’ve crossed thetrough of disillusionmentwhere people are like, ‘Oh,this isn’t going to work,’ ” hesays. “They’re realizing ifthey’re not doing this, they’reprobably behind.”

Lim, 45, endured skepti-cism when he first sought tobring lidar to foresters. Theindustry, he says, is hesitantto adopt new technologies.Moreover, Lim came to for-estry as an outsider, someonewho had never spent time inthe wilderness felling trees.He had at least gotten hishands dirty before, though.As a high school co-op stu-dent for Agriculture andAgri-food Canada, he siftedthrough soil in search ofpests, such as small wormscalled nematodes. “Mostboring job ever,” he says.

Another high school co-opexperience proved moreconsequential than nema-todes. In the early 1990s, heworked for an internet ser-vice provider building web-sites, which led to consult-ing gigs with various federalgovernment departments.The pay was good, espe-cially for a teenager, and Limbegan to wonder if he shouldbother with university.

His dad intervened. “In animmigrant household, youcomply whether you like itor not,” Lim says. His father,who was born in Malaysiaand grew up in Brunei, andhis mother, who grew up inTaiwan, were both propo-nents of education. Study-ing computer science mighthave been the logical choicefor a budding tech consul-tant, but he didn’t want togo into a “geeky” field. Hehad a love of the outdoors,though, and enrolled in envi-ronmental science at theUniversity of Guelph, fol-lowed by a master’s degreein geographic information

system (GIS) mapping at theUniversity of Waterloo. GIS,which involves plotting dataon maps, opened a new worldfor him. “It was a recognitionthat there isn’t a single pieceof data on this planet thatyou can talk about devoidof geography,” he says. “Youcan start formulating rela-tionships about how thingsare related in space and howthey impact each other.”

He had never really heardof lidar before starting a PhDon it. The proposal to applythe technology to forestrywas already written and thefunding obtained by a pro-fessor at Queen’s whom Limknew. Ironically, forestrywas Lim’s second-worstcourse during his undergrad;it conflicted with his gymschedule. But when the profasked if he was interested inthe proposal, Lim found him-self intrigued by lidar, whichwas still relatively new, anddiscovered he had a knackfor it. He also saw a businessopportunity and later com-mercialized his research byfounding Lim Geomatics.

He decided to give himself10 years to make it a success.But foresters weren’t justentrenched in their ways.Some just weren’t very techsavvy. While doing his PhD,he had met with folks whohad no idea where to plug ina USB key, let alone pull upthe software to view the GISdata it contained. That latersparked the realization thathis company would have tobuild its own software.

He found companies will-

ing to bet on him, though.His ability to explain compli-cated ideas in simple termscertainly played a role. “Hehas a way of dumbing downthe concept so that at theend of your meeting withhim, you have a really clearpicture of it,” says ChadSt.Amand, a GIS specialistwho has worked with Lim attwo different companies inthe past 15 years or so.

He had seen first-handthe folly of relying on photoanalysis. St.Amand workedat a company in the mid-2000s that operated a saw-mill in Timmins, Ont. Themill had been configured forlarge-diameter wood, but thetrees fed into it were muchsmaller than the data gleanedfrom photos showed. “Theconfiguration that got putin, that was a multimillion-dollar investment, and it waswrong,” he says.

When St .Amand laterjoined Millar Western For-est Products in Alberta in2015, he tapped Lim to transi-tion the company to lidar, aprocess that took about twoyears. The company can nowdetermine with better cer-tainty the most profitableway to harvest a block oftimber, build an operationalplan years into the future andmake capital investments.“In the past, you’d kind ofthrow a dart at a board,”St.Amand says.

Even as Lim Geomaticshas grown, Lim has nevertaken outside funding, partlybecause he felt he nevertruly understood the financ-ing world. Instead, he didconsulting work on the side,typically GIS projects forthe federal government, andput the money back into hisfirm. That allowed him tohire developers to build itssuite of software products,which now includes appli-cations that predict harvestvolumes, bring GIS data

to workers in the field andallow companies to monitortrucking fleets. About 60%of the company’s revenuecomes from its software-as-a-service business, while therest flows from consulting,custom software develop-ment and lidar forest inven-tory work.

Tolko Industries, head-quartered in British Colum-bia, relies on a Lim productcalled Op Tracker to helpwith harvesting operations.Previously, workers had totrek through the woods andstring ribbon for harvest-ing crews to know what tocut down. Op Tracker digi-tizes the process. Equipmentoperators are supplied witha tablet loaded with the OpTracker app, which displaysthe harvest area on a map.The app sounds an alert if thevehicle strays out of bounds.

“It’s definitely increasedour speed and productiv-ity by making our operatorsmore aware of where theyare at any given time,” saysMichael Morgan, a wood-lands operations supervi-sor with Tolko. Efficiency iscrucial, especially in Alberta,where the harvesting seasonlasts roughly 100 days whilethe ground is still frozen.“Once the ground thaws out,there is little access with theequipment,” Morgan says.

Lim is now many years pastthe 10-year deadline he gavehimself to make his companya success, but there’s more todo. “One of the things that’skilling us right now is thatpeople still don’t know whowe are,” he says. Lately, hehas been focused on build-ing the company’s market-ing team and experimentingwith ways to get the wordout, even launching a pod-cast earlier this year aboutforesters adopting digitaltechnology. It’s a niche topic,sure. But for Lim, it’s onethat’s served him well.


“THERE ISN’T ASINGLE PIECEOF DATA ON

THIS PLANETDEVOID OF

GEOGRAPHY”

Property.ca is more than just a real estatebrokerage, says chief executive officer

Bayan Qandil.TheToronto-based company is a fast-

expanding, technology-driven, full-servicereal estate business that provides uniqueservices, tools and data to both real estateagents and consumers looking to buy,sell, or lease property across Canada. It’sa lead player in the country, providing vitalinformation to Canadians.

“People turn to our platforms becauseof their best-in-industry search experienceand in-depth, easy-to-understand data,” saysMr. Qandil, who officially took the top job inJune 2020.

Proprietary neighbourhood and building-specific data set the company apart, he adds.

“We have liberated the data associatedwith real estate to enable both consumersand agents to make better, more informedreal estate decisions.”

For instance, he says information onproperty.ca and its sister sites condos.ca andmrloft.ca gives users access to far deeperinsights than they could find via the MultipleListing Service (MLS) or realtor.ca.

Users can access demographic data, aproprietary algorithm that determines theexact square footage and price per squarefoot of a property, and sign up for alerts to

How Property.camakes buying, sellingand renting propertyeasier — and moreempoweringThe company provides unique services, tools and data to helpreal estate agents and consumers buy, sell, or lease properties

find new sales or rental listings in certainbuildings or neighbourhoods. All are “a hugedraw,” Mr. Qandil says.

People also turn to the platform forits effective search capability.The siteprovides historical information on recentand past rentals or sales in a building orneighbourhood that aren’t always available tothe public.

In the last two years, the company’swebsite traffic has jumped to 2.5 millionviews per month, up from about 1 million amonth, while user growth has risen to 1.1million per month, up from 500,000.

Most of Property.ca’s business currentlycomes from the GreaterToronto Area;however, the company plans to diversifyby expanding across the country. Overthe next few years, Mr. Qandil saysProperty.ca wants to have offices in 10 ormore major cities across Canada, addingmore users and specialized agents on itssites.

“Going across Canada, providing sellingand investment opportunities, and growingour expert agent numbers will result inus doubling our transactions, more thandoubling our revenues and increasing ourprofit margins by four times,” he says

Property.ca now has more than 250agents across its network, up from 150 three


Property.ca CEO Bayan Qandil says people turn to his company’s platforms for their“best-in-industry search experience and in-depth, easy-to-understand data.”

years ago. BesidesToronto, it has officesin the Ontario cities of Vaughan, NorthYorkand Mississauga as well as in Vancouver.In addition, it plans to open an office inKitchener-Waterloo, Ont. this fall, andoffices in Ottawa, Edmonton and other citiesnext year.The company is also looking at apotential pilot project in a major U.S. city.

Last year, its agents sold more than$1-billion of properties, even with thepandemic slowdown, and are on track tosurpass $1.5-billion this year. Property.ca’srevenue growth from 2017 to 2020 was 88.9per cent.

Mr. Qandil says agents are reaping thebenefits, landing an average of 39 deals permonth, up from an average of 18.5 deals in2018.

The Property.ca platform helps agentsfind clients and scale their business usingtechnology, data, performance managementand a specialized training system. “We createhigh-performing agents with our platform,”Mr. Qandil says.

The plan is to boost the company’sawareness among Canadians and thecompany is in talks with business partners toachieve that goal.

“These business partnerships will drivepeople toward us as they begin their realestate journey.”

SPONSOR CONTENT



PRACTICAL MAGICHow Canada’s Top Growing Companies

transform good ideas into great products

Only the best for man’s best friend. Jacqueline Prehogan, the founder and CEO ofCanada Pooch, launched her dog clothing brand soon after adopting the first ofher three rescue pugs. Faced with a frigid Canadian winter and frustrated with thesparse selection of well-made, properly fitting coats for her diminutive pup, shecreated a line that doesn’t sacrifice form for function. That means good fabric andinclusive sizing. Pint-sized chihuahuas and elephantine Great Danes alike haveoptions; the brand’s largest sizes “could almost fit a small horse,” says Prehogan.

Durable doggy outerwear was the brand’s original focus, but it’s expanded toinclude T-shirts, hoodies and socks. There’s even a small line of apparel for humans,like dog-walking gloves with leash grips and touchscreen-friendly fingertips. (Also,matching pom-pom hats for pups and owners, because it’s true what they say abouteventually looking alike.) Product development is built on the idea that dogs are ourkin, and we should clothe them accordingly. “They deserve products made with thesame care and quality that we expect for ourselves,” says Prehogan. The company’swarm ethos clearly resonated with dedicated pet parents—a decade after launch,Canada Pooch products are sold in 5,000 stores across Canada and the U.S.

CANADA POOCH

#168

Toronto

BY LIZA AGRBA PHOTOGRAPHS BY KYLE JEFFERS


If you’re going to sell an eco-friendly product, it had better work as well as itsunfriendly alternative. If not, it will fade into irrelevance. So it’s not surprising thatBrad Liski, a co-founder of Tru Earth, wasn’t initially excited about the idea of alaundry detergent sold as a solid strip in an iPhone-sized package.

Then he tried the product, which has been patented by a member of his extendedfamily. The strips worked so well he teamed up with his friend Ryan McKenzie, andMcKenzie’s friend Kevin Hinton, to bring the product to market. They thought 150subscription orders in their first month would get them started; they ended up with1,500. The strips are eco-friendly in multiple ways. They not only nix the plasticof clunky plastic bottles, but because they weigh so little (less than three gramsper package), they’re much less fuel-intensive to ship. And this isn’t greenwash-ing—the product is demonstrably less wasteful than traditional detergent. “Ourcompetitors are focused on manufacturing and productivity,” says Liski. “Tru Earthis focused instead on the quality and usability of our product and on reducing theenvironmental impact caused by its transportation.”

TRU EARTH

#71

Port Moody, B.C.


The internationally bestselling bookon Danish coziness—The Little Book ofHygge—made a big deal about lighting.We can’t be cozy, the authors argued, ifour home’s lighting scheme is off. Therecent growth of Montreal-based light-ing company Artika for Living speaksstrongly to the truth behind this idea.As people around the world cocoonedin comfort to stave off pandemic-erablues, Artika opened a new warehousethat doubled its storage capabilities.Revenue has grown by 20% over thepandemic, which is significant for acompany that’s been around for 14 years.Artika started with a focus on candles(which, by the way, are also repeatedlyemphasized in hygge) and homewares,and it’s since grown to specialize in dura-ble, well-priced lighting fixtures. A newline of smart lights interacts with voiceassistants—nifty in an age where we’reincreasingly wary of touching things.“Artika product development is all aboutsearch and optimization,” says CEO andco-founder Marc Couture. “We searchfor ideas around the globe in our indus-try and others, and we adapt with betterperformance, cost and user experience.”With 50 patents, 300 products and salesin more than 20 countries, it seems likethey’ve got the right approach.

ARTIKA FOR LIVING

#154

Lachine, Que.



Anyone with a Pinterest account knowsthat refurbished thrift-store finds areimproved by a sleek paint job. CountryChic Paint—a company focused on theDIY market—offers perfect optionsto aid consumers who’d rather nothave their next dresser come in a flat-pack from a global behemoth. There’sa broad enough—but non-intimidat-ing—range of 55 colours, from mutedneutrals to zingy brights, and a helpfulmenu of “colour recipes” for mixingnew shades. All are matte and “chalk-style,” which not only yields a rusticshabby-chic result but helps the paintgo on smooth with minimal prep.

The company launched in 2014 butsaw a serious swell of interest overthe pandemic, when we all had timeto wonder if better furniture couldmake us happier to be stuck inside. Thefounders, husband-and-wife team Janand Roseanne Korteland, attribute theirsuccess to good listening skills. “Prod-uct development takes a very collabor-ative approach at Country Chic Paint,”says Roseanne. “Our customers sharewhat they’re looking for in a particularproduct, and then we work toward cre-ating the product they want to buy.”

COUNTRYCHIC PAINT

#223

Duncan, B.C.


Build super-precise technical equipment and make it easy for humans to use:Those are the principles at the core of RBR’s strategy for developing oceanographicinstruments. “When RBR moves, we move fast, and our customers know that wealways put their best interests first,” says company president Greg Johnson. “Thatleads naturally to a continual stream of new developments that enhance the line ofinstrumentation we manufacture.” Those tools need to function everywhere fromthe deepest parts of the ocean to the polar ice caps—in other words, inhospitableplaces where reliability is critical, and user-friendliness isn’t just a nice-to-have.

Ocean health is a key indicator for climate change, which affects water temper-atures, pH, salinity and dissolved gases, among other features—all of which aremeasured by RBR instruments. And its products are built on a modular platform;components can be readily swapped out to fulfill researchers’ specific needs.

RBR LTD.

#401

Ottawa



2020RANK DESCRIPTION

Canada’s Top Growing Companies 2021 listed by three-year revenue growth

COMPANY

3-YEARREVENUE

GROWTH (%)2020REVENUE

EM-PLOY-

EES HEADQUARTERS

1 - 5 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

Toronto

Montreal

Toronto

Waterloo, Ont.

Vancouver

Toronto

Winnipeg

Vancouver

Montreal

Ottawa

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Vancouver

Calgary

Toronto

Toronto

Ottawa

Toronto

Toronto

Montreal

Victoria

Vancouver

Richmond, B.C.

Calgary

Vancouver

Montreal

Calgary

Edmonton

Calgary

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Puslinch, Ont.

Toronto

Montreal

Toronto

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Halifax

Mississauga

Winnipeg

Toronto

Mississauga

Kettleby, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Montreal

25

65

223

93

206

124

350

31

778

321

21

52

186

43

15

74

55

81

263

27

700

117

80

40

52

157

700

21

193

6

9

50

1,700

150

42

475

350

220

278

54

35

700

53

80

81

30

85

50

14

23

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M*

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$100M-$250M*

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$50M-$75M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$75M-$100M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M*

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

19,263

13,154

10,465

10,139

6,562

5,498

5,413

4,611

4,215

3,744

3,418

3,378

3,181

3,154

2,983

2,920

2,885

2,768

2,572

2,519

2,443

2,441

2,418

2,368

2,277

2,223

2,211

2,112

2,082

2,078

1,998

1,944

1,873

1,811

1,787

1,766

1,627

1,620

1,595

1,578

1,573

1,533

1,391

1,313

1,293

1,292

1,287

1,273

1,259

1,174

Produces low-sugar, high-fat snack bars sold in Canada and the U.S.

Operates loyalty programs for players of mobile video

Sells off-grid solar kits on a pay-as-you-go model to homes in rural Kenya

Designs and manufactures medical equipment and PPE

Researches antibodies and partners with pharma firms to develop drugs

Offers technology that allows health care providers to deliver care remotely

Sells wholesale and retail medical, recreational and pod cannabis

Makes low-sugar alcoholic seltzers and iced teas

Provides telemedicine services to clients’ employees and families

Operates rapid local delivery services

Helps marketers navigate ad-blocking software

Operates a crypto exchange platform and consults on cryptocurrency

Facilitates point-of-sale loans for retail consumers

Connects entrepreneurs with global dropshippers

Offers a platform to connect consumers with rates and financial products

Provides traffic control plans, crews and equipment

Operates a digital marketing platform for small business owners

Helps owners rent their RVs to travellers in Canada and the U.S.

