CanadianSME Small Business Magazine December 2020

ISSUE NO. 25

DECEMBER 2020

CANADIANSME Empowering Canadian Small & Medium Businesses

FEATURES

ADVICE

EXCLUSIVE

Calling All CFOs Bring Your Experience to the Table!

How small businesses can invest in IT Exclusive banking partner

Turning Adversity into Opportunity Taylor Lindsay-Noel Founder - Cup of Té Image: Adrian Buckley

We finally made it to the end of 2020. A year that many of us will not soon forget. This year has been a tough test for many entrepreneurs to see if they have what it takes to survive a global pandemic. If there is one thing that we should all take away from this year, it’s the resilience and the motivation of entrepreneurs. With the lockdown, the lack of revenue and a significant decrease in sales, business owners from across the nation were faced with many challenges. However, that didn’t stop them from thinking outside the box and implementing new innovative strategies that have helped them survive.

Thanks to the sense of community, government resources, expert advice and tools from other business owners, Canadian small business owners have been able to come out stronger and better than before. While many business owners are still struggling and facing several challenges that COVID-19 has thrown their way, we’ve made it our mission at CanadianSME to provide them with resources and effective tips that we believe they can benefit from. Our December issue is filled with interviews and articles that can go a long way in helping Canadian entrepreneurs succeed during these unprecedented times.

To start strong, we’re pleased to include an exclusive interview with Taylor Lindsay-Noel, founder of Cup of Té, who shares her expertise on how entrepreneurs can turn adversity into opportunity. Other interviews in this issue include Addie Greco-Sanchez, Founder and President of AGS Rehab, Rohini Mukherji, Vice President of Integrated Communications at APEX Public Relations, Jason Charlebois, Senior VP of Small Business at Scotiabank, Nishaant Sangaavi, founder of EnergyX Solutions and Bruce Lancaster, CEO of Wilson Electronics.

Aside from having Canada’s top leaders share their expert advice and knowledge through the many interviews we have, we’re also excited to include resourceful articles that many Canadian small business owners can find beneficial, especially during these challenging times. American Express has recently conducted a survey on the impact that COVID-19 has had on Canadian small businesses, and we’re happy to share the results and findings through our article, New American Express Business Resilience Research Shows SMEs remain optimistic, but cash flow remains a critical challenge. Business Expert at Square, Bélinda Monpremier shares her exclusive tips with her article The Gift of Improved Operations. Other resourceful articles you will find in our issue this month are Why Debt is Now a Great Option for Tech Companies Looking to Grow, Are You Bringing Your Best Self to Work, Zero Trust: Guaranteeing Security in the Most Extreme Scenarios, Tips for Creating Effective Video Advertising, and Six Steps Business Owners Can Take To Transition Their Business.

This month’s issue is sure to be a treat for Canadian entrepreneurs. As always, we want to ensure we provide Canadian business owners with all the tools and resources they need to succeed, which is why our team goes out of our way to provide the most current topics in the business industry.

We hope you enjoy our December issue and stay safe. Happy holidays and happy reading!

www.canadiansme.ca info@canadiansme.ca canadiansme canadian_sme canadiansme canadiansme

Publisher Shaik Khaleeluddin (SK) Consulting Editor Shiraz Siddique Creative Designer Rakibul Islam Client Manager Sheliza Yacoob Social Media Cmarketing Inc Sales Abdul Sultan Shaik Photography Cover image: Adrian Buckley Canva Deposit Photos Web Ashraf S For Advertisements info@canadiansme.ca Cmarketing Inc 2800 Skymark Avenue, Suite 203 Mississauga, ON. Canada.

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Published by Cmarketing Inc 2800 Skymark Avenue, Suite 203 Mississauga, ON. Canada. L4W 5A6.

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Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

The contents in CanadianSME Magazine are for informational purposes only. Neither Cmarketing Inc, the publishers nor any of its partners, employees or affiliates accept any liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of its contents.

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IN THIS ISSUE CanadianSME small business magazine

07

Turning Adversity into Opportunity

10

Calling All CFOs Bring Your Experience to the Table!

12

Stay positive and think outside the box

14

17

New American Express Business Resilience Research Shows SMEs remain optimistic, but cash flow remains a critical challenge

Inclusion is the foundation for diversity

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IN THIS ISSUE Canadiansme small business magazine

30

Are You Bringing Your Best Self to Work?

ZERO TRUST Guaranteeing Security in the Most Extreme Scenarios

34

37

40

42

27

How small businesses can invest in IT

Government Funding for Canadian Businesses

One on One with Nishaant Sangaavi Founder of EnergyX Solutions

Six steps business owners can take to transition their business

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Turning Adversity into Opportunity Taylor Lindsay-Noel Founder - Cup of TĂŠ Taylor Lindsay-Noel is a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Toronto, Ontario Canada. Twelve years ago she was a Canadian national gymnast but in 2008, under the direction of her coach, she had a devastating accident that instantly paralyzed her from the neck down for life. Since then Taylor has persevered through adversity and has received a BA in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson University. She is currently balancing being a motivational speaker, podcast host, disability advocate, and owner of Cup of TĂŠ Luxury Loose Leaf Teas.

Image: Adrian Buckley

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Image: Adrian Buckley

You have many feathers in your cap- a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, disability advocate and podcaster. How do you manage to find time for yourself?

Your story is indeed inspirational, but as they say- heroes need heroes too. What or who was the source of your motivation?

At times it gets difficult to balance everything I'm doing, but I've always been someone who likes to be busy. Additionally, I feel blessed to pursue so many of my different passions while transforming them into making money. It's a win-win situation for me.

I was lucky to grow up around so many strong examples of powerhouse women. Seeing women like my mother overcome so much in her life as an immigrant propelled me to realize how privileged I am to be Canadian. I'm a firm believer that when women come together and support each other, we are unstoppable.

Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for any business organization. Do you believe diversity drives better business outcomes?

Being a black female entrepreneur, you must have closely observed the world of startup ecosystems.

Do you think that things are still more challenging for women in business?

I think diversity in 2020 is imperative for a business to thrive. When you have different upbringing, perspectives, and voices in the room, you can ensure that your business is inclusive from its groundwork and can reach a broader audience, only amplifying your potential business's success.

I think that things are more challenging for women in business, but they are not impossible. I think too often we get into the mindset that because it's harder than we shouldn't even try, I'm hoping to prove through my example that great things can happen once you block out others' voices.

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Being a black female entrepreneur, you must have closely observed the world of startup ecosystems. Do you think that things are still more challenging for women in business?

I think that things are more challenging for women in business, but they are not impossible. I think too often we get into the mindset that because it's harder than we shouldn't even try, I'm hoping to prove through my example that great things can happen once you block out others' voices.

Have you always credited social media for the success of your brand? Would you say that e-commerce businesses are heavily dependent on social media?

I genuinely believe that an e-commerce business cannot survive without social media. Our Facebook and especially Instagram pages are the reason why we've gotten into so many rooms. It is your modern-day business card, and it is often more important than your actual website. Your social media will either sink or float your business.

Image: Adrian Buckley

The ongoing pandemic has been particularly hard on small businesses or niche startups. How much do you think niche startups or small businesses have been affected since the beginning of the pandemic?

I know the pandemic has had a massive effect on small businesses, either for the better or worse. In particular, I think that this has been an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to thrive as everyone has been making the shift to shopping online but being online does not ensure your success. As a business owner, one of the most significant assets you can have is the ability to pivot and be creative. Therefore, companies that realized this very early are probably the ones that are still around today.

Did you design any unique survival strategy for your ecommerce startup to live through the pandemic?

We took an extra effort to ensure that the website was straightforward to navigate, especially for people who might be newer to e-commerce platforms. Taking the time to make little tweaks was imperative to making the shopping experience enjoyable for everyone.

What challenges do you think to lay ahead for the small businesses in a post Covid19 world? And what is your advice to small businesses to overcome any of these challenges?

I think some of the challenges lay in learning how to diversify in a post-COVID-19 world. If your business is currently brick and mortar, I feel more focus needs to be on figuring out how to transition to a direct-toconsumer format. Additionally, e-commerce businesses may find a lot of success in establishing wholesale clients to further their business and reach.

A message for our readers?

My message to your readers would be to start. Many businesses and entrepreneurs never get off the ground because they are afraid to take that first step.

Also, expect to make many mistakes along the way, I learned that it is just a part of the entrepreneurial journey and that one mistake is not indicative of you failing in a business. Take each mistake as an opportunity to learn and do better! That's what makes a great entrepreneur.

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CALLING ALL CFOS BRING YOUR EXPERIENCE TO THE TABLE!

By Bruce Croxon

Image: Bruce Croxon

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As the COVID-19 pandemic forces more companies than ever to digitally transform – one IDC survey expects Canadian spending on digital transformation to grow by seven per cent in 2020 – and leadership teams find themselves overwhelmed by the number of digital tools available to them, they would be well advised to consider the evolving role of the CFO.

enterprise software platforms. Using the same platform across the enterprise improves the quality of data collected, metrics measured, and dashboards produced. It’s only with the right information and the authority to use it that CFOs can play a leading role in guiding their companies to improved performance.

Just as no CEO worth their position now believes they have all the answers, few CFOs still spend most of their time collecting fiscal data and calculating performance metrics. With analytics now doing the grunt work, the CFO’s primary job has expanded from research to analysis, making them both a primary user of digital technology and the enabler of its adoption across the business.

In fact, a recent report from cloud business management solutions provider Sage found that almost three-quarters – 70 per cent – of financial decision makers are now responsible for driving digital transformation at their companies.

This should hardly come as a surprise. After all, the questions that the leadership team are repeatedly faced with when it comes to strategizing are familiar to CFOs: “Does the data support our strategy?” “Are we agile enough to adapt our plans if necessary?”

The CFO as Chief Digital Transformation Officer For many CFOs, embracing an elevated position will require a shift in mindset, aware as they are that some “C level” executives still see them more as the financial risk police than business enablers. They should press forward, knowing their suggestions are backed by data, and data talks. No less an authority than the Business Development Bank of Canada has found that, to use the manufacturing sector as an example, 60 per cent of businesses that adopted digital technologies saw a boost in productivity, while half reported saving operating costs thanks to higher automation and predictive maintenance, and 42 percent said digital technologies improved the overall quality of their products.

As I mentioned recently in a live webcast hosted by Sage, in my 20-plus years of supporting companies, one lesson I have learned is that finance departments are often the only teams constantly thinking about the entire customer lifecycle.

Though often derisively framed as limiting the company’s budget, the finance team’s true goal is allocating finite resources based on where they will help the business grow.

There are two important ways leadership teams can support their CFOs, and if you’re a CFO you should be prepared to ask for them. Firstly, every member of the executive team should have a seat at the table, whether they’re in charge of customer service, products, sales, marketing, or finance. Two, the company should ensure that everyone has access to the same data pool. Too many companies limit the viability of their digital transformation strategies by relying on a patchwork system of competing and often outdated

Image: Canva

Let experience, not roles, define your team If you’ve ever wondered why so many businesses based on excellent ideas falter while others based on mediocre ideas become market leaders, it’s because the former is too often broken apart by arguments, ego, and lack of introspection, while the latter can be knocked out of the park by people who understand how to work together and play to each others’ strengths.