Develops automated customer-service chatbots

Sells sustainable mattresses through e-commerce and retail

Offers student tutoring services to public school districts

Facilitates background checks and employee credit checks

Provides competitive intelligence software for enterprise sales teams

Sells everyday apparel for women

Connects employees through workplace safety software

Provides modelling and research assistance to professional investors

Develops specialty pharmaceuticals in Canada and Latin America

Manufactures non-alcoholic craft beer

Offers care services for children and youth who have special needs

Operates e-commerce platform for electric bikes and accessories

Develops, owns and invests in energy efficiency projects

Provides a market research platform for businesses

Acquires, opens and operates independent pharmacies across Canada

Provides transportation and logistics throughout North America

Develops residential real estate

Creates software used by home health care agencies

Powers digital health care platforms

Delivers meals in British Columbia

Consolidates staffing, HR and IT consulting

Develops technology used in emergency, mobile and remote health care

Offers HR support and diversity, equity and inclusion analysis

Provides home health care services to seniors in Canada and the U.S.

Provides IT services for the public sector with a focus on cloud applications

Delivers flowers across Canada

Provides a compensation platform to incentivize sales professionals

Offers logistics services for e-commerce retailers and distributors

Provides an online marketplace for purchasing and financing used cars

Helps agribusiness and farmers collect and analyze data

Sells nutritional supplements

Provides a subscription-based business intelligence platform

The Good Fat Co. Ltd.

Mistplay

Solar Panda

The Canadian Shield

AbCellera

Maple Corp.

Delta 9 Cannabis Inc.

Nude

Dialogue Health Technologies

GoFor Delivers

Blockthrough

Bitbuy

Flexiti

Spocket Inc.

Consumer Genius Inc.

National Traffic Safety Management Inc.

Nowsite

RVezy

Ada

Silk & Snow

Paper

Certn

Klue

Smash + Tess

Field Safe Solutions

Canalyst

Knight Therapeutics Inc.

Partake Brewing

CarePros

DJ Bikes

Efficiency Capital (EC) Inc.

Methodify by Delvinia

Neighbourly Pharmacy

Wellington Motor Freight

Collecdev Inc.

AlayaCare

League

Fresh Prep

HIRE Technologies Inc.

Thornhill Medical

Ideal

Nova Leap Health Corp.

Cloud SynApps Inc.

Callia Flowers

Forma.ai

Wizmo Solutions Inc.

Clutch

Deveron

NutraChamps

Gazelle.ai

OCTOBER 2021 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 41*COMPANY REPORTS IN U.S. DOLLARS

2020RANK COMPANY

3-YEARREVENUE


EM-PLOY-

EES HEADQUARTERSDESCRIPTION

5 1 - 1 0 0

Vancouver

Welland, Ont.

Oakville, Ont.

Toronto

Sundre, Alta.

Vancouver

North Vancouver, B.C.

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Montreal

Quebec City

Montreal

Richmond Hill, Ont.

Mississauga

Ottawa

Montreal

Kamloops, B.C.

Toronto

Port Moody, B.C.

Kelowna, B.C.

Collingwood, Ont.

Victoria

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Saint Laurent, Que.

Toronto

Mississauga

Ottawa

Calgary

Kitchener, Ont.

Ottawa

Ottawa

Toronto

Calgary

Victoria

Mississauga

Toronto

Sherbrooke, Que.

Toronto

Ottawa

Toronto

Vancouver

Victoriaville, Que.

Lachine, Que.

Greely, Ont.


Vancouver

177

525

71

62

48

25

40

60

37

136

45

336

65

150

15

135

150

52

20

65

238

12

12

110

6

25

193

773

130

45

16

825

517

33

40

66

75

18

250

76

34

5

486

60

86

356

100

600

175

45

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$75M-$100M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$50M-$75M

$75M-$100M*

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$75M-$100M

$100M-$250M*

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M*

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M*

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

1,164

1,141

1,133

1,071

1,046

1,034

1,024

1,022

979

979

974

970

963

904

881

871

865

865

863

857

846

835

804

780

765

764

758

753

743

740

740

733

726

723

715

710

703

699

686

649

642

620

607

597

582

582

581

574

557

553

Operates a social media marketing and analysis platform

Provides family and business insurance brokerage services

Collects plasma used to develop therapies that treat health conditions

Runs a digital platform for businesses to manage invoices and cash flow

Implements and manages ServiceNow workflow software

Provides marketing services in English and Chinese

Designs and sells collaborative robots for industrial applications

Provides AI-powered software to predict tax and employment law outcomes

Develops software to analyze and manage energy use in residential buildings

Operates a technology-driven commercial insurance brokerage

Provides investor relations software

Operates a job-search website active in many international markets

Helps shrimp farmers improve their operations and access buyers

Offers marketing and analytics services for clients in entertainment

Designs and delivers energy-efficiency programs

Operates a media agency specializing in influencer marketing

Provides home care services

Publishes motivational and inspirational digital content

Provides project management consulting for government

Designs, manufactures and distributes custom apparel

Produces eco-friendly laundry detergent strips

Manufactures and distributes wildfire suppression products

Makes organic pasta made of chickpeas and lentils

Creates custom software for business, public and non-profit clients

Develops apparel for women, specializing in sweat-repelling garments

Helps firms migrate their IT systems and data to cloud

Provides marketing communications services

Acquires and grows niche software businesses

Assists companies in IT transformation projects

Develops and manufactures crop protection products

Creates kitchen products to recycle food waste

Manufactures and distributes cannabis and cannabis accessories

Helps businesses build relationships with women consumers

Accelerates cybersecurity product development

Creates access-control software used by businesses

Provides expense-management solutions used in mobile and online banking

Helps large organizations optimize their IT costs

Produces kid-focused organic snacks

Provides trucking and logistics services

Offers food delivery to offices and workplaces

Produces employee management software

Makes organic sauces

Provides a supplement dispensing and treatment adherence program

Makes beers, wines and mixed alcoholic beverages

Produces software for renewable energy projects

Designs autonomous devices that assist with remote-area monitoring

Provides trucking and logistics

Offers building abatement, remediation, demolition and related services

Develops practice-management software for health care providers

Creates technology that helps businesses produce video content

Later

Billyard Insurance Group Inc.

Canadian Plasma Resources

FundThrough

Fishbone Analytics Inc.

Periphery Digital

Novarc Technologies Inc.

Blue J

Parity Inc.

Zensurance

Irwin

Talent.com

XpertSea

Wavo

Greenbrain Inc.

Viral Nation

Assurance Home Care

Goalcast

Stites Co.

Avid Apparel

Tru Earth

Wasp Manufacturing Ltd.

Chickapea

FreshWorks Studio

Numi

Tidal Migrations

No Fixed Address

Valsoft Corp. Inc.

Jackyl Consulting Partnership

Vive Crop Protection

Food Cycle Sciences Corp.

High Tide Inc.

Ahava Digital Group

Lightship Security Inc.

Feenics, Inc.

Sensibill

Beniva Consulting Group

DeeBee’s Organics Inc.

Cargo County Group

hungerhub

Agendrix

Good Food for Good Inc.

Fullscript

Ace Beverage Group

Clir Renewables

Vosker

AI Express Transport Inc.

Inflector Environmental Services

Jane App

Lumen5

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100


2020RANK COMPANY DESCRIPTION

3-YEARREVENUE


EM-PLOY-

EES HEADQUARTERS

1 0 1 - 1 5 0

Edmonton

Vancouver

Montreal

Toronto

Montreal

Quebec City

Ottawa

Oakville, Ont.

Markham, Ont.

Toronto

Nisku, Alta.

Vancouver

Kitchener, Ont.

London, Ont.

Vancouver

Toronto

Fredericton

Vancouver

Montreal

Saskatoon

Saint-Laurent, Que.

Edmonton

Montreal

Vaudreuil Dorion, Que.

Toronto

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Richmond Hill, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Vancouver

Saskatoon

Ottawa

Langley, B.C.

Toronto

Regina

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Richmond Hill, Ont.

Vaughan, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Aurora, Ont.

Ottawa

Vancouver

Kanata, Ont.

Waterloo, Ont.

Toronto

48

57

30

21

16

100

40

80

10

41

12

90

50

140

338

182

280

270

36

60

10

309

375

150

40

65

17

30

7

102

61

150

152

25

17

90

84

85

5

57

85

19

76

83

38

300

7

123

25

250

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M*

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M*

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$50M-$75M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M*

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M*

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M*

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

550

549

542

537

526

524

521

516

512

511

511

502

497

495

488

475

473

462

461

448

434

433

432

425

419

416

407

390

386

382

362

354

344

341

331

330

330

325

320

318

315

312

310

307

306

302

298

297

296

295

Sells mattresses direct to consumers via an online storefront

Manages an online marketplace for freight rates

Streams video and audio from amateur and youth sports to subscribers

Manages investments and runs a credit-based income fund

Sells unscented and refillable home and body-care products

Manufactures medical testing devices

Aids companies building landing pages and email marketing

Helps organizations collect and analyze data

Markets and distributes over-the-counter pharmaceutical products

Provides digital marketing and customer relations services

Manufactures and sells professional hand tools and tool organizers

Automates accounts payable processes

Offers antibody protein sequencing services to pharmaceutical firms

Provides payment, loyalty and gift card solutions to merchants

Develops software to create, market and sell online courses

Creates software to help businesses better respond to RFPs

Provides relationship management services for B2B companies

Develops interactive video games

Combines business law with pro bono legal services

Creates scheduling and customer engagement software

Supplies businesses with IT hardware

Provides business management software for small home-service businesses

Designs, manufactures and sells prescription eyewear

Provides trucking logistics and other transportation solutions

Offers data collaboration software

Provides project and construction management

Operates a platform to help small businesses secure financing and credit cards

Conducts retroactive personal tax reviews for consumers seeking refunds

Provides freight-forwarding services to Canadian importers and exporters

Runs an app used by daycares to share child information with parents

Manufactures premium pet foods

Designs digital platforms and apps

Develops web and mobile software for restaurant staff scheduling

Operates an online marketplace for automotive wheels, tires and parts

Distributes hobby products to retailers across Canada

Provides marketing software and services for rental properties

Develops digital technology used by automotive dealerships

Creates tools to evaluate individuals for professionalism and people skills

Develops, sells and markets consumer packaged goods

Manufactures and sells down, feather and alternative bedding products

Provides managed cloud services for mid-market and enterprise firms

Sells at-home fetal heartbeat monitors and other pregnancy-related products

Operates a visual content marketing platform for the tourism industry

Improves organizations’ digital accessibility for people with disabilities

Provides carpentry and scaffolding services

Offers excavation, paving, concrete, demolition and other construction services

Provides royalty-based financing for renewable energy companies

Develops digital experience monitoring technology

Automates industrial systems

Acquires and grows hospitality, petroleum and real estate brands

GoodMorning.com

Freightera

LiveBarn Inc.

Cortland Credit Group Inc.

The Unscented Company

Icentia

knak.

FormHero Inc.

Exzell Pharma Inc.

William Thomas Digital

Olsa Tools

Beanworks

Rapid Novor Inc.

Paystone

Thinkific

Loopio Inc.

Introhive

Blackbird Interactive Inc.

NOVAlex

Coconut Software

Ziestech

Jobber

Bonlook

Safex Transport

Cinchy

RAM Engineering Ltd.

Loop

Family Tax Recovery

The Logistics Factory Ltd.

HiMama

Open Farm

Apply Digital

7shifts

CanadaWheels.ca

Hi-Performance Distributors

Rentsync

sMedia

Altus Assessments

Masontops, Inc.

Canadian Down & Feather Company

Carbon60

Dagamma Ecommerce Solutions Inc.

CrowdRiff

eSSENTIAL Accessibility Inc.

Kerect Scaffold Ltd.

D-Squared Construction Ltd.

RE Royalties Ltd.

Martello Technologies

Prime Automation Inc.

K2 Group

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

OCTOBER 2021 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 43*COMPANY REPORTS IN U.S. DOLLARS

2020RANK

2020REVENUE

EM-PLOY-EES HEADQUARTERSCOMPANY DESCRIPTION

3-YEARREVENUE

GROWTH (%)

1 5 1 - 2 0 0

Calgary

Oro Medonte, Ont.

Montreal

Lachine, Que.

Mississauga

London, Ont.

Dorval, Que.

Montreal

Vancouver

Toronto

Thornhill, Ont.

Burlington, Ont.

Toronto

Burnaby, B.C.

Montreal

Calgary

Quebec City

Toronto

Toronto

Rossland, B.C.

Kleinburg, Ont.

Edmonton

Toronto

Surrey, B.C.

Ottawa

Toronto

Surrey, B.C.

Mississauga

Mount Pearl, Nfld.

Oakville, Ont.

Mississauga

Calgary

Kitchener, Ont.

Kitchener , Ont.

Sainte-Julie, Que.

Toronto

Toronto

Leduc, Alta.

Winnipeg

Saint-Laurent, Que.

Toronto

Ottawa

Calgary

Montreal

Brampton, Ont.

Mississauga.

Langley, B.C.

Calgary

Montreal

Toronto

9

133

1,500

109

50

48

200

60

800

54

14

1,700

28

15

147

67

300

35

92

190

250

25

2

8

7

23

83

75

240

759

450

420

161

62

65

119

9

150

500

7

509

300

45

27

154

10

60

38

96

25

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$100M-$250M*

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$250M-$500M*

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M*

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M*

$100M-$250M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$50M-$75M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M*

$2M-$5M*

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M*

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$50M-$75M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

294

289

288

287

282

280

277

276

272

269

268

267

266

262

261

260

260

259

258

257

257

254

253

248

246

240

240

240

234

234

233

230

229

226

224

222

221

221

219

219

219

212

212

212

211

211

211

211

208

205

Provides construction project management and general contracting services

Manufactures complex plastic parts

Provides omnichannel retail technology platforms

Designs and manufactures lighting, plumbing and climate control furnishings

Makes triggers used in firearms and crossbows

Offers waste management and recycling solutions to organizations

Provides transportation services for dry and refrigerated goods

Offers business law services

Sells modern furniture direct to consumers

Helps brands deliver product samples to consumers

Creates corporate gift baskets

Offers in-home care for physically and cognitively challenged individuals

Provides products and training for permanent cosmetic artists

Produces and sells collagen-based health and wellness products

Creates systems to track maintenance and inventory for aviation

Provides digital e-commerce solutions for international alcohol brands

Runs a charter airline and provides related services

Produces pet apparel and accessories

Provides data management and protection services

Creates software to crowd-source answers to questions in real time

Provides trucking services throughout Ontario, Quebec and the U.S.

Operates bitcoin ATMs

Provides digital marketing services

Sells wholesale fuel across North America

Advises on mergers and acquisitions for technology companies

Provides data and intelligence based on citizen sentiment

Processes, trades, imports and exports agricultural crops

Offers lending and wealth management services

Provides design and engineering support to marine and offshore industries

Makes a video game that teaches math to kids and offers online tutoring

Offers final-mile delivery software, analytics and transportation

Develops technology used to monitor worker safety

Creates mobile software used primarily by retail sales associates

Makes property insurance software for carriers, adjusters and contractors

Brokers automotive, home and business insurance

Provides public relations and communications consulting services

Creates anti-chafing slip shorts

Offers insulation, drywall and taping services

Makes technology that helps farmers increase yields and improve productivity

Operates trucking and logistical support across North America

Provides software, analytics and other services to facilitate investor relations

Offers professional placement services and consulting

Paints new homes, high-rise residences and commercial buildings

Designs and manufactures test and measurement equipment

Provides design/build, HVAC and plumbing services

Manages construction and real estate development projects

Operates environmental remediation and reclamation services

Develops, manages, markets and leases real estate properties

Builds custom themes, apps and system integrations for e-commerce

Consults on corporate sustainability and financing

Rayner Construction Services Inc.

Molded Precision Components

Lightspeed POS Inc.

Artika for Living Inc.

TriggerTech

Waste Solutions Canada

Vantage Logistics Services

KRB Avocats | Lawyers

Article

Sampler

My Baskets

Right at Home Canada

Tina Davies Professional

WithinUs

Traxxall

BlackSquare Inc.

Chrono Aviation Inc.

Canada Pooch Ltd.

ThinkOn

ThoughtExchange

Amar Transport

Bitcoin Well

Stacked Media Inc.

Nationwide Fuel Ltd.

Sampford Advisors

RIWI Corp.

Adroit Overseas Enterprises Ltd.

CMI Financial Group

Genoa Design International

Prodigy Education

Fleet Optics Inc.

Blackline Safety

Tulip

Encircle Inc.

OVC Assurance

Argyle

Thigh Society Inc.

Impact Drywall Inc.

Farmers Edge

SGH Logistics

Q4 Inc.

NewFound Recruiting Corp.