If you’re a CFO, there has never been a more relevant time to have your voice heard and apply your perspective to your business’s digital transformation journey.

Bruce Croxon is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality, and venture capitalist. He’s currently a partner at Round13 Capital and co-host of BNN TV show The Disruptors.

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Stay positive and think outside the box Many small businesses suffered a great deal due to the impact that the global pandemic had on their businesses. How would you say COVID-19 impacted the success of your business?

AGS has been fortunate enough to enjoy growth year over year and 2020 certainly had every indication that we were well on our way to achieving targeted projections. When COVID-19 came along we experienced a number of months where no in-person assessments were taking place. A large volume of our business depends on in-person meetings in order to assess a client’s function and determine any impairments. One of our largest customers paused all assessments for a two-month period. We laid-off 33% of our employees and were forced to reduce everyone to a four-day workweek for a period of time.

Image: Addie Greco-Sanchez

Addie Greco-Sanchez Founder & President

AGS Rehab Addie Greco-Sanchez is the founder and president of AGS Rehab, a leader in disability management and assessment services since 1999 that has grown into a successful company with a head office in Mississauga and a large network of professionals across Canada. Selected as one of ROFIT/Chatelaine’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs, Addie is a passionate and expert advocate for mental health in the workplace and a frequent national speaker on the topic of how companies can safeguard employees’ psychological health. She is co-author of the newly released book, The 5-Minute Recharge, 31 Proven Strategies to Refresh, Reset and Become the Boss of Your Day. In March 2020, AGS was poised to achieve its best financial results to date in 20 years, having exponentially grown the company’s assessment services and invested in mental health services and training. However, when the pandemic hit they were forced to reinvent what it meant to them to help their clients and their employees.

With the $10,000, AGS was able to transform their business from in person appointments to virtual physiotherapy sessions when treating someone face to face was simply not an option.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce presented several businesses with a 10,000$ grant to help them overcome the many challenges that the pandemic caused. AGS Rehab Solutions was one of the lucky recipients of the grant. How has the grant helped your business survive during these challenging times?

The grant from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Salesforce Canada has been a godsend for us! Despite our offices being shut down for months, we were still responsible for rent payments on our 11 locations, including a large head office space in the Mississauga city centre.

The grant enabled us to pay all our deferred rent costs. In addition, we pivoted by quickly moving to the provision of virtual assessments for a number of services, including psychology, psychiatry, and vocational type assessments. We researched various virtual platforms to ensure the technology complied with security standards expected by our customers and that ensure privacy, given the sensitive nature of our business. The funding assisted us with the purchase of licenses for these virtual platforms, including training for use by our employees and contractors.

In addition, AGS provided each of our employees with a grocery gift card as a way to ‘pay forward’ our good fortune in receiving this grant.

Prior to the pandemic, AGS Rehab Solutions was on track to achieve its best financial results in over 20 years. What would you say are the main aspects that contributed to the success?

In a word – perseverance. We consider ourselves a small but mighty company with a tremendous passion for helping people. As a small business, we have always looked for ways to innovate and to pivot quickly in order to remain a viable and current industry leader. This pandemic pushed us into full swing, forcing AGS to uncover ways to move forward – a tagline that still remains relevant today. Some years ago, we posed a question to our customers – what three words would you use to describe AGS? The most commonly used words were Responsive, Innovative and Committed; words that remain embedded in our values and philosophy.

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Many businesses have been forced to reinvent themselves to find new ways of doing business due to the many new safety and health rules put in place in result to the global pandemic. AGS Rehab Solutions is no different and thanks to the government grant, you are now offering virtual services. What are some of the guidelines you’ve implemented to ensure that all clients receive the same treatment as if they were getting the assessments in person?

The nature of our business is such that we are rendering medical and vocational opinions that impact a client’s ability to work. It is imperative that testing protocols and methodology are closely followed. We researched and practiced on various virtual platforms to ensure validity and reliability were not compromised. We tested the platforms before implementing these new services. We updated our consent forms to indicate the client’s understanding of the virtual assessments and prepared the client in advance to ensure they would be comfortable with this protocol and had the technology on their end to participate.

In addition, since the lockdown was lifted, we have continued to offer in-person assessments however utilizing COVID-19 safety protocols. These include PPE’s, safety screens, sanitization products, additional cleaning, and directional markers.

What would you say has been the biggest challenge of providing virtual services?

Once AGS was able to launch virtual services and we became comfortable conducting them, the one variable was our clients.

Unfortunately, not everyone is comfortable using technology or is computer literate. Some do not possess a computer. In these cases, we moved to inperson services and for the time being, are fortunate that we can continue with this option despite the ongoing pandemic.

On a final note, what advice can you give to other entrepreneurs who are currently struggling due to the impact that COVID-19 has had on their business?

Stay positive and think outside the box. Talk to your customers and consider their needs and your unique offering. How can you meet their challenge? When we learned that some employers were experiencing difficulties with their employee compliance related to wearing a face mask in the workplace, we quickly created a mask accommodation review. We also created other COVID-19 related services and promoted our mental health training to employers whose employees were struggling. This was a huge boost to our business in a time when we might have otherwise experienced greater financial impact.

Image: Canva

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New American Express Business Resilience Research Shows SMEs remain optimistic, but cash flow remains a critical challenge SK Uddin

Image: deposit photos

To say COVID-19 has had an impact on Canada’s business

To better understand the pandemic’s impact on Canadian

industry would be a serious understatement. The global

SMEs, American Express conducted the American Express

pandemic created obstacles for many entrepreneurs --

Business Resilience Survey, a survey of business owners

challenges that they are still fighting to overcome. Yet,

across a number of industries, including retail,

despite having to navigate disruptions, Canadian SMEs

construction, wholesale trade, IT and manufacturing. This

have shown incredible resilience since the outset of the

survey was designed to investigate the challenges

crisis. In fact, many Canadian entrepreneurs have taken

Canadian entrepreneurs face and learn about the

this period as opportunity to reinvent their businesses

strategies they have implemented to aid in their recovery.

and implement new strategies that have helped them overcome the many trials the pandemic has thrown their

To learn more about the new research, CanadianSME sat

way.

down with Paul Roman, vice president and general manager of Global Commercial Services at American Express Canada, for an overview of the findings, what it means for Canadian entrepreneurs, along with his insights for the future.

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Cash flow remains cause for concern The Amex research demonstrated cash flow challenges continue to put strain on SME’s recovery efforts. The survey revealed 64 per cent of entrepreneurs face cash flow and financing issues as a direct result of the pandemic, and one in four report they do not have enough cash flow to sustain their business.

On top of cash flow concerns, doing business internationally also poses significant challenges for Canadian SMEs. In fact, 21 per cent of respondents have confirmed that they are facing several obstacles, including a shortage of materials and supplies (36 per cent) and delays in payment (44 per cent).

“There’s no question that the global nature of this crisis has added an additional layer of challenges for Canadian SMEs who operate on an international scale,” says Roman. “On top of that, cash flow is the most critical issue for the majority of business owners we surveyed, whether or not they make payments internationally.”

Although cash flow and international payments remain the main areas where Canadian entrepreneurs struggle the most, finding time to invest in revenue-generating activities is also proving to be a challenge. At a time where it is crucial to be able to invest time in finding new business solutions to help them stay afloat during a global pandemic, 85 per cent of entrepreneurs are forced to spend half of their days doing paperwork and managing supplier payments. “Now more than ever, SMEs are looking to carve out dedicated time for top-line focused initiatives. At American Express, our payment solutions provide access to intuitive tools that streamline processes, freeing up time for SMEs to put towards strategies for long-term success,” adds Roman

A New Way of Doing Business Adjusting to the new way of doing business in these uncertain times has been challenging for entrepreneurs across the country. If there’s one thing that entrepreneurs should take away from this pandemic, it’s the ability to adjust and be adaptable.

From the outset of the pandemic, Canadian entrepreneurs implemented new strategies to help them survive in the long run. First of all, cutting costs was a big focus for Canadian SMEs. In fact, 37 per cent confirmed that they have reduced operating costs and 21 per cent reported they will be implementing cost-saving programs over the next year. Secondly, with social distancing measures disrupting normal business operations, technology is critical for businesses to increase efficiencies and drive revenue. Fifteen per cent of entrepreneurs confirm they will be modernizing their processes through technology, according to the survey.

The need for technology is also more critical than ever this holiday season and 67 per cent of SMEs agreed ecommerce will be important for business this year. Many businesses rely on seasonal sales to boost their cash flow and this year, the survey revealed 46 per cent of SMEs expect a decrease in 2020 revenue compared to 2019.

Throughout the pandemic, entrepreneurs have had to find new ways to reach their clients and many are looking to social media. Having a strong online presence has been beneficial for many businesses during the pandemic. In fact, survey results revealed that 52 per cent of entrepreneurs believe social media will be more important than ever to engage with customers this holiday season.

Image: deposit photos

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Image: deposit photos

Finding the Right Financial Partners During the pandemic, Canadian SMEs have re-evaluated their business needs. Twenty-five per cent of businesses report the need for more flexible payment terms due to reduced cash flow.

On top of this, survey results revealed 47 per cent of SMEs are looking for flexible repayment options and 41 per cent are looking for lenders that are trusted and reliable.

between accounts payable and receivables to enable businesses to put their cash to work in the interim and invest in recovery and growth.

While the survey revealed many business owners are struggling to overcome the challenges that the pandemic has caused, 74 per cent confirm they remain optimistic about the future of their business for the next three years.

“This is a crucial time for SMEs as they work to overcome the many challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why we remain focused on supporting businesses.

Whether it’s investing in new revenue streams, introducing ecommerce or building up a social media presence, now more than ever it’s critical that SMEs can access the tools they need to focus on rebuilding,” says Roman. "We’re backing businesses with cash flow and payment solutions to help them streamline processes and free up time to focus on what matters most for long-term success.”

“Small business resilience continues to amaze us. From the outset, SMEs adapted quickly and strategically to keep business running. The last eight months have presented challenges no one could have foreseen but the optimism felt among Canadian business owners is a true testament to the agility and strength of entrepreneurs,” adds Roman.

With payment solutions from American Express, businesses can maximize their cash flow with up to 55 interest-free days to pay for expenses, which can reduce the funding gap

https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/business/busine ss-credit-cards/

To find out more about how American Express is helping Canadian businesses with payment solutions and resources, visit the following link:

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Inclusion is the foundation for diversity Rohini Mukherji

Vice President, Integrated Communications APEX

Public

Relations

Experienced integrated communications practitioner with a demonstrated track record of leading smart, compelling and strategic 360 campaigns for clients in the B2B and B2C space. Solid expertise building award-winning campaigns that drive bottom line impact across sectors including financial services, consumer packaged goods, retail, health and wellness, alcohol and travel.

Image: Apex

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You have over 15 years of experience in the communications industry. What would you say has been the biggest change you’ve noticed in the communications industry throughout the years?

It's hard to narrow down to one change but the big shift that has made my communications career exciting is the evolving role of PR into integrated communications.