Zoom Painting

Introspect Technology

LPI Mechanical Inc.

Cavalieri & Associates Ltd.

Milestone Environmental Contracting

Equium Group

diff

Quinn & Partners

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200


*COMPANY REPORTS IN U.S. DOLLARS


2020REVENUE

EM-PLOY-EES HEADQUARTERS

3-YEARREVENUE

GROWTH (%)

2 0 1 - 2 5 0

Montreal

Winnipeg

Kitchener, Ont.

Chambly, Que.

Toronto

La Salle, Man.

Montreal

Ottawa

Calgary

Vaughan, Ont.

Toronto

Montreal

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Calgary

Kitchener, Ont.

Toronto

Waterloo, Ont.

Newmarket, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Duncan, B.C.

Calgary

Montreal

Ottawa

Hamilton

Saskatoon

Montreal

Toronto

Burnaby, B.C.

Toronto

Ottawa

Kitchener, Ont.

Palmerston, Ont.

Concord, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Stoney Creek, Ont.

Vancouver

Toronto

Port Carling, Ont.

Waterloo, Ont.

Mississauga

Ottawa

Toronto

Mississauga

Toronto

Burnaby, B.C.

Montreal

189

80

48

14

650

400

139

50

45

17

50

60

35

64

88

150

13

55

10

16

313

100

18

9

20

16

190

52

70

90

1,005

30

70

30

22

72

30

50

135

474

180

24

65

52

40

13

30

20

58

70

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$50M-$75M

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$100M-$250M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$50M-$75M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

202

201

201

201

200

198

198

197

195

194

194

194

193

193

190

188

188

187

187

185

184

184

183

182

179

177

176

176

175

173

172

172

168

168

166

164

162

161

160

159

156

156

155

154

154

153

151

151

148

147

Provides data and cloud-based technology for the security industry

Helps publishers integrate analytics and affiliate technologies into their brands

Builds rewards-program infrastructure used in e-commerce

Manufactures and distributes fitness equipment

Acquires, develops and manages residential properties

Operates a propane barbecue tank exchange program

Offers freight shipping services

Provides IT consulting and software reselling services

Helps sports and entertainment organizations analyze audience data

Provides IT hardware, software, consulting and managed services

Offers online accounting and bookkeeping services for businesses

Provides digital marketing services for businesses

Facilitates business education for entrepreneurs in the skilled trades

Connects businesses with their customers through text messaging

Helps design, manufacture and manage the home furnishings supply chain

Provides mortgage brokerage and lending services

Creates sustainable packaging for food and consumer products industries

Brokers insurance for clients in construction and real estate

Provides executive search services for the technology industry

Produces organic, vegetarian packaged snack foods

Offers point-of-sale financing for home improvement, vehicles and retail

Designs, manufactures and delivers gift baskets

Produces paints and tools for interiors

Provides a marketplace for oil and gas equipment and inventory tools

Acquires, commercializes and develops health care products

Recruits and onboards executive-level employees

Brews and distills craft beverages

Designs, constructs, and maintains renewable energy systems

Consults on information and communications technology for businesses

Provides digital marketing services for organizations

Provides enterprise software consulting and application development


Develops mobile technology used in construction materials

Makes metal sign frames

Manufactures milk replacements for calves, goat kids and lambs

Provides moving and storage services across Canada

Consults for corporations on data and analytics

Operates AI-driven data analysis for retailers and insurance providers

Provides remote security video monitoring and reporting services

Brokers real estate for homebuyers and investors

Operates digital properties to help Canadians manage personal finance

Rents luxury vacation properties in Ontario

Creates mapping software for indoor spaces

Provides security through live video monitoring

Offers cloud accounting services to small and medium-sized businesses

Develops and manages geothermal systems

Provides project management and general contracting services

Offers currency exchange services

Provides residential construction management and general contracting

Develops, manufactures and sells advanced plasma processes

TrackTik Software Ltd.

Upfeat Media Inc.

Smile.io

Gorila Fitness

Marlin Spring

Tank Traders

Energy Transportation Group

Orangutech Inc.

StellarAlgo

SolutionStack

ConnectCPA LLP

Bloom

Breakthrough Academy

Statflo Inc.

Industria Innovations Inc.

True North Mortgage

Georgette Packaging

Platform Insurance Management Inc.

Artemis Canada

Koa Natural Foods

Financeit

Baskits Inc.

Country Chic Paint

Fuelled Family of Companies

Searchlight Pharma

Keynote Search

Collective Arts

miEnergy

Techso Solutions

Elite Digital

Traction on Demand

Other.

Giatec Scientific Inc.

KW Signs

Mapleview Agri Ltd.

Metropolitan Movers

Gensquared

Daisy Intelligence

Caliber Communications

Oakwyn Realty Ltd.

Ratehub Inc.

Jayne’s Cottages

Mappedin

Live Patrol

Envolta Inc.

Subterra Renewables

HKC Construction

Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange

ETRO Construction

PyroGenesis Canada Inc.

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

For Canadian homeowners with anunexpected expense they can’t afford right

away, Michael Garrity’s company is here tohelp.

If a furnace breaks in February or the airconditioning conks out in August, “thesethings are usually emergencies wheresomebody is going to need to come andsolve your problem quickly,” says Mr. Garrity,the founder and chief executive officer ofFinanceit Inc., which provides digital point-of-sale financing services for small and medium-sized businesses.

An early player in the point-of-sale financingspace, Financeit has focused on the homeimprovement sector.

“Home improvement is a really inefficientindustry when it comes to payments,” Mr.Garrity says. “There is nobody walking arounddoing roofing that has a payment terminal thataccepts credit cards to process such largepayments.”

Most home improvement providers won’teven allow credit card payments, he explains,because they would have to pay a merchantfee that can run as high as 3 per cent. Even ifcontractors did accept credit cards, Mr. Garritysays, it’s rare for anyone to have enough roomto cover the cost of a new HVAC system ora new roof — which can average as much as$15,000 — on their card.

“Even if you did have that much room onyour credit card, the balance would still be

Financeit helpshomeowners getfinancing for urgentbig-ticket needsThe company provides digital point-of-sale financing servicesfor consumers of small and medium-sized businesses

due the next month, which doesn’t solve yourproblem,” he says. “That’s the magic of whatwe do:We took an industry that hasn’t hadefficient payment options and we gave it a toolthat everyone can use.”

Since completing a rebrand from its originalname, CommunityLend, in 2011, Financeit hasgrown at a ferocious pace.The company wentfrom 10 employees back then to around 250today, with offices inToronto, Montreal andFort Lauderdale, Fla.

“We now have lent over $2-billion thatwe have processed through the platform;we manage about a billion dollars at anygiven time and we are on a path to originateupwards of a billion dollars next year alone atour current run-rate,” Mr. Garrity says.

The idea for what would eventually becomeFinanceit came during his time in the early2000s as one of the founders of ePost, anelectronic bill payment and presentationplatform that integrated with all the majorbanks in Canada. Originally, Mr. Garritywanted to “take the bank out of banking” byconnecting investors and borrowers with adirect peer-to-peer lending platform, but thatrequired seeking regulatory approval in 2008.

“That was right in the middle of the financialcrisis, so the last thing a regulator wanted todo was be the person who signed off on anopen debt exchange that could potentiallydestabilize the entire banking system,” Mr.Garrity says. “We couldn’t have picked a


Financeit founder Michael Garrity says his company offersefficient payment options that everyone can use.

worse time.”Undeterred, he eventually convinced a

major Canadian bank to sign onto the platformas its first lending partner.

“Working with a top lender in Canadameant a more efficient process for us oncewe got started,” Mr. Garrity says. From thebeginning, the team saw the benefits ofworking directly with merchants and quicklystarted creating these relationships. Fromhere, the Financeit platform was born.

Today, with a total of four financialinstitutions on board, the company canprovide home improvement merchants theability to customize their loans with optionssuch as 0 per cent APR (annual percentagerate) financing or no payments for the first sixmonths.

“We know Canadians have homeimprovement projects, whether required ordesired, but do not always have the capital tosupport that. Home services providers whoare not offering a ‘buy now, pay later’ financingoption to their customers are missing outon a great opportunity, especially as moreand more consumers are looking to thisframework in the future,” Mr. Garrity says.

“Financeit is helping providers now offerthese sophisticated debt products, just likethe automotive industry has been doing fordecades.That has huge appeal for everyparticipant in the process.”

SPONSOR CONTENT



HEADQUARTERS

EM-PLOY-

EES2020RANK COMPANY DESCRIPTION

3-YEARREVENUE


2 5 1 - 3 0 0

Aurora, Ont.

London, Ont.

Victoria

Toronto

Mississauga

Magrath, Alta.

Toronto

Vancouver

Markham, Ont.

Toronto

Longueuil, Que.

Richmond, B.C.

Hamilton

Regina

Toronto

Toronto

Vaughan, Ont.

Laval, Que.

Vancouver

Calgary

Ottawa

Toronto

Ottawa

Montreal

Markham, Ont.

Vancouver

Vaughan, Ont.

Saint-Laurent, Que.

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Markham, Ont.

Toronto

Vaughan, Ont.

London, Ont.

Oakville, Ont.

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Quebec City

Vancouver

Burnaby, B.C.

Vancouver

Milton, Ont.

Toronto

Newmarket, Ont.

Toronto

Burlington, Ont.

40

45

55

15

75

135

105

25

75

125

6

31

30

240

141

140

21

105

40

67

19

6

32

60

32

300

30

37

129

409

254

42

35

15

26

60

80

1,608

115

6

40

570

77

180

57

250

1,400

31

80

23

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M*

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$50M-$75M

$50M-$75M*

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$500M-$750M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$250M-$500M*

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M*

$5M-$10M

$250M-$500M*

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

147

146

146

145

145

145

143

142

142

142

141

140

138

137

137

137

136

136

136

135

135

135

134

134

134

133

133

130

130

129

129

128

127

127

126

125

125

123

122

122

120

118

118

118

117

116

115

114

114

112

Operates compensation management software

Distributes wholesale IT hardware

Helps monetize and share video content

Produces and manages digital marketing initiatives

Supplies air purifiers for commercial, industrial and residential use

Brokers home, auto and business insurance online

Engineers and manufactures custom textiles

Offers legal services, specializing in family law

Develops industrial automation technology solutions

Provides research technology and delivers consumer insights

Sources, trades and exports grains and seeds

Provides specialized asset management services

Creates sensors that measure and detect colours

Develops and manages real estate in Saskatchewan

Offers a suite of real estate services for buyers, sellers and renters

Provides online personal finance education and tools

Offers plumbing and hydronics services

Designs, installs and maintains fibre optic and copper telecom networks

Offers university and private-school admissions consulting to students

Provides a software and data platform that generates carbon credits

Consults on data management and analysis

Sells jewellery direct to consumer

Provides cloud infrastructure services

Delivers artificial intelligence, web, mobile and other digital solutions

Provides pest control services for residential and commercial clients

Offers IT recruiting and consulting services

Supplies third-party logistics services across North America

Offers IT services and consulting for businesses

Develops video games for mobile devices

Provides technology to help educators facilitate coursework

Operates business-media brands and produces industry events

Provides technology to help companies access and manage data

Creates and sells jewellery from ethically sourced materials

Supplies telecommunications to businesses

Exports agricultural commodities

Provides utility engineering services

Offers technology, data and services to help consumers purchase vehicles

Develops telematics solutions used in fleet management

Provides digital and experiential advertising services

Sells excess inventory and distressed assets

Offers clothing, decor and housewares for babies and children

Designs AI-powered software to predict content relevant to users

Operates a technology and web agency

Provides e-commerce technology for furniture vendors

Runs digital publications serving major Canadian cities

Provides freight hauling services

Operates a creative agency and production company

Creates environmentally friendly food service and tableware products

Manufactures gluten-free, vegan and allergen-friendly baked goods

Delivers institutional, commercial and industrial construction

CompTrak

Microcad Computer Corp.

STN Video

Underdog Studio Ltd.

Surgically Clean Air

Surex

ICP (International Custom Products Inc.)

YLaw

Bluewrist Inc.

Dig Insights Inc.

Alliance Zone Inc.

Gentai Capital Corp.

Nix Sensor

Avana

Zoocasa

Borrowell

AV Mechanical Inc.

C3F Télécom Inc.

Key Education

Radicle

Napkyn Analytics

Victoria Emerson

HostedBizz Inc.

Osedea

HomePro Pest Control

Affinity Group

Mactrans Logistics Inc.

FenceCore

East Side Games

Top Hat

KMI Publishing and Events Ltd.

ThinkData Works Inc.

bluboho

Unite Communications

DG Global Inc.

DPM Energy Inc.

Mobials Inc.

Geotab

Thinkingbox

A.D. Hennick & Associates Inc.

Pehr

Coveo

ImageX

Cymax Group

Daily Hive

Trans Expert Inc.

Media One Creative Inc.

Eco Guardian

O’Doughs

Ritestart Ltd.

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

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After her 18-year marriage ended and thetechnology company she worked with for

11 years was acquired, Jayne McCaw decidedit was time for a fresh start.

She missed the cottage life and decided todownsize herToronto home and buy a placeon Lake Rosseau, about 200 kms north of thecity.

“I grew up on Lake Huron and I was a bigwater skier and loved the cottage life; beingon a lake had always been a part of me,” Ms.McCaw says.

While making the purchase, her real estateagent mentioned that the previous ownershad rented it for $25,000 for July. “And I’m like,‘are you’re kidding?’”

The next summer, Ms. McCaw rented thecottage for $5,000 a week.The following year,those guests returned and asked if she hadany other cottages their friends could rent.

The third summer she rented out hercottage, Ms. McCaw used part of theproceeds to take her family on a trip to France.

“I was so worried. I wanted to have a reallynice family trip but was going to a place thatwe knew nothing about,” she recalls.

Ms. McCaw booked a villa through aluxury rental agency and it turned out tobe everything she could have hoped for: apersonal chef, shopping and kayak tours,among many other amenities and activities.

How Jayne’s LuxuryCottages becamea top name in realestate rentalsJayne McCaw’s company was inspired by her personalexperience renting for her own family

There was also a daily cleaning service and apersonal concierge to see to their needs.

That experience turned out to be theinspiration for her business, Jayne’s LuxuryRentals. Ms. McCaw incorporated hercompany and, by 2015, quit her job to startrenting luxury cottages in Muskoka full-time.

“I finally decided to do it,” she says of thecareer switch.

She started with three properties; thenset up a booth at the Bala Cranberry Festivalin Muskoka where she signed up another10. Now in her seventh summer, she hasapproximately 250 properties in her rentalinventory.

“I work directly with owners and maketheir property easy to rent. I take care ofeverything,” she says.

These properties aren’t rustic cabins on alake:The average family vacation spend fora lakefront luxury cottage is $50,000. Herhighest transaction was about $435,000 forthe May-to-August period.

Guests are met by a personal concierge:


Jayne McCaw is the founder of Jayne’s Luxury Rentals, which rents high-end properties.

LUXURY RENTALS

Jayne'sLUXURY RENTALS

Jayne's

They can also have to option to rent boats,take waterskiing lessons, hire a personal chef,or have their cottage stocked by her personalshoppers.The agency also provides high-endlinens for the beds and luxury towels for thebathrooms. Even the pots and pans must passmuster.

“It’s sort of like a decentralized five-starhotel experience in a cottage,” Ms. McCawsays.

The business brings in about $20-millionin annual revenue and has 75 employees, athird of whom work year-round. Ms. McCawhas had guests from as far away as China andAfrica and, since the pandemic, a growingnumber from within Canada.

She has also expanded her listings to meetthe rising Canadian demand. Jayne’s now alsohas a few properties inToronto and has plansto add ones in Palm Beach Florida as well asKelowna andWhistler, B.C.

“I created a luxury market that didn’t existbefore,” she says. “And I have control of my lifeand I get to spend more time at my cottage.”

SPONSOR CONTENT




HEADQUARTERS

EM-PLOY-

EES2020RANK

2020REVENUECOMPANY DESCRIPTION

3-YEARREVENUE

GROWTH (%)

3 0 1 - 3 5 0

Golden, B.C.

Richmond Hill, Ont.

Concord, Ont.

Mississauga

Kitchener, Ont.

Vancouver

Dartmouth, N.S.

Vancouver

Toronto

White Rock, B.C.

Ottawa

Vancouver

Toronto

Oakville, Ont.

Edmonton

Saskatoon

Anjou, Que.

Calgary

Toronto

Winnipeg

Vancouver

Blainville, Que.

Toronto

Markham, Ont.

Mississauga

Vancouver

Kirkland, Que.

Milton, Ont.

Burlington, Ont.

Montreal

Toronto

Toronto

Simcoe, Ont.

Winnipeg

Mississauga

Côte St-Luc, Que.

Calgary

Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Vancouver

Toronto

Toronto

Plantagenet, Ont.

Richmond, B.C.

Hamilton

Toronto

Montreal

Toronto

18

64

75

25

20

45

525

865

65

190

45

19

270

25

245

508

37

29

20

1,200

66

46

47

18

600

839

35

200

250

50

45

20

4

65

35

100

10

45

100

39

788

15

250

310

77

75

33

12

120

50

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$75M-$100M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M*

$75M-$100M

$25M-$50M

$75M-$100M

$5M-$10M*

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$250M-$500M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$50M-$75M

$100M-$250M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

Offers wholesales powersports parts and accessories

Manufactures folding cartons

Makes personal protective equipment

Finances home improvements for property owners

Develops prototyping equipment used by manufacturers

Provides a photo sharing platform for professional photographers

Consults on information and telecommunications technology for businesses

Provides an online real estate marketplace

Offers construction and project management for commercial interiors

Supplies advertising technology for online publishers

Delivers marketing campaigns to small and mid-sized businesses

Incubates and trains startups

Provides reverse mortgages

Develops software and provides workflow automation and data services

Manufactures frozen Indian appetizers and meals

Runs a platform that lets clients develop digital properties

Provides specialized IT support, managed services and staffing

Sources, imports, distributes and retails specialty coffee equipment

Provides custom golf club fittings and golf coaching, lesson and practice plans

Consults on group and retirement benefits and other human resources needs

Provides recruitment and staffing services across Canada

Develops software and provides IT consulting

Offers digital marketing consulting and services

Sells commercial audio visual equipment

Offers network infrastructure, investment recovery and logistics service

Provides a cloud system to manage data and communications

Brokers business, automotive and home insurance

Provides cross-border trucking services

Supplies web hosting and cloud services for small and medium businesses

Offers electronic signature solutions for professionals and organizations

Retails automotive parts and accessories

Provides consulting for energy, health care and financial services

Produces and sells recycled rubbers and plastics

Provides online training programs and tools for businesses

Sells real estate

Provides container transportation services

Constructs, renovates and maintains commercial and residential spaces

Sells, installs and maintains boiler and gas equipment

Offers recruiting services, specializing in technology professionals

Consults for private- and public-sector clients on strategy and policy

Develops fleet telematics and connected vehicle technologies


Facilitates medical education and evaluation for health care professionals

Operates an online real estate platform

Develops network infrastructure, software and apps

Provides tech-supported waste diversion and recycling management

Operates a digital brand experience agency

Provides technology to facilitate contactless payment of parking fees

Offers recruiting and staffing services

Provides IT and managed services for clients in health care

Mountain Sports Distribution

E.B. Box Company

RONCO

CHICC

Voltera

Pixieset

MOBIA Technology Innovations

Zolo

mform Construction Group

MonetizeMore

seoplus+

Empowered Startups Ltd.

HomeEquity Bank

Dispatch Integration Ltd.

Aliya’s Foods Ltd.

Vendasta

R2i Inc.

Eight Ounce Coffee

Modern Golf

People Corp.

Impact Recruitment

Openmind Technologies

Art & Science

AVShop.ca

The Wesbell Group of Companies

Global Relay

KBD Insurance Inc.

Canadian Flatbeds Ltd.

HostPapa

Notarius

TDot Performance

Trindent Management Consulting

Heffco Elastomers Inc.

Neovation Learning Solutions

Regan Real Estate

Transport Dsquare Inc.

Ryan Murphy Construction

All-Pro Services Ltd.

MatchBox Consulting Group Inc.

Nordicity

Fleet Complete

Soulpepper Digital Marketing

PharmAchieve

Property.ca

PiiComm

RecycleSmart

Operatic Agency Inc.

Honk

Fuze HR Solutions Inc.

BlueBird IT Solutions Inc.

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

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316

317

318

319

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321

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112

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90

90

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89

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88

88

87

The past year has been extraordinarilybusy for Flexiti, a leader in point-of-sale

financing and payment solutions. Not only wasit recently acquired by a U.S. lender, but theToronto-based company also landed a largecontract for two of Canada’s largest furnitureretailers.

In March, Flexiti was purchased by CUROGroup Holdings Corp., aWichita, Kan.-basedcompany, which will help Flexiti serve a broadrange of customers and bring its call centrein-house. In June, the company signed adeal with Leon’s Furniture Ltd. — the retailerbehind Leon’s andThe Brick brands — tohandle its retail credit card business.TheLeon’s deal will be one of the main drivers ofFlexiti’s growth over the next few years, sayscompany founder and chief executive officerPeter Kalen.

“They are the behemoth in the industry,” hesays of the two brands.

Leon’s andThe Brick are also pioneers ofthe point-of-sale, buy-now-pay-later market inCanada. “They alone represent $800-million ofannual volume per year,” he says.

With the addition ofThe Brick and Leon’sbusinesses, Flexiti is projected to growfrom approximately $300-million in annualoriginations to $1.5-billion by the end of 2022.Scaling the infrastructure to support thatwill be “a huge accomplishment,” Mr. Kalen

says. However, he says the company hasexperience growing at this pace given that itwas only at $8-million in loans in 2016.

“The priority for this year is really to scaleto absorb this monstrous level of growth,”he says. “We can’t hire fast enough.” Flexiticurrently has about 200 employees and willadd about 400 to its new call centre plusanother 50 to its head office in the comingmonths.

CURO’s acquisition of Flexiti will also bringnew expertise to the lender, which offers itsFlexitiCard at its merchant partners includingWayfair, Staples, Mobilia, Sleep CountryCanada, Birks, People’s Jewellers and others.The card offers zero-per-cent interest*financing options either on deferred paymentsor equal payment plans.

Flexiti focuses on being an omnichanneloperator, which means customers can applyand be approved in minutes (subject to creditapproval), either in person or at the onlinecheckout cart of a Flexiti retailer.

CURO has deep experience in the non-prime space, which is financing for peoplewith a lower credit score while Flexiti operatesin the prime space: “It’s a great opportunityfor us to work with them to really enhance ourcapabilities, and add more clients,” Mr. Kalensays. “A company like CURO has becomereally good at assessing whether that person


Flexiti founder and chief executive officer Peter Kalen says the company’snext priority is absorbing the company’s “monstrous level of growth.”

is a good credit risk or not.That’s going tofurther fuel our growth, approving morecustomers and helping our retail partnersgrow their sales.”

Another driver of Flexiti’s growth is itsown direct-to-consumer credit card offer.In November, the lender started allowingCanadians to apply for a FlexitiCard on itsFlexiti.com website, instead of only throughits retail partners.

Since its launch in December 2020, Mr.Kalen says Flexiti has issued thousands ofFlexitiCards through the direct-to-consumeronline application. Flexiti.com is currentlythe third-largest source of new FlexitiCardapplications, Mr. Kalen says.

Mr. Kalen also sees an opportunity for Flexitito do more marketing with its retail partners,given that 20 percent of FlexitiCard holdershave used their cards at other merchants inFlexiti’s network of retailers, known as theFlexiti Network.

“That’s pure incremental volume,” Mr.Kalen says. “That’s something we see asa really big opportunity along with repeatpurchases.”

* Subject to the Flexiti Cardholder Agreement. Interestapplies if the promotion expires without full payment.

SPONSOR CONTENT


Flexiti ispositioned forits next leg ofmassive growthThe financing firm was recently acquired andlanded a large contract to serve two of Canada’slargest furniture retailers


HEADQUARTERS

EM-PLOY-

EES2020REVENUE


3-YEARREVENUE

GROWTH (%)

3 5 1 - 4 0 0

Port Carling, Ont.

Ottawa

Toronto

Brossard, Que.

Concord, Ont.

Kincardine, Ont.

Toronto

Mississauga

Toronto

Toronto

Vaughan, Ont.

Toronto

Montreal

Woodbridge, Ont.

Markham, Ont.

Toronto

Edmonton

Concord, Ont.

Toronto

Montreal

Ottawa

Toronto

Ottawa

Toronto

Moncton, N.B.

Toronto

Vancouver

Montreal

Mississauga

Oakville, Ont.

Montreal

Winnipeg

Toronto

Richmond, B.C.

Concord, Ont.

Surrey, B.C.

Toronto

Toronto

Quebec City

Kingston, Ont.

Toronto

Ottawa

Mississauga

Boisbriand, Que.

Mississauga

Thornhill, Ont.

Peterborough, Ont.

Edmonton

London, Ont.

Mississauga

30

45

50

15

97

400

10

300

30

33

75

250

99

15

24

65

68

15

41

50

20

188

175

75

40

275

334

67

1,700

79

20

56

52

120

100

60

220

45

350

500

40

55

700

90

120

8

32

64

30

24

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$75M-$100M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$50M-$75M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M*

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$5M-$10M

$250M-$500M*

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$50M-$75M*

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$100M-$250M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$100M-$250M

$10M-$25M

$75M-$100M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

Provides real estate services focusing on Muskoka and Port Carling, Ont.

Offers technological systems design, support and services

Supplies frozen fruits and vegetables to the U.S. and Canada

Manufactures and distributes products for the hotel industry

Develops tools to manage the utility consumption of buildings

Provides staffing, onboarding and payroll support for the nuclear industry

Offers supply chain support services

Brokers residential real estate

Operates a craft brewery

Provides trucking services, focusing on agricultural exports

Distributes natural and organic food products

Helps businesses and the public sector migrate to the cloud

Provides infrastructure for software-focused companies

Offers IT consulting and digital workplace solutions

Manufactures folding cartons and distributes packaging supplies

Operates a cross-border payment platform

Manufactures LED lighting technology

Imports, packages and distributes food products

Helps clients ideate, design, manufacture and ship new products

Provides communications, marketing and advertising services for health care

Operates geospatial and remote sensing technology for forests

Develops technology used by marketers to manage digital advertising

Automates mobile forms and creates apps for field employees

Operates a platform that allows individuals to compare financial products

Transports new and used vehicles

Offers data and digital tools for health care clinicians

Provides decision analytics for managing critical infrastructure

Develops video games and immersive experiences

Develops and sells technology and software for care providers

Provides software development and IT professional services

Manufactures gourmet food for retail and restaurants

Provides IT services and manages networks and infrastructure

Manufactures communications equipment

Manufactures natural health and beauty products

Sells home furnishings

Provides construction project management and general contracting services

Delivers organic produce and groceries

Provides digital marketing and lead generation services

Provides IT services and consulting

Facilitates online estate and downsizing auctions

Offers varied management and marketing services for associations

Provides IT services for businesses and government institutions

Rents construction and industrial equipment

Manufactures safety equipment for industrial storage racks

Sells and distributes wholesale restaurant supplies and food

Manufactures and distributes trash and recycling receptacles

Provides accounting, taxation, bookkeeping and virtual CFO services

Offers psychological assessments and counselling

Provides digital marketing, advertising and web design services

Imports and wholesales commercial food equipment

Cayman Marshall International Realty

DLS Technology Corp.

Just Quality International Inc.

LOC International

Wyse Meter Solutions Inc.

CRG Energy

The Moresby Group

Search Realty Corp.

Henderson Brewing Co.

Passport Trucking Inc.

Jonluca Enterprises

iVedha Inc.

CloudOps Inc.

Third Octet Inc.

Astrapac

Ascendant

LED Smart Inc.

Minami Group Inc.

Inertia Product Development

Toc Toc Communications

Lim Geomatics Inc.

AcuityAds Inc.

ProntoForms Corp.

LowestRates.ca

Auction Transport Services Inc.

Think Research

Copperleaf

iLLOGIKA

PointClickCare Technologies Inc.

Indellient Inc.

La Fourmi Bionique Inc.

Clear Concepts

Clear Blue Technologies International

Organika Health Products Inc.

Simpli Home Ltd

KDS Construction Ltd.

Mama Earth Organics

Jumpfactor Marketing

ITI Inc.

MaxSold Inc.

Managing Matters Inc.

CloseReach

Cooper Equipment Rentals Ltd.

Damotech Inc.

A-1 Bags & Supplies

The Point Gallery and Step N’ Sort

Gauvreau CPA

Insight Psychological

tbk

Food Service Solutions Inc.

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

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365

366

367

368

369

370

371

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400

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67

67

Craig Baxter’s‘obsession’ with hiscustomers hasmade his companynumber one

When it comes to success,Craig Baxter, presidentof Techtronic IndustriesCanada Inc. (TTi) has asimple philosophy: find outwhat the user wants and deliverit. And it works.

Milwaukee Tool Canada, asubsidiary of Hong Kong-basedTTi, is the number one powertool company in Canada. But itwasn’t always that way.

“Canada was an afterthoughtat best,” explains Mr. Baxter.When he came on board in2007, Milwaukee was barelyhanging on to fourth place inmarket share. But he had a planto overhaul the company, frompeople to product to culture,and it was a game changer.

“If you fast forward to 2021,we are now in a dominantnumber one share position afterhaving compounded at 24 percent [growth] for the last 14years,” says Mr. Baxter.

How did this significant jumphappen? Milwaukee askedthe company’s traditional coretrades—plumbers, electri-cians, and contractors—whatthey wanted. It turns out theywanted cordless tools.

“So, we needed to build theworld’s best lineup of cord-less solutions for our core userand also for several new tradeswe wanted to bring into theMilwaukee family,” explains Mr.Baxter, outlining the growthfrom around 10 cordless tools inthe lineup 15 years ago to over500 cordless solutions today.

Just to add to what Mr. Baxterdescribes as the company’s “ob-session with the end user,” thereare hundreds of Milwaukeeengineers whose job is to workwith users to come up with newand better products, “creat-ing an endless feedback loop,”

explains Mr. Baxter.Traditionally, power tool

manufacturers work directlywith distributors, and whileMilwaukee does this as well, it’snot where it’s spending most ofits time and money. Mr. Baxtersays that Milwaukee’s focus ondelighting the end user is themost significant area that setshis company apart from—andahead of—the competition.

“The vast majority of ourmarketing investment directlytargets our user base so, we arecreating more demand everysingle week,” he says.

“That’s been a major differ-entiator for us for the past 15years—our obsession with theend user, our desire to listen tothe user and follow through ondelivering everything they needfrom us,” says Mr. Baxter.

It’s well known that cordlesstools are more convenient, safer

to use and offer better mobilityfor tradespeople. But one thingis for sure: if they don’t workas well or last as long as theircorded counterparts, no one isgoing to make the switch.

This is where Milwaukee’s MXFUEL platform comes in. De-signed to be used on equipmentthat requires extreme powerand long run times—like coredrills or concrete cut-off saws—the MX FUEL battery setsMilwaukee’s cordless offeringsapart. Reduced noise, vibrationand emissions are just a few ofthe advantages this system hasover traditional gas-poweredor corded versions of the sametools.

Just picture it: Commercialconstruction sites or city roadworks using cordless, battery-powered tools instead of the gaspowered equivalent. Anothersignificant advantage is the

ability to use the emission-freecordless version indoors. This isan advantageous developmenton construction sites made pos-sible by Milwaukee innovation.

Noise reduction is also accom-plished as you eliminate smallengines. “It’s a cleaner, moreefficient, more effective wayfor the user to operate on thesite by replacing those [tradi-tional] energy sources with alithium-ion battery,” explainsMr. Baxter.

“We have the largest contrac-tors in the country enamouredwith this MX platform becauseyou’re eliminating cords, you’reeliminating pneumatic sourcesof power, not to mention com-pressors and hoses,” he adds,calling it Milwaukee’s mostinnovative launch in years.

Even factors like heat andmoisture, both enemies of anybattery-operated tool, are beingaddressed through Milwau-kee’s innovation. For instance,through smart technology, theequipment can tell the batterywhen it’s overheating and willautomatically shutdown toensure the longevity of the tooland the battery.

Catching the user’s attentionwith innovative offerings iswhat this company does well.Large commercial contractorsthat didn’t give Milwaukee asecond look 15 years ago, “arenow buying millions of dollarsin product from us today,” saysMr. Baxter. He expects demandto continue to grow as a resultof the company’s disruptiveinnovation and the recentconstruction boom. Indeed, thecompany plans on adding hun-dreds of jobs to its work force inthe next few years.

“Our vision is a cordless job-site, so for us, the market is waybeyond the traditional powertool market,” says Mr. Baxter.“We’ve moved well beyond thetraditional core user base andnow our growth opportunitiesare endless, and we’re just get-ting started.”

New cordless techdrives growth forMilwaukee Tool Canada

SPONSOR CONTENT Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Milwaukee Tool Canada. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.

Craig Baxter has led Milwaukee Tool Canada to 14 years of double-digit growth by knowing what customers want, and delivering it.