When I started my career, there were separate lanes for creative, media buying, PR, digital, social and experiential agencies with minimal crossover. Within the marketing lanes, PR has gone from getting budget leftover after the glossy ad production and paid media spend, to rightfully\ earning a seat at the table. In fact, I have been lucky enough to be part of several PR-driven campaigns in the past decade and I think this is going to be the norm in the future.

The other major shift I’ve seen and talked to several clients about is growing understanding of the power of PR to shape a brand’s essence in the minds of its audience – consumers, other businesses or various levels of government. PR as a discipline has demonstrated its ability to rise above a marketing tactic and drive predictable business outcomes. That could be website visits, social media shares, downloads of a white paper, event attendees or webinar sign ups. We build strategic programming so that it ladders up to what matters most to our clients.

What hasn’t changed yet, however, is the makeup of the industry. The communications industry has had a historic lack of diversity, especially in the top ranks. That is starting to change at the entry level, but much work needs to be done within the industry to diversify leadership. I am hopeful that we are now at a point where the commitment to address this systemic issue is strong and that change is coming – even if it is slow.

In your professional opinion, what is the biggest challenge that many companies are facing when it comes to communicating their business culture with their employees?

One of the biggest obstacles to rallying a workforce around corporate culture is relying on one-way communication. Corporate culture has to be bought into by all levels of an organization in order to stick. If it is only communicated top down, then there's only so far it can go. Some organisations approach corporate culture as something that needs to be endorsed and sponsored by the executive level, which is absolutely true. However, in order for corporate culture to resonate across an organization, leadership teams should be looking for internal influences at all levels to amplify and reflect on what that corporate culture means to each employee. As well, if corporate

culture is all talk and no follow through on the commitments of the organization, it stands the risk of alienating the workforce.

How important do you believe it is for organizations to incorporate inclusion within their company culture?

It's 2020 and if an organization is not addressing inclusion or having a serious discussion about incorporating inclusion within their company culture, then they are going to find themselves out of touch very quickly. This movement has been a long time coming, but the events of this year, especially in the US, have resulted in a global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has since evolved into a renewed push around diversity, inclusion and equity.

Several organizations have started to find ways to at least start to think about how inclusion fits into their company culture. Now is the time to graduate from talking about it to finding some concrete ways to action change within our organizations and industries.

This is going to be a journey and nobody is going to nail it in their first go; however, it is critical that organisations start to embrace the need for change.

The journey of introspection is inevitably involve some level of discomfort, but this is an important step towards sustained change. No business can call itself innovation-driven when its recruiting, training and professional development practices are behind the times. The benefits of inclusivity are well known – healthier and happier workplaces, lower turnover, better creativity and bigger bottom lines.

What can you tell us about your role as the chair of the marketing committee of the Canadian Public Relations Society Foundation? What are some of your responsibilities and how is it impacting the PR industry within Canada?

The CPRS Foundation’s responsibility is to advance the profession and practice of public relations, which we do by granting scholarships, awards and bursaries, sponsoring lectures, undertaking advocacy, and funding original research. It is a Canadian registered charitable foundation. As the chair of the marketing committee, I am particularly excited about our most recently announced initiative – a scholarship in partnership with Indspire, a national Indigenous registered charity, a first of its kind in Canada. The scholarship will be available nation-wide to Indigenous students enrolled in a public elations/communications degree or diploma program at a recognized university or community college in Canada.

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This scholarship represents a long overdue, significant step to demonstrate our commitment to diversity, inclusion and engagement across our profession. It also presents a tangible way for leaders in the industry to show their support for diversifying the industry and addressing the under-representation of BIPOC individuals in the communications industry.

You have a strong reputation of leading successful campaigns throughout your professional career.

What are some of the strategies you use that have contributed to your success?

Thank you for saying that. I believe strongly that a lack of curiosity is a dealbreaker for a successful career in communications. If you are not naturally interested in how things work, how companies make money or how a brand’s values come to life, this profession may just not be for you. One of the ways in which I have grown my ability to build compelling and profitable strategies on behalf of clients is by investing time into getting to know my clients’ business. Doing that – by asking questions, doing the homework and looking outside the category for inspiration – has given me and my teams the vantage point to bring the best strategic thinking to the table.

On a final note, what are some of the initiatives that you believe Canadian organizations and corporations should implement to solve the diversity issue?

Now this is a topic I could discuss endlessly. The first step towards change is that we need to reframe diversity and inclusion. Diversity is a fact – often driven by macroeconomics and the multicultural nature of the Canadian population today. The harder work lies in creating inclusive and equitable workplaces.

Inclusion is the foundation for diversity, The problem with obsessing about diversity is that it can quickly translate into a tactic and result in short-term change. On the other hand, if you as a business leader commit to taking on the hard work around inclusion, then diversity will follow.

A few ways organizations can start to create inclusive workplaces include, but are not limited to: Be opento structural change.

Diversity and Inclusion needs to underscore your operational plans. This pandemic has taught us that overnight structural change is possible work when the need arises.

Get buy-in at all levels.

You can’t change corporate culture just at the top of the organization chart. Everyone across the organization has a role to play.

Image: Canva

My other long-standing belief is to keep an open mind about the brands you partner with. There are a lot of brands out there with an edge or cool factor, but honestly, some of the most rewarding work I’ve done so far has been in relatively traditional or even “boring” categories. Brands that aren’t pressured to be cool in everything they do are often more open to pushing the envelope and punching above their weight. Launching a CSR initiative for RSA Insurance, a long-standing client of APEX PR, that elevated a traditional annualcheque-donation charity partnership into a bonafide, multi-award-winning road safety advocacy movement has been one of my career highlights.