3-YEARREVENUE


EM-PLOY-

EES HEADQUARTERS

4 0 1 - 4 4 8

Ottawa

Edmonton

Mississauga

Victoria

Montreal

Quebec City

Burlington, Ont.

Lambton Shores , Ont.

Montreal

Chatham, Ont.

Toronto

Mattawa, Ont.

Vancouver

Bolton, Ont.

Quebec City

Halifax

Kelowna, B.C.

Ottawa

Kitchener, Ont.

Cranbrook, B.C.

Markham, Ont.


Kitchener, Ont.

Montreal

Edmonton

Toronto

Markham, Ont.

Calgary

Ottawa

Guelph, Ont.

Abbotsford, B.C.

Calgary

Toronto

Chilliwack, B.C.

Toronto

Whitby, Ont.

Winnipeg

Wingham, Ont.

London, Ont.

Uxbridge, Ont.

Toronto

Toronto

Toronto

Midland, Ont.

London, Ont.

Peterborough, Ont.

Calgary

Winnipeg

80

27

245

28

60

145

90

190

570

600

54

267

6

15

190

76

25

65

70

16

100

45

84

28

45

25

150

35

375

40

115

84

16

105

20

64

24

128

190

25

4,397

517

109

220

120

135

54

375

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$75M-$100M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$2M-$5M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$50M-$75M

$50M-$75M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$2M-$5M

$10M-$25M

$25M-$50M

$10M-$25M

$2M-$5M

$750M-$1B

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$10M-$25M

$5M-$10M

$25M-$50M

Develops water measurement instrumentation

Provides IT services and support

Offers IT transformation services

Designs and manufactures solar-powered outdoor commercial lighting

Transports agricultural products in oversea containers for Canadian exporters

Provides architecture and building services

Offers marketing and advertising services for business and consumer clients

Propagates vegetable seedlings for commercial greenhouses and consumers

Provides digital solutions related to life insurance and wealth management

Operates an online editing and proofreading platform

Delivers management consulting focused on performance improvement

Manufactures vocational trucks and specialized trailers

Makes Caesar mixes, garnishes and pre-made cocktails

Designs software to help banks and others manage currency and coins

Consults on strategy, operations, HR, education and technology

Provides engineering, architecture and project management services

Designs and manufactures airborne audio communications equipment

Sells energy-efficiency, sustainability and emissions-reduction products

Develops workforce intelligence software for the construction industry

Rents heavy and light-duty equipment, and sells and services Bobcat products

Creates business management software for spas and wellness providers

Offers utility engineering and construction consulting

Sells thin film deposition systems for research, education and tech applications

Develops, manufactures and distributes fine food products

Retails ski and snowboard gear

Provides performance marketing services

Manages residential properties

Provides cybersecurity solutions

Offers digital business transformation and managed technology services

Develops, manufactures and maintains onsite wastewater treatment systems

Provides digital transformation and organizational design services

Manages IT services for small and medium-sized organizations

Helps startups, small manufacturers and inventors develop consumer products

Offers machining supply chain services

Provides managed IT, cloud and cybersecurity services

Brokers insurance for individuals, families and business owners

Manages investment portfolios for individuals and institutions

Designs, engineers and manufactures prefabricated fabric buildings

Operates an agency specializing in digital transformation

Manufactures custom apparel for designers

Makes and sells luxury outerwear

Operates after-school math programs, trains teachers and publishes resources

Builds custom digital platforms for enterprise use

Creates content for scientists and laboratory workers

Operates an online marketplace for voice talent, audio producers and others

Provides engineering, quality verification and building sciences services

Delivers fully outsourced IT services for clients

Designs and manufactures Indigenous footwear

RBR

Keeran Networks

Centrilogic

First Light Technologies Ltd.

DG Canest-Transit Inc.

STGM Architectes

The Evolve Agency Group

Roelands Plant Farms and Plantables Inc.

Equisoft, Inc.

Scribendi

Isaac Operations

Gincor Werx

Walter Craft Caesar

NamSys Inc.

Edgenda

EastPoint

Jupiter Avionics Corp.

Thermal Energy International Inc.

Bridgit

FR Rentals Ltd.

Book4Time

Maven Consulting

Angstrom Engineering Inc.

Favuzzi International Inc.

Sundance Ski & Board Shop

55 Rush

ICC Property Management Ltd.

iON United Inc.

Fully Managed

Waterloo Biofilter

Domain7

SysGen Solutions Group Ltd.

Mako Design + Invent

Harmonic Machine

M.I.T. Consulting

Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers

BCV Asset Management Inc.

Britespan Building Systems Inc.

Northern Commerce

CRW Design

Canada Goose

Spirit of Math Schools

Architech

LabX Media Group

Voices

Cambium

Expera Information Technology Inc.

Manitobah Mukluks

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FundThrough Inc. has spent the past sevenyears creating a new category of financing:

instant payments for companies selling tolarger businesses.TheToronto-based financialtechnology company has helped thousands ofsmall businesses get the capital they need togrow.

FundThrough’s technology-enabled invoicefactoring platform enables B2B (business tobusiness) companies to bridge the naturalcash flow gap that can exist when they invoicelarge customers and have to wait to get paid.Instead of sitting around for weeks or monthsto access money they’ve already earned,FundThrough funds the invoices, typically witha cost similar to accepting credit cards — about2 to 4 per cent.

The service empowers companies tocontrol when they get paid without impactingcustomer payment terms. It means their hard-earned money is readily available to invest intheir business.

“We wait so you don’t have to,” saysFundThrough chief executive officer StevenUster, who co-founded the company in 2014with Deepak Ramachandran and GrahamMcBride.

An example is Steel River Group, anAlberta-based Indigenous-owned and operatedconstruction and service management firm,which in 2019 landed a huge $50-millioncontract.

At the start of the project, the customer

agreed to pay Steel River within 15 days.Thequick turnaround enabled the company tokeep buying supplies, pay subcontractors andmeet payroll. But the payment terms suddenlychanged from two weeks to several months.As a startup, Steel River didn’t have a lot ofcash on hand, nor could it boost its line of creditwith the bank.

After hearing about FundThrough, SteelRiver was immediately intrigued by theidea that it could quickly receive cash for itsoutstanding invoices. After going through theprocess with FundThrough, Steel River had themoney it needed in its account within 48 hours.

“There is definitely peace of mind knowingthat if the client doesn’t pay the invoice, wecan factor it, and we can make our payments,”says Steel River’s finance lead KevanMikkelsen. “We were able to complete jobssolely through the support of FundThrough.With FundThrough in our corner our growthaccelerated.”

Mr. Uster says FundThrough was createdto solve financing challenges like this forhard-working and expanding small businessowners.

“We saw this uneven playing field wheresmall businesses were at the whim of theirmuch larger customers in terms of when theygot paid,” Mr. Uster says. “As a small businessowner, you do everything you’re supposedto do; you deliver the goods, you perform theservice, and your customer decides they’re


Deepak Ramachandran and Steven Uster are the founders ofFundThrough alongside Graham McBride (not pictured).

going to take 60 or 90 days to pay you.We don’tthink that is fair.”

FundThrough has grown from just fiveemployees when it started to more than 60today across North America.The companyhas funded $1-billion of invoices for severalthousand businesses to date.

One of the benefits of FundThrough, Mr.Uster says, is that it’s not a loan and there’sno need to give away equity in the company.“With FundThrough, you don’t have to worryabout how or when you’re going to repay thefunds that FundThrough advances, becauseyou know the natural payment event is whenthe invoice gets paid,” he says.

The next focus area for FundThrough isembedded finance, Mr. Uster says, addingthat partnerships with platforms like IntuitQuickBooks have always played a key rolein reaching small businesses. He saysFundThrough is well positioned to become aleader in offering seamless invoice fundingexperiences directly in B2B marketplaces,enabling buyers to maintain normalpayment terms, while getting suppliers paidimmediately.

Mr. Uster says his company has helpedaccelerate the growth of several companies onthe Globe and Mail’sTop Growing Companieslist and, like its clients, continues to expand.

“FundThrough makes it simple for you to dowhat you do best — which is go out and sell,”he says.

SPONSOR CONTENT


FundThrough’s cash flowsolution powers manyof Canada’s top growingcompaniesThe fintech has also landed on the Globe’s top growing list again this year

A


A SCORE

TO SETTLE

CREDIT RATINGS OFTEN BURDEN AND ENRAGE CONSUMERS, AND THE AGENCIES THATCALCULATE THEM HAVEN’T CHANGED MUCH IN OVER A CENTURY. BUT AN EDMONTONSOFTWARE ACE SAYS HE HAS A BETTER DIGITAL-AGE IDEA

ILLUSTRATIONS BY DOMENIC BAHMANNBY MAX FAWCETT


DEATH, TAXES and a bad experience withyour credit rating: For millions of peoplein North America, these are the onlycertainties in life. As U.S. TV journalistChris Wallace said during a 1991 featureon credit scores for ABC’s Primetime,“You don’t have to spend long preparinga broadcast about credit agencies beforeyou learn one simple truth: Everyone, andI mean everyone, has a horror story.”

Little has changed since then, save perhaps thesheer scale and variety of the horror stories. Butwhile we’re still at least a few decades away fromtechnology being able to disrupt our relation-ships with death and taxes, the traditional creditrating bureaus and the scores they churn out mayalready be on borrowed time.

Evan Chrapko, the Edmonton-based tech entre-preneur and founder and CEO of Trust Science,has spent more than a decade building to thismoment. The company has 42 patents across13 countries, and another 40 pending, and hasinvested tens of millions of dollars into disruptingone of the most comfortably entrenched indus-tries in the world.

“There’s a reason there’s only a handful of bigbureaus in the world,” says Chrapko, who’s 56.“These are multibillion-dollar undertakings—biginstitutional aircraft carriers. I’m not yet an air-craft carrier, by customer critical mass, but I’m onthe ocean. I’m in the same waters as these guysand I’m way, way more nimble.”

This isn’t Chrapko’s first trip out onto the ocean,either. In March 2000—literally just a few daysbefore the tech bubble burst—he sold his cloudstorage company, DocSpace, for US$568 million.He thinks Trust Science could be far bigger thanthat. “This is a much more global proposition thanDocSpace was. It’s pertinent to every single coun-

try, including—and maybe even especially—developing coun-tries.” In a world where maybe 40 countries employ some metricthat could be considered a credit score, the ability to bypass thetraditional approach and offer something new has obvious—andpotentially enormous—value.

Chrapko’s invention doesn’t necessarily replace traditionalgiant credit bureaus like Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.Instead, he says, it augments what they do and gives them toolsthat help them do it better. “I’m not allergic to the old conven-tional credit bureau data,” he says. “It’s just that it’s very pol-luted—there’s a lot of noise, and not as much signal in there.”

In response to questions about accuracy and complaints, Equi-fax and TransUnion both emailed brief answers. Equifax said it is“eager to help Canadian customers,” and that its website outlinesa set of consumer rights. TransUnion said “accuracy is funda-mental to our business,” and it offers individuals free access toall the information in their credit file. Customers can contact thebureau online or by phone.

Even so, Chrapko says “we know how to find the signal in thenoise of the old stuff.” Or, putting it a bit more tactfully, “we makethe Equifaxes and TransUnions of the world appear smarter thanthey really are.”

In short, he isn’t trying to move fast and break things here, asis often the case with tech entrepreneurs. If anything, he’s doingthe opposite. Unlike the taxi industry and vacation rentals, whichwere largely consumer-oriented in nature, Trust Science’s cli-ents are banks and other major financial institutions. “When youwant the G-SIBs as customers—the global systemically importantbanks—you have to be compliant. It is a prerequisite. They won’teven wonder about what you’re claiming to be doing, business-


wise, until you can clear the security audit overhere and the regulatory compliance discussions.Then we can talk about your invention.”

They’re talking now, though. “I did it in a veryCanadian fashion,” Chrapko says. “The Americanapproach is to sell it and then build it. We’re doingthe opposite: Build it and they will come. Andthat’s what’s happening.”

WHEN THE AVERAGE CANADIAN householdowes more than $1.70 for every $1 of disposableincome, a good credit score can mean the dif-ference between life and debt. The score candetermine how much you can borrow, how muchthe loan costs you and which financial institu-tions will be willing to lend to you. Yet for all thepower of a score, most people would probably behard-pressed to tell you what theirs is, much lessexplain how it was calculated.

So-called FICO scores range from 300 to 850. Ascore below 580 is poor, and you’ll likely have toplead with “alternative” lenders for a loan—evenif it’s secured by a house, car or other asset—pos-sibly at double-digit interest rates or higher. Ifyou’re above 670, you’re considered good. Scoremore than 800 and banks and other A-list institu-tions will compete to do business with you, andoffer attractive borrowing rates.

The idea of a credit score—and the FICO acro-nym—can be traced back to a U.S. operationsresearch firm called Fair Isaac & Co., which wasfounded in 1956. Its scores have been at the heartof the consumer lending industry for decades. Asco-founder William Fair wrote in his 1977 memoir,“a competent analysis of the large number of fac-tors appearing on a credit application would per-mit the construction of an accurate odds quoter ofthe applicant’s future payment behavior.”

Even a numerical score was an improvement forthe credit bureaus. Equifax, the oldest of the threemajor bureaus in North America, was founded in1899 as The Retail Credit Co. It quickly grew to 37offices in the United States and Canada by 1920.The company’s “Merchant Report” on businesseswas sold for US$25 a copy, and it expanded to con-sumers. The reports were built around a rudimen-tary ranking system of borrowers as “prompt,”“slow” or “requiring more cash.”

But until recent decades, data was largely com-piled and presented in physical forms, and thescoring calculations were done by people. So, theagencies had to restrict the number of inputs. AsUniversity of California PhD candidate MarthaPoon wrote in her 2012 dissertation on the historyof FICO scores, “the key consideration in design,therefore, was neither statistical nor technicalsophistication… For the tool to work in the manualsetting, statistical complexity had to yield alongseveral dimensions to the material demands of theexisting business environment.”

Despite the innovations in data science andtechnology since the FICO score was developed,the guts of it haven’t changed all that much. Thescores credit agencies produce still rely heavily on

the information gathered on consumers by banks and credit cardcompanies, which helps explain why someone with no creditcards can have a lower score than someone making regular pay-ments on four of them at once. According to an explanation onEquifax’s website, its scores are based on a blend of payment his-tory, credit inquiries, the ratio of used to available credit and anyrecords of delinquency and bankruptcy.

In place of the traditional scorecard system, Trust Science’sproprietary algorithm uses artificial intelligence and machinelearning to develop a more comprehensive individual credit pro-file. The algorithm can incorporate thousands (and theoreticallymillions) of different variables and see how they interact witheach other, a level of horsepower conventional credit scoringmethods simply can’t match. If you’re doing a traditional score-card, “after approximately a dozen variables, another variablewon’t materially affect the outcome,” Chrapko says. “The mar-ginal value of a new variable is very low.”

It also means the algorithm can assess credit risks in a morethree-dimensional way. “Your score and your behaviour onrepayment will be different depending on why you took out theloan,” Chrapko says. “Someone’s a different risk if they’re bor-rowing to buy that canary yellow ’69 Camaro versus if they’reborrowing to buy a slightly beat-up used 2010 Ford F-150. They’llbe a better risk on the truck.”

Not all debt is created equal, in other words. But that’s a nuanceconventional credit bureaus can’t really handle. “What the AI canteach you is that every person’s score is different in a differentcontext,” Chrapko says. “That concept alone would make CreditBureau 1.0 dinosaurs kind of short-circuit.”

The problem with those dinosaurs isn’t just that they occasion-ally misrepresent or misreport people’s histories. They also cre-ate a feedback loop in which people with credit get more of it,while those without it can’t get enough. “That works okay forprime and super-prime people,” Chrapko says. “But it doesn’twork at all if you’re young. It doesn’t work at all if you’re an immi-grant. You’re what they call a ‘no-hit’—you’re credit invisible, andtherefore unbanked or underbanked.”

According to 2015 data from the U.S. Consumer Financial Pro-tection Bureau, about 15% of Black and Hispanic consumers were“credit invisible,” compared to just 9% of whites and Asians. Thathelps explain a massive gap in home ownership rates, which aremore than 30% lower for Black Americans than for white ones.

The credit scoring system also doesn’t fit the new economy andthe ways people work in it. Chrapko estimates there’s US$1 tril-lion in “invisible primes”—people who would be good borrowersif given the money. “They’re prime or super-prime-quality bor-rowers, but they’re invisible to conventional methods.”

That’s not just a missed lending opportunity for big banks andother higher-quality lenders. It’s also a de facto referral to higher-cost ones like payday loan companies and other subprime lend-ers, with all of the attendant risks—and the inequities that onlymultiply because of them. “In North America alone,” Chrapkosays, “that’s tens of millions of people who don’t have the on-ramp into the modern economy, because that credit score is usedin a lot of ways and places.”

Those ways go well beyond someone’s ability to borrow money.They can also influence where people live and what kinds of jobsthey have. Credit checks on prospective tenants and employeesare now commonplace, and they’re making their way into manyother areas of our lives. “It’s not just the financial stuff,” saysTammy Johnston, a Calgary financial planner. “It can affect theiremployment opportunities, it can affect where they can rent, and


it can affect where they can go to school.”Why do we put up with this? In part, because we

don’t have any other choice. If you want to leasea car or buy a house, you can’t do it without effec-tively opting in to the system that credit scoringhelps create. So, Johnston says, we put up with asystem that’s often inaccurate and unjust becausemany of us don’t even know what it’s doing to ourlives. “They get away with it because, unfortu-nately, Canadians have the lowest level of finan-cial literacy in the Western world. On the subjectof money, we’re dumber than Americans—andthat should terrify people.”

WE MAY NOT HAVE TO put up with it for muchlonger. No, Canadians aren’t suddenly gettingmore financially literate, but the tyranny of theFICO score may be nearing an end. While it hasn’tacted yet, U.S. President Joe Biden’s adminis-tration has signalled its interest in creating anew reporting agency—one that would competedirectly with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

Washington’s interest is apparently inspiredby a 2019 proposal from the progressive thinktank Demos, which made the case for a publiclyrun credit registry. “A public credit registry willdevelop algorithms that diminish the impact ofpast discrimination, deliver transparent creditscoring, provide greater data security and offer apublicly accountable way to resolve disputes,” theDemos report said. “The use of credit informationfor non-lending purposes, such as employment,housing and insurance, will be curtailed.”

The American finance industry isn’t waitingaround for this to happen, either. Lenders like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America arealready moving away from using FICO scores insome underwriting decisions, while others, likeCapital One Financial Corp., don’t use them at allfor most consumer lending decisions.

More importantly, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,the two government-founded enterprises thatsecuritize U.S. mortgages—and that are the beat-ing heart of the American housing market—havebeen mandated to assess and allow other scoringregimes besides FICO. “It will no longer be thecase, after some point in the not-so-distant future,that FICO is the only credit score that works fortwo of the major federal financial institutions,”Chrapko says. “That’s a game changer.”

So too is our rapidly evolving relationship withmodern technology. “The ownership and porta-bility of one’s own data, in whatever form, shouldbe sacrosanct,” Chrapko says. “That should be ahuman right.”

That may sound aspirational—or revolution-ary—in a country like Canada, where even makingmobile data affordable is a monumental struggle.Responding to the Biden administration’s pro-posals, Equifax noted that the provinces regulatecredit bureaus in Canada, and it supports currentlaws, which hold the agencies to “a high standard.”

But Europe is moving more aggressively,and unveiled a new data governance strategy in

February 2020 that’s now on the verge of becoming a reality.Rather than focusing exclusively on protecting people’s pri-vacy, the strategy promotes the sharing and monetization of datausing a pan-European market and the creation of a “data trust”: asteward that will manage people’s data on their behalf and havea fiduciary duty toward them.

“Global technology companies will not be allowed to store ormove Europeans’ data,” Anna Artyushina, a York University pub-lic policy scholar who specializes in data governance and smartcities, wrote last August. “Instead, they will be required to accessit via the trusts.”

Chrapko sees a future in which you call the shots from yoursmartphone. “Each of us will essentially be our own personalcredit bureau,” he says. “You will only dole out your informa-tion—your education credentials, bank account information andso on—when and as you see fit, not when some nameless massivemultibillion-dollar company decides they’re going to get paid forit by a financial institution you’re trying to deal with.”

Storing that information on the blockchain, and sharing it onlyas circumstances require, seems like a massive improvementover the status quo. After all, in 2017, online hackers broke intoEquifax and captured the personal information of 147 millionpeople, many of whom—indeed, most—didn’t realize they werecustomers in the first place.

While Equifax agreed to pay out as much as US$700 million infines and compensation, just 4.4% of that was allocated to com-pensate the people who had their names, dates of birth and socialsecurity or social insurance numbers stolen. Worse, perhaps,rather than simply sending those funds to the 147 million victims,Equifax required people to opt in to the settlement and choosebetween free credit monitoring or US$125 in cash—which waslater taken off the table when a surge of people opted for it.

Chrapko is far from the only person who thinks mobile technol-ogy will have a transformative impact on how we access credit.Shivani Siroya founded a California-based smartphone micro-lending platform called Tala in 2011 that targets clients in devel-oping countries. She laid out the case for a mobile-first approachto credit creation. “There are 2.5 billion people around the worldthat don’t have a credit score,” she said during a 2016 TED Talk.“That’s a third of the world’s population. They don’t have a scorebecause there are no formal public records on them—no bankaccount, no credit history and no social security number. Andbecause they don’t have a score, they don’t have access to thecredit or financial products that can improve their lives.”

Siroya’s company aims to change that through data that’salready in borrowers’ phones, from GPS information to merchanttransactions. By measuring the stability in a user’s key relation-ships, the diversity of their social networks, and the consistencyof their movements and travel, Tala can assess a potential bor-rower and approve a loan within minutes. It’s already lent outmore than US$1 billion to more than four million customers inKenya, the Philippines and Mexico, and says more than 90% ofthem repay within a month.

It’s not hard to see how this could disrupt the big credit bureaushere in North America. Just as mobile phones bypassed the needfor landlines in the developing world, they could also allowpeople to do an end run around the credit-industrial complex. Ifthat happens, companies like Equifax and TransUnion could oneday join the Kodaks and Blockbuster Videos of the world in theantiquities museum of business history. “Kids being born todaywill not even know what a credit bureau is,” Chrapko says. “Thatconcept will be pretty obsolete by the time they grow up.”

When the pandemic lockdowns hit inMarch 2020, the Gauvreau Accounting

Tax Law Advisory team was inundated withquestions from Canadian entrepreneursseeking guidance on the latest resources,financial support and government initiatives.

“There was so much conflicting informationout there, creating more confusion thanclarity,” says Robert Gauvreau, the company’sfounder and partner.

To provide support, the Gauvreau teamdecided to launch the “Ascent:Vision to resultsfor entrepreneurs” Facebook group, where itshared daily news and advice and a forum forbusiness owners to ask questions and discussissues.

“We took it upon ourselves to offer somecertainty during these unprecedented times,”Mr. Gauvreau says.

It’s just one of the many creative andempowering services Gauvreau offers itsexpanding roster of entrepreneurial-mindedclients across Canada, beyond proactiveaccounting, taxation planning and, morerecently, legal services.

Mr. Gauvreau says his team of highly skilledaccounting, financial and legal professionals isfocused on helping business owners take thenecessary steps to succeed in their businessand achieve financial freedom.

Since it was founded in 2008, Gauvreau hasexpanded to 35 employees and is expected toreach 50 by early 2022 to meet the increased

How this accountingand legal services firmhelps entrepreneursget resultsGauvreau AccountingTax Law Advisory offers a suite of services forentrepreneurial-minded Canadians

demand for business planning, tax andlegal advice from Canada’s rapidly growingentrepreneurial community.The company isforecasting revenue of more than $4-millionfor 2021, an increase of over 70 per cent fromlast year.

Some of Gauvreau’s early growth cameafter it was enlisted as an accounting advisorfor business guruTony Robbins’s businessmastery events in Canada.The companyalso launched a virtual chief financial officerprogram in early 2020, which provides groupcoaching, training and personalized businessadvice that maps out each entrepreneur’sjourney to realize financial success. Mr.Gauvreau also recently expanded his practice’ssuite of business professional services — suchas specialized tax, wealth management andbusiness financing — to include legal servicesto provide clients with a more holistic plan fortheir businesses.

“Now we can take the financial expertiseand wealth accumulation expertise and matchthat with legal protection, asset acquisition andother legal services,” he says. “We’re hopingto build this huge collaborative experience forentrepreneurs where all of their professionalneeds are delivered in one place.”

Mr. Gauvreau also released his best-sellingbook last year,TheWealthy Entrepreneur:The Formula for Making Money and GainingFinancial Clarity inYour Business, based on hiswork helping 500-plus entrepreneurs establish


Robert Gauvreau, founder and partner of Gauvreau Accounting Tax Law Advisory,speaks during one of his firm’s online courses for business owners.

Grow, Scale & Profit with ConfidenceHelping entrepreneurs create high-performance businessesIF>@<JF ?>@GD4:6 GDD@<M4MJK IG8K 56JG5 GM; G;:E=@>7 =6>:ED6=KEMD5<;EMJ @<> G9G>;C9EMMEMJ LE>I<G5 OBP A>@J>GNH

gauvreaucpa.ca

their business vision and deploy profitablegrowth strategies.

The “vision to results” framework outlinedin his book inspired the creation of the AscentPeak Performance Program, an online trainingcourse consisting of independent, on-demand,self-paced courses on vision mapping, financialconditioning and scaling.The Gauvreau team isalso getting ready to launch its online coachingmembership in 2022, which will involveongoing training and support to maximize eachentrepreneurs’ financial results.

“Our goal is to continue to help businessowners better understand their finances sothat they can generate more financially positiveresults in their business,” he says. “The rippleeffect of that is that they can, in turn, help morepeople by doing what they do.”

Mr. Gauvreau has been able to bring in awide variety of clients and steadily expand thebusiness all from its base in Peterborough,Ont., about 140 km east ofToronto.

“If there’s anything positive that’s comeout of this global pandemic, it’s the wideacceptance of digital communication,” hesays. “We’ve always had clients across thecountry… but the technological changesduring the pandemic, such as digital signaturesand online bookkeeping, made it even moreeffective.”

“It’s an exciting time for our firm,” Mr.Gauvreau says, “and we are just gettingstarted.”

SPONSOR CONTENT


Work arrangementswill look a lot different atmany organizationswhen thepandemic passes—butwhatwon’t change is the need for in-creasingly robust cybersecuritymeasures, experts say.

Protecting companydataand computer systemswill beparticularly important as em-ployers transition to hybridworkmodels, allowing employees tosplit their time between theirtipY ^j[ ivn\Yk

“The challenges comingwiththe hybridmodel aremuch thesame that organizations havebeen addressing for the pastyear and a half,” says DarrenGresch, senior research associ-ate for innovation and technol-ogy at the ConferenceBoardof Canada. “These are ongoingremotework challenges.”

_tYj etY h^j[Yps\ ngfe tseZorganizationswere forced toquickly shift towork-from-homemodels, increasing the risk ofcyberattacks.

A report commissionedbyIBM shows the average costof a data breach increased to

US$4.24-million per incidentglobally betweenMay2020andMarch 2021, a 10-per-centincrease from the prior yearand the highest average in thesurvey’s 17-year history. Thereport also shows the averagecost wasUS$1.07-millionhigher in breacheswhereremoteworkwas a factor. Thereport also shows organizationsthat hadmore than half of theiremployeesworking remotelytook 58 days longer to identifyand contain breaches.

Many of the breachesbYgY qsrYqU Xpsf\ijnudg^esijattacks,” says cybersecurityexpert Terry Cutler, chief ex-Y\descY ivn\Yg iv TUiqiuU o^]fkThat’s when IT departmentsXpsf\ijnudgY[ fUfeYpf sj etYnameof convenience, leavingvulnerabilities.”

He adds thatmany securityholes have since been patchedup but says the shift to hybridworkwill still leavemany com-panies exposed, particularly ascybercriminals become increas-ingly sophisticated. An exampleis cybercriminals creating highly

convincing corporate emailsthat seek to steal passwordsand initiate ransomware attacksencrypting vital data and hold-ing it for ransom formillions ofdollars.

Many IT departments are re-inforcing their systems using thelatest tools, such as endpointcybersecurity software, whichMr. Cutler says is essentiallyanti-virus software on steroids.

“With endpoint security, ifyou ever get hit with a ransom-ware attack on a device, for in-stance, it’s going to be detected,stopped and quarantined beforeit can domuch harm,” he says.

He notes organizations arealso usingmulti-factor au-thenticationmore often, whichinvolves an additional, random-ized password texted to users’cell phoneswhen they log on tothe corporate network.

These newmeasures aside,he argues that organizationsneed to continuously improvetheir protections, includingoffering ongoing cybersecuritytraining for all employees toeasily identify and avoid phish-

ing attacks.IT departments also need

better security breach responseplans and to conduct regular^d[sef ei nj[ cdqjYg^]sqsesYfk `tYchallenge ismany don’t havethe required expertise in theseareas,Mr. Cutler says.

He says investing in outsidecybersecurity expertise to pre-vent costly breaches can saveorganizationsmillions of dollarsdown the road.

One silver liningwith thehybridworkmodel is that ITprofessionalswill havemoreopportunities to ensure devicesare secure, saysMr. Greschof the ConferenceBoard ofCanada.

XTipsju ]^\r ei etY ivn\Y gYmintroduces employees to techsupport theymay have beenmissing over the past year and ahalf,” he says.

“Workerswill need all thehelp they can get as cybercrimi-nals continually up the ante,nj[sju jYbb^Uf ei ]gY^r sjeinetworks…. It’s really an ongo-ing arms race.”

Protecting two working worldsThe new hybrid work era will force organizations to up their cybersecurity game

SPONSOR CONTENT Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with IBM. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.

Cybercrime is the bandit Canadianbusinesses must thwartThe cost of a data breach in Canada is at an all-time high,with companies losing an average of $6.75-million with each attack

PAID POST ADVERTISING FEATURE PROVIDED BY IBM. THE GLOBE AND MAIL’S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT WAS NOT INVOLVED.

ALTHOUGH THE FULL IMPACTof the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadianbusinesses won’t be fully apparent for some time,the damage inflicted by cybercriminals has beenimmediate and sustained.According to a recent study by IBM on the cost

of a data breach, the increased vulnerability tocybercrime has hit Canadian companies hard,costing them $6.75-million per incident onaverage – a 20 per cent increase over 2020 andan all-time high for Canada.Security incidents are now costlier and

spn_ avyrbjtk kp bpqkdvq aj_ vq odnk kp andlkvboperational shifts during the pandemic. Asbusinesses were forced to quickly adapt theirtechnology approaches last year, from remotegpnu kp btpja svxndkvpq` kw_ n_opnk rqavqxlsuggest that security may have lagged behindthese rapid IT changes, hindering organizations’ability to respond to data breaches.The study also found that the greatest

vulnerabilities are created by remote workers,many of whomwere thrust into unstable workenvironments at the onset of the pandemic. Stolenuser credentials are the main entry points byattackers targeting organizations and, with 74 percent of Canadians admitting they reuse passwordsacross accounts, compromised credentials cancause a spiral effect of malicious breaches,creating a compounding risk for businesses. In[dqdad` kw_ rqdqbvdt vqajlkn^ gdl wdna_lk wvk c^the breaches, costing those companies the most,followed by businesses in the tech and industrialindustries.

]hpvavqx kw_ b^c_nbnvs_ rqdqbvdt wvkmany are experiencing takes proactivepreparation and a cohesive approach.Modernized technology through AI andencryption, in addition to employeetraining, were the top mitigating factorsshown to reduce the cost of a breach— saving Canadian companies whoused these tools around $1.5-million,compared to those that didn’t.Ultimately, however, all of these

approaches must be used conjointlywith a well-executed hybrid cloudmodel.

Guiding principles to help designsecurity for the hybrid cloud era:\ ]apok d jqvr_a lkndk_x^̀ a_lvxqdkvqxclear policies and responsibilities for existingand newly acquired cloud resources.

• Implement AI and automation in your systemto improve your detection and responsecapabilities.

• Ensure tools for security monitoring, visibilityand response are effective across all hybridcloud environments.

• Incorporate cloud security into the existinginformation security program and scope,penetration testing, incident response anddisaster recovery plans for assets, workloadsand data running in the cloud.

• Rehearse for various attack scenarios that canaffect both the traditional infrastructure and theassets running in the cloud, including storageand backups, to identify where blind spots mayexist.

DHK CK?A D?M=< >@@?A>LH <A JIH<GBI LE;K?L?GFKevkw kw_ c_q_rkl py w^cnva btpja bps_l kw_increased need for modernized enterprisesecurity. The Zero Trust approach counterscybersecurity threats by operating on theassumption that networks are alreadycompromised, using AI and analytics tocontinuously validate connections and determineif any data has been breached.