Revisit the “chemistry/culture fit.”

The final step of agency or personnel interviews often involves looking for sameness – this needs to go. Stop building cookie-cutter teams; instead, look for complementary skills. There’s strength in diversity.

Track your progress.

Set clear inclusion goals and build them into annual corporate benchmarks as well as individual employee performance reviews.

Align your internal and external communications.

If you’re rallying to build an inclusive workplace, bring your external partners along the journey. They will want to know and you could inspire them to consider change within their own workplaces.

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GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF IMPROVED OPERATIONS

Bélinda Monpremier Bélinda Monpremier is a Business Expert at Square. In her role, Bélinda oversees a team that provides technical and operational advice to Canadian business owners so they can focus on what they do best.

Business Expert at Square Image: Bélinda Monpremier

We’ve only just turned back the clocks, so it may seem early to be thinking about the holidays. But with all of the twist and turns small businesses have experienced this year, one big lesson small business owners have learned is that there is no time like the present to make changes for the future.

When COVID-19 hit, many businesses were forced to pivot practically overnight. My team at payments company Square works closely with small business owners to help them adapt to changing circumstances and improve their operations. Most were already planning to sell online or incorporate delivery services but kept delaying these changes because things were already working.

The pandemic forced them to accelerate these plans. Now business owners have a new reason, and opportunity, to build upon the framework they’ve already established in time for the holiday season.

As my gift to the small business community, I’d like to offer some advice to help owners rethink operations to reach more people this holiday season, brighten customers’ spirits and drive sales.

There’s no time like the present Sure, it’s still autumn, and advent calendars don’t kick in for another month, but for small businesses, the holidays might as well be tomorrow.

That’s because, as of July this year, online shopping had doubled in Canada over 2019, and as online purchases increased, so too did the time it takes to receive packages. In fact, on October 21, Canada Post urged Canadians to shop early to avoid late delivery on packages.

If Canadians are going to shop early, businesses need to be ready to sell early so they can stay ahead of what are certain to be some significant holiday headaches. This means setting up an online store if you don’t have one already, and augmenting your offerings once your online presence is live. For those who may find building an entire online shop to be too big of an undertaking, Square also offers businesses the ability to create checkout links on select items, which they can share via social media channels.

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In past years, small businesses likely participated in inperson promotions, but with the social-distancing measures currently in place, these sales will need to move online.

The hype filtering up from south of the border, combined with the Canada-U.S. border currently being closed and the Canadian dollar stagnating against U.S. currency, mean Canadians will be increasingly looking for deals at home this season. It is therefore essential that businesses be prepared for a very busy third weekend in November.

They can do so in several ways. First, businesses need robust email communication and creative social media strategies to get shoppers engaged. The earlier they start sharing sales, the better. Efforts like planning social media posts and reaching out directly to top customers with promos, surprise deals or referral codes is a great way to kick off holiday weekend momentum.

Don’t forget the “Merry” in Merry Christmas!

Image: Canva

While some business owners may prefer to stick to set ways of doing business, this holiday season, they need to take advantage of many different sales channels. Restaurants, for example, may not be able to accommodate large holiday parties this year, and may choose instead to offer catering services through the season. Hair stylists may need to make house calls (where permitted) and offer gift baskets, gift cards and custom hair-colour kits if they are unable to be open to the public.

Gift cards in particular offer an excellent pivot for retailers to boost revenue and save the need to carry excess inventory. A recent Google survey found that approximately 31 per cent of Canadians plan to give more gift cards then in past years, so small businesses need to be prepared to offer this highly-coveted gift.

For those who have previously stuck to business as usual, fortunately, online tools like those offered by Square exist to make pivoting easy and intuitive. Creativity is required, but it can be done with a little ingenuity and a leap of faith.

Black Friday While Black Friday is historically a United States phenomenon, in recent years the trend has come to Canada, as bargain hunters are eager for deals on gifts for friends and family. The phenomenon has grown, with these sales now encompassing an extended weekend comprising Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

There’s no sugarcoating it: 2020 has been tough. For more than seven months, Canadian consumers and small businesses have been dealing with stops, starts and uncertainty, and these have all taken their toll, emotionally and financially.

So it’s more important than ever to remember to find the joy in the holiday season. For small businesses, this means remembering that despite the challenges, community is currency, and that as Canadians, we are all in this together.

A strong sense of community is essential for the wellbeing of individuals, and similarly can be a great source of strength for small businesses.

We’ve seen businesses forge partnerships and work together to help one another. Bakeries and grocery stores have teamed up to sell kits and offer online baking lessons. Restaurants are partnering with craft breweries to sell beer along with takeout orders. There is strength in numbers, and now more than ever, there is joy in numbers.

At some point in the next few years, we will all look back on 2020 and remember what a challenging time it was.

But I believe we will also look back in gratitude at all of the lessons it taught us about what’s truly important, and we will marvel at how the adversity made us that much stronger.

Happy Holidays!

You Got This.

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Focus on the future by charting a new path forward CanadianSME sat down with Jason Charlebois and discussed some of the initiatives that Scotiabank has implemented to help small businesses; recently released Scotiabank’s New Path to Impact Report and his advice to entrepreneurs to help their businesses succeed during the pandemic.

As Senior VP of Small Business at Scotiabank, what would you say has been the biggest impact that COVID-19 has had on the small business industry in Canada?

This year, Small business owners have obviously faced unprecedented challenges. In our New Path to Impact Report from earlier this fall, two-thirds of businesses reported being in a worse situation, compared to before the pandemic with many citing declining revenues, and their operations being significantly impacted as a result.

As the pandemic has evolved over the summer and now as we head into winter, many businesses are still facing the same challenges, some even more so. With the evolving social distancing and the re-emergence of lockdown restrictions in some jurisdictions, I think the biggest challenge for businesses has been the continuing need to pivot their operations and find creative ways to keep serving their customers and generate revenue.

That’s why we encourage small businesses to seek advice early, as an advisor can look at the business owner’s entire portfolio to see where they might be able to free up capital, better manage cashflow, or take advantage of the growing list of government programs, for example.

What can you tell us about some of the initiatives that Scotiabank has implemented to help businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic succeed during these challenging times?

Something that I’m very proud of is that we were able to keep over 95% of our branches open to help our business owners and banking customers navigate the affects of the pandemic on their business. It’s been very important to us that we continue to be available when our customers need us most, while still keeping our employees safe.

Our dedicated team of advisors provided personalized advice and helped business owners take advantage of the government relief programs like the Canada Emergency Bank Account (CEBA) which the government continues to expand, Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and bank-led customer assistance programs.

Image: Jason Charlebois

Jason Charlebois Senior Vice President, Small Business, Scotiabank Jason started his career in branch banking in Ottawa and his last branch assignment was at Scotia Plaza branch in Toronto as a member of the management team. Since then Jason has held roles across Wealth Management, Marketing, Digital Channels, Contact Centres, Mergers & Acquisitions, Credit Cards and Technology all within Scotiabank.

Jason has his MBA from Queen’s University and was a member of the Governor General’s leadership council. He loves to travel and lives in downtown Toronto.

Jason’s last role before joining the Small Business team was SVP, Canadian Banking Technology.

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Our support also extended to the community, as we supported Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ (CFIB) grassroots Small Business Every Day campaign, encouraging Canadians from coast to coast to support the local businesses in their community. And we’re continuing that effort with community partners across the country.

In addition, we’re also taking action to increase access to financing and business support for black entrepreneurs and women-led or women-owned businesses. For example, in September, Scotiabank was proud to support the Government of Canada’s Black Entrepreneurship Program.

The partnership between the Federal Government, Scotiabank and other Canadian financial institutions will collectively commit up to $128 million in lending capital for the program’s Black Entrepreneurship Fund.

As part of the Bank’s commitment to empowering women in business, The Scotiabank Women Initiative™ is supporting women-owned and women-led businesses across Canada through three key pillars: Access to Capital, Mentorship and Education. In 2019, The Scotiabank Women Initiative committed to deploy three billion dollars in capital to women-led businesses in its first three years. The program is two-thirds of the way through that commitment and has engaged more than 2,000 women through our Boot Camps and group mentorship sessions across Canada. Those Boot Camps and mentorship sessions continued virtually this year to ensure continued access to support during the pandemic.

Recently, Scotiabank released their New Path to Impact Report which is a study that reveals how small businesses have been impacted by the global pandemic.

What would you say were the most surprising results that the report revealed?

Understanding that many business owners may be in a different position today compared to a couple months ago, it was encouraging to see nearly 7 in 10 business owners felt better equipped to survive a second wave of the pandemic – which many are now facing – and 1 in 3 were planning to turn to alternate channels to drive revenue for their business. That said, 3 in 10 business owners expected continued financial difficulties in the short term including reduced revenue, less work, lower consumer spending and slower overall growth.

As case numbers continue to increase once again in certain regions across Canada, small businesses need ongoing support as they continue to face challenges ahead.

Image: Canva

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That’s why we called for, and were happy to applaud the federal government for extending a hand up to small businesses across Canada by offering and extending essential programs like the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). With the recent announcement that CEBA is extended to business owners not operating out of a business account, we hear from customers and the community that business owners are feeling even more supported by their government and we encourage that support to continue.

Additionally, 69% of small business owners have revealed that they feel more prepared and equipped to survive the second wave of the pandemic. What can you tell us about that?

When the pandemic hit it was unchartered territory for all of us, especially business owners. Finding ways to continue to keep their employees on payroll, drive sales through alternate channels, serve customers through take-out and curb-side pick-up or shift to working from home. Many have been able to come up with ways to sustain their business through what felt like the worst of it.

As we approach the winter, that sentiment may have shifted, but the knowledge gained from the past few months is valuable in guiding how a business moves forward.

Image: Canva

We’ve been working with business owners throughout the pandemic to help them take advantage of government relief programs like CEBA to keep operations going, manage cashflow, explore new channels, like digital solutions, to generate new revenue streams and provide much-needed financial advice so business owners are able to focus on serving their customers .

On a final note, what advice can you give to entrepreneurs that can help their businesses succeed during the pandemic?

While we cannot predict how the next six months will unfold, now is the time to start focusing on the future by charting a new path forward. Start with a plan, seek advice early from your financial advisor, use the resources available such as government relief programs, take advantage of digital channels to expand potential revenue streams and be ready to pivot, whether that’s reviewing your business model or finding new ways to offer products or services. Those actions offer the greatest chance of survival in a post-pandemic world.

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WHY DEBT IS NOW A GREAT OPTION FOR TECH COMPANIES LOOKING TO GROW Image: Canva

For growth stage companies, particularly tech companies, the known path to accessing capital is this; go out and raise money by giving shares away in the process. It’s a simple premise and it works. The majority of tech companies will utilize some form of seed, angel and venture funding in their lifetime. These capital sources serve a purpose and the ability for tech entrepreneurs to access the capital they need via equity financing worked well.

Equity financing works very well when interest rates are higher, thereby lowering the cost differential between the cost of debt and the cost of equity (re: the cost of capital). As I write this, the Bank of Canada’s Overnight rate is at .21%, which means debt financing in Canada has never been cheaper. This low interest rate environment has a wide number of implications, the majority of which I will not get into, however it does indicate that the cost of capital for debt financing is now significantly less expensive then the cost of capital for equity financing. This presents a large opportunity for growing businesses, including tech businesses.