The Zero Trust approach is proving to be asuccessful cost mitigating strategy. IBM’s studyreveals companies that adopt this approach arebetter positioned to deal with data breaches.Canadian organizations with a mature Zero Truststrategy had an average data breach cost nearly$3-million lower than those who had not deployedit at all.Leaders need to stay on top of the latest

cybercrime threats to protect their businesses. Acritical element of that is to learn from Canada’scybersecurity experts. IBM and The Globe andMail are providing an opportunity to do so witha free event on October 14, 2021 focused onthe evolving threat landscape, best practices toprevent and prepare for potential data breaches,and the role of Zero Trust in an organization’scybersecurity strategy.

Dhruva Suthar,Director of securitysoftware and services atIBM Canada

Join The Globe and Mail for theBefore the Breach virtual webcast onOctober 14, exploring the latest developmentsin cybersecurity risks for Canadian businesses,including the zero trust model andmore.For more information and to register for theevent, visit tgam.ca/BeforeTheBreach.

Cybercriminals are becoming more brazen, provoking expensivedata breaches and reputational damage. In Canada, the cost of a

data breach shot up 20% over the last year.

IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or othercompanies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available at ibm.com/trademark. ©International Business Machines Corp. 2021. B34219

I L L U S T R A T I O N S B Y M A D I S O N V A N R I J N

B Y R O B C S E R N Y I K

G O O D

G R I E FLosing a small business can be financially devastating,

as tens of thousands of entrepreneurs have learned

during the pandemic What's talked about less often is the

emotional havoc that comes with closing down

B Y R O B C S E R N Y I K

G O O D

G R I E F


like the other little kids in my hometown of Sydney, N.S.When my teacher in elementary school worried I was oglingthe lingerie section of an old catalogue we were using to makecollages, I was actually scoping out the living room sets. Athome, in our small bungalow—the walls painted white, thecarpet brown—I relished buying colourful little accents formy bedroom and the rec room, helping our house take onnew life.

If small businesses are made of dreams, then the homedecor store I opened eight years ago, Habitat, was a chanceto live out my childhood fantasies. My goals were modest: topay down my student loans, take the occasional trip abroadand enjoy the freedom of working for myself, doing some-thing I loved. I’d put in more hours, sure, but I’d do it on myown terms. In December 2013, five years out of university,the dream came true: I welcomed customers into a high-ceilinged shop in downtown Cornwall, Ont., kitted out withcherry fixtures and a grey-green accent wall, stuffed withcandles, throw pillows, curtains, kitchen tools and importedjewellery.

But things didn’t go as planned. I’d estimated daily sales of$300, six days a week. On good days, however, I’d only bringin $100—and good days were scarce. By May, I was alreadystruggling. I’d put off paying bills and borrowed money fromfamily and friends to stay afloat. The next month, I slappeda “Closing” sign on the door and gambled on a storefront 45minutes down Highway 401, in Brockville. It was another his-toric building, but in a downtown with more tourists and foot

traffic, lots of coordinated shopping events and,hopefully, a happier ending.

It’s no secret the odds are against small busi-nesses. More than half fail within the first fiveyears. And even that last-ditch move to Brockvillecouldn’t save mine. Amid a terminally grey winter,when I slept in the back of the store and fell behindon my rent, my remaining money, patience andenergy evaporated. In February 2015, I closed mydoors for the last time, joining the roughly 39,000businesses who do so each month in Canada. Myjourney was over—but I was about to embark on anew one that would take me through the stages ofgrief as surely as if I’d lost a beloved friend ratherthan a business.

And I was completely unprepared for it. Thetiny section in my business plan headlined “exitstrategy” proclaimed I’d sell off what I could topay my debts. (In reality, that barely made a dent.)There was nothing about how letting go of thebusiness would be a much longer and more com-plicated journey than owning it.

Today, a huge swath of entrepreneurs find them-selves in a similar position due to COVID-19. TheCanadian Federation of Independent Businessestimates 50,000 entrepreneurs have alreadybeen driven under, and a total of 200,000 mightultimately close once the full effects of the pan-demic have hit. Which means they’ll face thesame erratic journey back to wholeness that I did.Mourning together, but alone.

I

WASN’TThere’s a certain optimism required in entrepreneurship,

and I remember the excited conversations I’d havewith a nice couple around the corner from mystore in Brockville. They’d made a mid-life careerchange and opened their own hospitality busi-ness, and when they’d wander past my place, we’dchat about our successes, feeding off each other’spositivity. If one of us could make it, we all could.

But with my store showing its weaknesses early,I noticed they stopped waving when they walkedby. Then their visits stopped all together. I feltlike a traitor. As I packed up what was left of mydream, with workers from a local charity boxingmy unsold items to give away as door prizes, Iremember having to fight off a panic attack so badthat I thought I was dying.

Once I’d locked up for the last time, I headedwest on the Greyhound in search of distraction.I bounced around short-term sublets and workedas a barista, trying to pay off my business andother loans and save for journalism school, whichI’d decided would be my next chapter. But I wasangry and sad, and spent my spare moments reliti-gating every decision I’d made, trying to makesense of my failure.

I didn’t know it then, but I was in the early stagesof grief. Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross devel-


oped her now-famous five stages—denial, anger, bargaining,depression, acceptance—in 1969, when she published OnDeath and Dying, based on interviews with people experi-encing terminal illness. And though grief research tends tofocus on the death of a loved one or the collapse of a relation-ship, a few academics have started to investigate the kind ofgrief that hits entrepreneurs who’ve taken their one moon-shot and failed.

Michael Freeman is a psychiatrist and clinical professorat the University of California, San Francisco, who has beenresearching entrepreneur mental health for 15 years. “Entre-preneurs can feel about their business the same way parentsfeel about their children,” he says. In fact, he adds, a teamof researchers in Finland took brain scans of entrepreneurswho’d lost a business and compared them to those of parentswho’d lost a child. “And they found the same kind of footprintbetween the two groups. So when a business fails, the inten-sity of the grief can be quite full.”

I kept my head down and worked—a lot, having taken apart-time job at a local radio station on top of slinging lattes.But I couldn’t stop the questions that zoomed through myhead day and night. At the grocery store. In the shower. Tak-ing a walk. Lying in bed on the cusp of sleep. What if I’d dou-bled my loan request? What if I’d rented a cheaper storefrontwhen I first opened in Cornwall? What if I’d posted more pic-tures of my inventory on Facebook? What if I’d opened a fewweeks earlier? What if I’d charged 10% more storewide?

Dean Shepherd, a professor of entrepreneurship at NotreDame University’s Mendoza College of Business, calls thisloss-oriented processing of grief, where we build an accountof why our business closed. And while it’s a necessary partof the healing process, it can go too far. “We think abouthow bad we feel and it actually starts to increase our nega-tive emotions,” says Dr. Shepherd, one of the world’s leadingresearchers on the subject of entrepreneurial grief.

The flipside of loss-oriented processing is restoration-oriented—taking concrete steps toward a new life, such asselling a house, planning a move or looking for a new job. Butthat can be dangerous, as well. “The problem with that par-ticular way of doing things is that while it tries to push nega-tive emotions to the side, those negative emotions eventuallyhave a way of percolating up,” says Dr. Shepherd. “And theymight come up at an inopportune time.”

He saw this in action with his own father, who lost his busi-ness when Dr. Shepherd was young—an event that inspiredhim to study entrepreneurial failure in the first place. Hisfather put all his energy into the restoration side of his griefand didn’t engage with the loss. “It was probably 10 or 15 yearslater, and we still wouldn’t talk about it, because we knewthat it would bring up all sorts of pain,” says Dr. Shepherd.“I’m not sure he ever fully got over it.”

Much like his father leaning toward restoration, everyonehas a default orientation for grief, he says. But he proposesa specific model, based on one first identified in the 1990s,that involves alternating between restoration-oriented andloss-oriented methods of grieving. So an entrepreneur couldwork on that loss accounting and then switch over to restora-tion in order to recharge their emotional batteries and helpreduce secondary causes of stress, such as worrying about

paying the bills. Then they can toggle back andforth as needed.

Inadvertently, that’s the sort of model I followedwhen processing my grief. Instead of, say, movingback in with my parents and wallowing in sadness,I got a job (albeit one that paid an hourly wage andforced me to deal with angry customers all day)that would help me slowly pay off my debts andplan for a new life. At the same time, I still sub-jected myself to the emotional questioning thatwent along with closing shop. That’s how I wasable to come to grips with the fact that virtuallynothing would have saved my store. Sure, I couldhave paid less in rent, but a cheaper storefrontwould have lacked the visibility and walk-in traf-fic of my original location. And doubling my loanwould’ve just left me deeper in the red after theinevitable closure.

It was gruelling work—but that’s nothing newfor entrepreneurs.

Totrulyreboundfromthefailureofmybusiness—bothemotionallyandfinancially—tookaboutfiveyears

How to avoid falling prey tocybersecurity attacksSmall businesses increasingly vulnerable in the wake of COVID-19

IT SEEMS THAT BARELY a day goes by without news of acompany suffering a data breach. In 2021, cyber incidents haveimpacted everything from technology companies and mail carriersto critical infrastructure. Large companies, such as MicrosoftExchange, Sierra Wireless, Canada Post/Comport Communicationsand Colonial Pipeline, have all been hacked.

But these well-publicized incidents are only the tip of theiceberg. According to data published by Statistics Canada inOctober 2020, more than one-fifth of Canadian businesses haveexperienced a cybersecurity breach that affected their operations.

And it’s not just the big players: A 2021 Verizon report from theU.S. found that 47 per cent of attacks involve small businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the Canadianeconomy’s strong reliance upon digital infrastructure. With asudden increase in the number of Canadians working from home,the protection and security of cyber and telecommunicationsinfrastructure, hardware and software, and the supply chains thatsupport them, have become even more critical.

Small business, big problemAs the world prepares for a return to normal, cyber criminals arealso adjusting their tactics, so understanding cyber threats willbecome even more important for business big and small.

According to industry leaders, small- and medium-sizedbusinesses might be better protected if it weren’t for the“cybersecurity gap”: the lack of education around cybersecuritythreats facing small businesses, the misperception among ownersthat they’re not targets, and a lack of awareness of the resourcesavailable to help them manage their risk.

“I think most business owners know that cybersecurity isimportant, but running a business often means you’re leaping fromfire to fire, and when you’re trying to put them all out cybersecuritycan slip down the list,” says Dan Kelly, President and CEO of theCanadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). “Sadly, thefirst time many businesses stop and think about it properly is whenthere’s been a breach, and by then it’s too late.”

Tim Geddes, Executive Vice-President of Sales at HUBInternational, a leading North American insurance brokerage thatprovides employee benefits, business and personal insuranceproducts and services, agrees.

“Your chance of having a breach is way higher than having afire,” says Geddes. “And falling victim to one can be devastatingbecause your customer relationships and data are the lifeline ofyour small businesses.”

And then there’s the cost. According to Aon Canada’s InsuranceMarket Report: Mid-Year Review 2021, global ransomwarepayments increased by 60 per cent from 2019 to 2020, with cyberdamages projected to be about $20-billion in 2021.

“Dealing with a breach isn’t just a nuisance,” says PatrickCruikshank, Underwriting Director and cyber risk expert atNorthbridge Insurance. “It will force you to temporarily close,forgoing revenue, and the reputational impact could bedevastating to your ability to successfully reopen.”

The good news is that the cybersecurity gap is increasinglya matter of perception. There are more products and resources

out there catering specifically to small businesses, includingCybersecure Canada, an education and certification program thefederal government recently launched.

“I’d advise business owners to find as much information as theycan,” Kelly says. “There’s lots online. Talk to a small business grouplike CFIB, talk to trusted counterparts.”

Cybersecurity insuranceMany companies now offer insurance against cyber risks, includingas extensions of standard property and liability policies. However,Cruikshank says it’s best to check the fine print and find outwhat’s covered: cyber-specific policies usually provide morecomprehensive protection than extensions alone.

“They’d not only cover your costs of responding to andmanaging a breach, including data recovery, lost business incomeand even extortion expenses, but also liability costs to third partiessuch as customers and suppliers,” says Cruikshank.

According to Geddes, the benefits of cyber insurance also gobeyond the financial resources in the event of a breach.

“The application process can help you realize where you havegaps in your cybersecurity,” says Geddes. “Then your broker canrecommend risk management resources to help you addresspotential threats.”

While big companies usually have in-house counsel when abreach occurs, small businesses may need to outsource support.A broker can match you up with reliable experts to guide youthrough the post-breach forensics, IT, public relations managementand restoration processes.

Protection and access to support are likely why a 2021 FICOsurvey found that 76 per cent of organizations have cybersecurityinsurance that covers likely risks – compared to 60 per centin 2017.

Although there’s still a long way to go, it seems like thecybersecurity gap is slowly narrowing.

SPONSOR CONTENTADVERTISING FEATURE PRODUCED BY GLOBE CONTENT STUDIO WITH NORTHBRIDGE INSURANCE. THE GLOBE’S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT WAS NOT INVOLVED.

The chance of a business having a cybersecuritybreach is higher than having a fire.


The most challenging times through all this were themoments I couldn’t do anything at all. That’s one reason Iliked working two jobs in the aftermath: It was a helpful dis-traction during that first challenging year. But sometimes,when I had the night off, I’d be nearly overwhelmed by feel-ings of failure and loss.

But as the adage goes, time really does heal all wounds.“It could be a year, it could be five years,” says Dr. Shepherd.“We can accelerate it by using these different processes, andsome people will be faster, because they’re better at usingthese processes.”

So it went with me. Gradually, I became more generouswith myself, and after the first year, I was over the worst of mygrief. There’s a difference between knowing intellectuallythat you’ll be okay and truly believing and feeling it. I can’ttell you the exact moment it happened to me; I just know thatit did. (Dr. Shepherd adds that not all entrepreneurs will gothrough the grieving process—they might not feel as deeplyaffectionate toward their side hustle or ultra-lean startup as Idid toward my long-cherished dream.)

But to truly rebound from the failure of my business—bothemotionally and financially—took about five years. That’show long I spent struggling to pay off my debts and establishmyself in a new career. It took nearly as long to rebuild somelost components of pride and self-esteem that had disap-peared along with my erstwhile identity as a business owner,to stop looking back on the experience with resentement.

Five years is a long time, and it can be hard for entrepre-neurs to hear it might take that long to properly come to termswith a business loss—especially when they’re still fightingto stay afloat. But when I embarked on this journey myself, Iwish I’d had a better handle on what I was about to face.

In the intervening years, I’ve become a more mindful per-son—and I can see how that would have helped me immenselywhen I was still in the thick of running my store. It wouldn’tnecessarily have changed the outcome, but I definitely wouldhave had a softer landing if I’d been able to separate my busi-ness failure from my own personal sense of worth.

That’s why it’s encouraging to hear about researchers likeJeffrey Overall, an associate professor of business at OntarioTech University in Oshawa. Part of his research focuseson the impact of mindfulness on entrepreneurs, and oneof the projects he works on, called the Global Institute forConscious Economics, has at its core the idea of creating ahealthier, more mindful relationship between businesspeo-ple, money and the wider economy. In this era of hustle cul-ture and success bias, that could help change the tenor of thepopular discourse around failure—and by getting this notioninto entrepreneurs from the start, it could help create sav-vier, more resilient operators.

“If you’re engaging in these processes of mindfulness andconscious awareness, you can pull out those really importantgifts to take away that make you a better businessperson andalso a better person because you’re evolving,” says Dr. Over-all. A bonus, he adds, is that it allows you to avoid repeatingthe same issues that “might have gotten you into that place ofneeding to grieve a business.”

For a long time, I had a recurring dream: I’d return to mystore and find everything just as I’d left it—as though I’dlocked it up one night and never come back. Sometimes I

felt so relieved that I’d find myself close to tears—grateful to have avoided all the pain and embar-rassment that came with closing Habitat for good.But then I’d wake up and remember I had indeedfailed, and the grief would wash over me again.

Then one night, I had that same dream and foundmyself feeling disappointed. I have to go back tothis? I thought. But I like what I’m doing now.

That might not have been the sign I was healingfrom my loss, but it was definitely a sign. If noth-ing else, it felt like a rare reward for doing the workthat continues long after most people will admitit does.

There are still certain dates or times of year thattrigger those feelings of sadness, often courtesyof Facebook memories—my opening day, a sunnyspring morning after I’d barely survived that firsttough winter, a post announcing the store wasshutting down. But there’s enough distance thatit no longer feels wounding to think about. I canonce again browse through a home decor storewithout feeling a pang of discomfort.

My business was part of me. It always will be. Iloved it once and imbued it with great hopes. Andeven though I lost it all, I survived.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada’s Man & Woman of the Year is a philanthropiccompetition held to raise funds in support of blood cancer research and critical programsand services that assist people at every step of their blood cancer experience. Candidatesare motivated and dedicated community leaders who form powerful fundraising teams inhonour of local blood cancer survivors.

OVER $1 MILLION RAISEDby 33 community leaders!

TO OUR NATIONAL WINNERS:

You or someone you know can be the next Man &Woman of the Year. Visit MWOY.CA for more details.

TINA BYERS, Adelaide Capital“It feels really good to work towards a goaland create awareness about something thata lot of people are dealing with presently.”

Total fundraised: $101,194

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community, and perhaps even cure cancer!”

Total fundraised: $114,131

WOMAN OF THE YEAR*MAN OF THE YEAR*

Thank you and congratulations to our local Man & Woman of the Year winners:

Halifax

AMANDA PENNEYRoyer Thompson$63,325 raised

TROYCE ASHESteele Hyundai$33,144 raised

Montreal

KARINA LOFFREDALemieux Bédard$67,461 raised

FRANCESCO SACCOSacco Accountants

$61,277 raised

*Also the Toronto regional winners

Ryan Michelto Chair of the

Board of DirectorsInsurance Bureau of

Canada

Michael E. Guttormsonto Executive VP,

General Counsel &Corporate SecretaryJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Michael Doughtyto Chair of the

Board of DirectorsCanadian Life andHealth Insurance

Association

Patrick Ensto President of

Capital One CanadaCapital One

FinancialCorporation

Scott Thonto Director

Aecon Group Inc.

Daniel R. Hurshto JRSL Board

Vice-ChairJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Hartley T. Richardson,LVO, O.C., O.M., LL.D.to President & CEO

and Board ChairJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Michelle M. Harrisonto Board of Directors

Doman BuildingMaterials Group

Richard Payette,FCPA, FCA

to Board of DirectorsExport Development

Canada

Brenda Eprile,FCPA, ICD.D

to Board of DirectorsAssuris

Monika Federauto Board of Directors

Assuris

Donald V. Solmanto Executive VP &

CFOJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Lisa L. Durocherto Board of Directors

Fortis Inc.

Frank Swedloveto Chair of the

Board of DirectorsAssuris

Laurel K. Thomsonto JRSL BoardFamily Liaison

DirectorJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Isabelle Godinto VP, OperationsLetko Brosseau

Gianna M. Manesto Board of Directors

Fortis Inc.

Nick Aubryto COO

Gentec International

Malcolm Berryto President & CEO

BC Children’sHospital Foundation

Tom Zaisto CEO

BURNCO RockProducts Ltd.

Congratulations totheserecent appointeesPhillip Crawley, Publisher & CEO of The Globe and Mail, extends best wishes to thefollowing individuals who were recently featured in the Report on Business Section ofThe Globe and Mail newspaper. Congratulations on your new appointments.

OCTOBER 2021

Carolyn A. Hursh,B.S.W., M.S.W

to Honorary Chairman& Director EmeritusJames Richardson& Sons, Limited

Janice Fukakusato Board of TrusteesRioCan Real Estate

Investment Trust

Leon Binedellto President and

CEOSherritt International

Dr. Ian Austinto Board of Directors

PwC Canada

Bev BriscoeFCPA, F.ICD

to Board of DirectorsPwC Canada

James A. Richardsonto Board of Directors

PatriciaTransportation

Company Limited

Jane Kinneyto Vice-Chair of theBoard of DirectorsPerimeter Institute

for TheoreticalPhysics

Rohit Khullerto VP, Investment

ManagementLetko Brosseau

Dr. KhaledHassanein

to Dean of theFaculty of BusinessMcMaster University

Richard Pilosofto Co-Chair of theBoard of Directors

Sinai HealthFoundation

Janet Eckerto Vice-Chair

The University ofToronto

ScottPatles-Richardson

to Board of DirectorsPwC Canada

Razor Sulemanto Board of Directors

PwC Canada

Michael Serbinisto Chair of the

Board of DirectorsPerimeter Institute

for TheoreticalPhysics

David Taylorto the

Board of DirectorsPI Financial Corp.

Paul Deeganto President and

CEONews Media Canada

Andy Eisenbockto Chair

Odlum BrownLimited

Brian Lawsonto Chair of the

GoverningCouncil

The University ofToronto

Rob Pennerto Board of Directors

RichardsonFoundation Inc.

Sharon MacLeodto Board of DirectorsPower Corporation

of Canada

Philip Kingto Vice Chairman

Orlando Corporation

Sarah Jordanto Board of Directors

The WawanesaMutual Insurance

Company

Dr. Julia ChristensenHughes

to PresidentYorkville University

Quinn A. Richardsonto Board of Directors

RichardsonInternational Limited

Fraser S. Somersto Board of Directors

RichardsonInternational Limited

Leanne BellegardeQC

to DirectorPrairieSky Royalty

Ltd.

Dr. Miyo Yamashitato President and

CEOThe Princess

Margaret CancerFoundation

Blair Wolkto President

Orlando Corporation

Hilary A. Partnerto Board of Directors

PatriciaTransportation

Company Limited

Recent Appointees

OCTOBER 2021

To make arrangements for an Appointment Notice, please call 1-800-387-9012 or email [email protected] all appointment notices online at www.globeandmail.com/appointments


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CI CANADIAN REIT ETF ANNUALIZED % TOTAL RETURN*

1-YEAR 33.710-YEAR 11.2

SINCE INCEPTION (JUNE 2004) 11

S&P/TSX CAPPED REIT INDEX

1-YEAR 38.710-YEAR 8.6

SINCE INCEPTION (JUNE 2004) 9.9

own more defensive retail-focusedREITs, such as shopping centresanchored by grocery stores.Which non-traditional Canadian REITdo you favour?We like Chartwell Retirement Resi-dences, which gets 90% of its busi-ness from retirement homes and 10%from long-term care. Both were hithard by the pandemic. People couldnot move in, and Chartwell couldnot market the buildings. As restric-tions loosen up, we think there willbe a lot of pent-up demand. Longerterm, it has a tailwind from demo-graphics as the leading edge of thebaby boomers will need some sort ofretirement-living solution.

What about non-traditional foreign REITs?Equinix, a U.S. data centre REIT, is a big holding.Increased data usage and companies migratingfrom having their own servers to using cloud serv-ers will help increase demand for data centres.We also like cell tower REITs, such as AmericanTower, SBA Communications and Crown CastleInternational.Are you expectingmore takeovers among REITs?Good quality real estate attracts a lot of players,including pension funds and private equity. Withthe latter, Blackstone Group and Brookfield AssetManagement are very active. We think that Cana-dian-listed Summit Industrial Income, First Capi-tal and BSR REIT, which owns apartments in theU.S. Sunbelt, could be future takeover targets.What are headwinds for REITs?If [yields on] 10-year bonds rise materially above2%, that is a concern. But that is not our base case,and interest rates have come down from levels ear-lier this year. CI is in the camp that current infla-tionary pressures are more transitory than per-manent. If there is a general rollover in equities,REITs are not immune, but they should be moredefensive. /Shirley Won

REITs have rebounded after a rough 2020, whenretail and office space were particularly hard hit bythe COVID-19 pandemic. What is your outlook?We are positive because of the vaccine rollout,and the economy is on the right track to gettingback to normal. The retail and office space sectorsshould improve, but some sub-sectors benefitedfrom COVID. Industrial demand has been strongas e-commerce took off. U.S. single-family homerentals and manufactured-home communities alsodid well as some people moved from downtownsto suburbs for more space, or they became moreaffordable options as house prices rose. U.S. self-storage REITs were also an unlikely beneficiarydue to people moving or storing stuff to get morespace at home.What REIT sub-sector are youmost bullish on?We think industrial REITs have the best funda-mentals. With online shopping and demand forquicker delivery, companies need more ware-house space. During COVID, everything has beenin short supply, so companies need a lot moreinventory. People now use the phrase “just-in-case” instead of “just-in-time.” In Canada, theindustrial vacancy rate is 2%, but it’s closer to 1%in the Greater Toronto Area, where rents are risingaggressively. In Canada, we like Summit Income,Granite and Dream Industrial REITs. One of ourbiggest holdings is U.S.-listed Prologis, which isthe largest global industrial landlord.What sub-sector are you bearish on?We’re not crazy about the enclosed-mall business.It struggled before COVID and got really hurt dur-ing the pandemic. Those malls are usually fashion-oriented, but a lot of that business has gone online.Mall traffic has increased, but some of it is pent-updemand from not being able to shop. In Canada, we

LEEGOLDMANSENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT AND PORTFOLIO MANAGERCI GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

Lee Goldman has managed real estate investment trustportfolios for over 15 years, and in that time the landscapehas changed dramatically. REIT balance sheets are nowstronger, while investments are not just confined toapartment, retail, office and industrial properties. Seniors’housing, single-family homes, data centres, cellphonetowers and self-storage facilities are all part of the REITsmorgasbord. Given their different fundamentals, that’s aplus for Goldman and co-managers Kate MacDonald andChris Couprie, who oversee $1.7 billion in assets in theCI Canadian REIT and CI Global REIT funds. Over thelong haul, the CI Canadian REIT ETF has outpaced theS&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. We asked the 54-year-oldportfolio manager why he is bullish on industrial REITsand likes Chartwell Retirement Residences.

*RETURNS TO JULY 31, 2021


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HOWTOCALL THEMARGINA good gauge of investoreuphoria is how muchmoney people are willingto borrow to buy stocks.With stock marketssetting new record highsmonth after month, it’sno surprise that margindebt levels—or moneyinvestors have borrowedfrom their brokeragesto buy securities—have also reached newheights. That is, untilJuly, when margin debt inthe U.S. declined for thefirst time since the startof the pandemic. Andthat drop could be a signof a rough patch ahead.

Margin debt is a riskybut popular way forinvestors to leverage arising market. It allowsthem to buy more stocksthan they otherwise

could by borrowingagainst the investmentsin their accounts. It’s abet that prices will keeprising enough to coverinterest payments—which made the recentdrop in margin debt sotroubling to some. Theamount of leveragefell 4% to US$844billion in July from themonth before, evenas markets climbedhigher. Put simply, it’s asign investors might belosing confidence in thepandemic bull market.

“It is not new recordhighs for margin debtthat we worry about.We get concerned whenmargin debt stops risingto suggest that investorshave begun to reduceleverage,” Stephen

Suttmeier, technicalresearch strategist atBank of America, wrotein a note to clients in lateAugust. In his research,Suttmeier found thatsince 1928, peaks inmargin debt precedednegative one-yearreturns for the S&P500 stock index 71% ofthe time. On average,the decline was 7.8%.“Although peaks inmargin debt don’t alwayscoincide with highsfor the S&P 500, theytend to be bearish forequities.”

Investors will bewatching closely in themonths ahead to seewhether the slowdownin margin debt was a blipor the sound of a bearyawning. /Jason Kirby

SLEEP COUNTRY CANADAHOLDINGS INC.BRAMPTON, ONT.

REVENUE (2020)$757.7 MILLION

PROFIT (2020)$63.3 MILLION

THREE-YEAR SHARE PRICE GAIN6.6%

P/E RATIO (TRAILING)14.9

Given the remarkableentrepreneurial drive of presidentand recently appointed CEO StewartSchaefer, it’s no surprise that SleepCountry’s share price has reboundedso strongly recently.

At age 56, Schaefer—whosucceeds his friend Dave Friesmawhen he retires at the end of thisyear—still sounds like the brash29-year-old who launched Quebec’sfirst specialty mattress retailer,Dormez-Vous?, in 1994. SleepCountry, Canada’s premier retailerof mattresses, bought his five-storechain in 2006 and then appointedhim to a series of managerial roles.As the company continued to grow,Schaefer says co-founder SteveGunn reminded him, “Stew, youused to drive a speedboat. Nowyou’re driving a cruise ship.”

Some business clichés are quitetrue, and Schaefer’s career providesmany examples of the virtues ofpersevering through sharp setbacksand learning from them. At age 20,he began trading commodities inChicago and then New York. Twoyears later, in 1987, markets crashed,so Schaefer returned to Canada.

In 1994, he noticed mattresseswere an afterthought in the furniturebusiness. At the time, the industrywas dominated by Sears and otherdepartment stores along with old-school chains such as Leon’s andThe Brick. His first Dormez-Vous?store was set to open on April Fools’Day in 1994, but it burned down thenight before. That garnered front-page newspaper stories. “It instantlyput us on the map,” he says. “Ittaught me the power of marketing.”

Soon after Schaefer joined Sleep

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W E A L T HCountry, it bought a 32-storemattress chain in Arizona. Thatprovided a long and punishinglesson; Sleep Country eventuallysold the chain for half of thepurchase price as it prepared for anIPO in July 2015.

Sleep Country’s share pricesoon took off. But then analystsgot spooked by the rise of onlinemattress-in-a-box retailers—Casperand Purple in the United States,and Endy in Canada—and the shareprice sagged. So, Sleep Countrylaunched its online Bloom brandand, in 2018, bought Endy.

Even so, Sleep Country’s shareprice plunged when the COVID-19pandemic hit in early 2020. Thencame the astonishing reversal.The company pulled its regularadvertising for two weeks in April.Instead, it encouraged Canadiansto contact friends and wish thema good night. “It went viral,” saysSchaefer. “Out of adversity, some

wonderful things happen.”The pandemic also accelerated

a shift to cocooning, and solidifiedSchaefer’s views on online and storesales. For mattresses below $1,000,people will order online. Above$1,000, they like to come into storesand “kick the tires a little bit.”

Will pandemic trends continue?

Sleep Country doesn’t give financialguidance to markets. But Schaeferagrees his company’s share-pricemultiple is low and points to itsconsistent growth—from $456million in sales in 2015 to about $800million now. “I am enthusiasticallyoptimistic, and I have been for 27years,” he says. /John Daly

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else was. As a charity, we’re here to serve the basichuman needs that are met by art. But we’re also hereto serve arts workers by creating a space where theycan do excellent work. So the idea of offering stabil-ity in the middle of a storm was important to us.

In May 2020, we realized we were going to losea decent portion of the season. Our insurance is anet-loss policy, so it helped to keep us going. Fund-raising was still going well. As for the wage-subsidyprograms, almost all actors, musicians and direc-tors are gig workers, so they weren’t able to get intothem. So we let everybody out of their contractsand created a 16-week summer program doing edu-cation and community outreach. At the end of that,at least most of those people would qualify for EI.If each of those 96 workers created one project,whether it was running a book club or creatingonline content, that was effectively 100 projects putout into the world. It actually turned out to be muchbigger—we reached over 130,000 people.

By February of 2021, we had decided to continuemoving forward. So we offered everybody who hadbeen in the 2020 season the opportunity to be in asmaller 2021 season. And then things changed againand again. It felt like every 72 hours, we were get-ting new rules and regs, and pivots had become pir-ouettes. Everybody was getting really burned out.But we created new outdoor staging structures andways to perform.

We ended up having about 600 events over thecourse of the summer. So it was actually bigger insome ways than it normally is.

I can’t begin to say how much anxiety exists inthis space. I’ve invested hundreds of thousands ofdollars in new filtration systems and touchless tick-eting and program systems. But we’re here to putgood into the world, and all this has reinforced forus that the folks who make theatre are the resource.So we just keep trying to figure out how to createspaces where people can feel safe in a world wheresafety is really hard to find. /Interview by Alex Mlynek

Force majeureHow one prescient move by Tim Jennings, executivedirector of the Shaw Festival, saved hundreds of jobs—and an entire regional economy

Drop in revenuefor the 2020season—$24 million,down from$34 million—with fundraisingmaking up thelargest portionof the festival’sincome

$185,000Operatingsurplus for 2020

We were eight days from our first performancewhen Ontario’s Minister of Culture called and toldus to send everybody home. We had just come offthe most successful year in the theatre’s history, andevery dollar spent at the festival translates to about$6 or $7 spent in the Niagara area, which means wedrive about $220 million in the local economy. Sothat was a hard moment.

When I started in 2015, we went through an insur-ance review, and we took out pandemic interruptioninsurance. That meant we were insulated against afair amount of the damage caused by loss of perfor-mances, which gave us the optimism to keep all 550of our people on, with the exception of some sum-mer part-timers, throughout the whole pandemic.

Meanwhile, most of my industry was unable towork—they didn’t have the insurance we did. Everyday, I’d hear them talking about laying off 30% to50% of their staff. And although nothing here wasin great shape, we stayed active at a level no one

THE WORLD ISN’TBLACK AND WHITE.

!(+%,)($"&*'+) # @!(+%,)($"&*

SO WHY SHOULDRATINGS BE?In uncertain markets, we add color to the picture soyou’re never kept in the dark. Fitch Ratings providesCanadian expertise and global insight so you have amore complete view.

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