Thanks to COVID-19 and its economic impacts on Canada and the global economy, we will see a very low interest rate environment (sub 1%) for the next three years at a minimum (some economists are even suggesting 7 to 10 years). As a result, companies looking to access capital need to rethink their capital strategies as debt financing is now a very attractive option and the debt markets are now, more than ever, open to tech businesses.

Founding

Reece Tomlinson, MBA, CPA, CMA Reec e T o m linson, MBA, CPA is the foun d e r o f RWT Growth Inc. an inve s t m e n t banking advisory firm that focu s e s o n M&A transactions, helping comp a n i es access c apital via debt and corp o r a t e advisory. The company has offi c e s i n Kelowna, BC and London UK.

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The majority of business owners we speak to are under the opinion that debt financing is all but shut down in today’s economy. Whilst the landscape may be more challenging then ever, we are seeing tech businesses get lending deals across the finish line. Here are five big reasons why: 1. The economy has fundamentally changed the way people are consuming products and how businesses function. Tech enabled businesses with strong margins, recurring revenues and easily scalable operations are generally not bound by geographic footprints and can grow exponentially with a lower marginal cost.

2. It is important to note that lenders are not motivated to take risk. Their mandate is to make the highest possible return on the lowest possible risk. Historically, tech businesses were perceived as more risky than traditional businesses and were shied away from, however thanks to COVID 19, tech enabled businesses now represent far less risk to lenders then those that do not.

3. As a whole, tech businesses generally have a lower amount of debt on the balance sheet then traditional businesses. This makes them more agile in an unpredictable economic environment.

4. Private lending is a booming asset class, which has seen a massive influx of capital since the onset of COVID-19 by family offices, funds and private investors1 alike who are now eager to find

5. Lenders have finally begun to understand how tech business models work and many now have lending programs specifically designed for companies to leverage ARR and even users.

All of the above does not mean lenders are simply just giving money out. Lenders have more reason to be weary today then anytime in the past 90 years. Therefore, in order to have the highest chance of success acquiring capital from a lender, businesses need to; provide finely tuned lending packages that meet the criteria of lenders, demonstrate how the company will manage risk in this COVID-19 environment and indicate how the company will remain a going concern in both the short and long term.

RWT Growth Inc. an investment banking advisory firm that focuses on M&A transactions, helping companies access capital via debt and corporate advisory. The company has offices in Kelowna, BC and London UK.

1 As per the data firm Preqin, private lending is at an all-time high due

the holding position currently being adhered to by private equity, which has completed 33% less global transactions between April and June 2020 than normal for the same period. Private lending is often used as a hedge for Private Equity and with an increased migration to Private Lending has come increased competition thereby causing the Private Lending market to be historically accessible and inexpensive.

Image: Canva

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Are You Bringing Your Best Self to Work?

Whether we’re leaders or not, most of us have some less-than-ideal traits and habits. Maybe we steamroll over others. Or we intimidate them with angry outbursts. Or we gossip. Or show off. Or get defensive when someone questions us. Or maybe we spend our days flying under the radar so we don’t have to leave our comfort zone.

Yes, there’s a depressing (and endless) list of human frailties we could cite. It can be uncomfortable to look for them in ourselves. But Ed Hess says we really need to, because the days of getting away with bad behavior are over.

“It’s a new day, and we must make every effort to bring our Best Selves to work,” asserts Hess, author of Hyper-Learning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, September 2020, ISBN: 978-1-523-08924-6, $29.95, edhess.org). “If we don’t, we won’t be contributors to the innovation, collaboration, and ongoing learning that defines those companies that are able to adapt to a fast-moving world.”

Edward D. Hess Professor & Batten Executive-in-Residence & Batten Faculty Fellow at Darden Graduate Business School

Edward D. Hess is professor of business administration, Batten Fellow, and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden School of Business and the author of HyperLearning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change.

Professor Hess spent 20 years in the business world as a senior executive and has spent the last 18 years in academia. He is the author of 13 books, over 140 articles, and 60 Darden case studies. His work has appeared in over 400 global media outlets including Fortune, European Business Review, HBR, SHRM, Fast Company, WIRED, Forbes, Inc., Huffington Post, Washington Post, Business Week, Financial Times, CNBC Squawk Box, Fox Business News with Maria Bartiroma, Big Think, WSJ Radio, Bloomberg Radio with Kathleen Hays, Dow Jones Radio, MSNBC Radio, Business Insider, and Wharton Radio. His recent books and research have focused on Human Excellence in the Digital Age: A New Way of Being; A New Way of Working; Humanizing the Workplace; and Hyper-Learning.

Hess says this is not just about “playing nice” with the other kids in the sandbox. It’s about being able to join together with them to build a stronger, better, more marketable sandcastle than the one the next playground over.

“If you don’t show up in a way that contributes to the success of that sandcastle, you’re by default an active participant in tearing it down,” he adds. “The more you can be your Best Self at work, the more relevant and employable you’ll be.”

(By the way, jobs that don’t require the skill set implied in this little analogy are getting increasingly scarce as computers and AI overtake them.)

What does your Best Self look like? While this list isn’t the be-all endall, Hess says if you exemplify these seven behaviors, you’re doing pretty well. And—it probably goes without saying—if you see yourself in the “red flags” below, you’ve got some work to do.

BEHAVIOR 1: You are able to manage your Inner World The best thinkers, the best learners, the best collaborators, and the best listeners have learned how to manage their Inner World—their ego, mind, body, and emotions. This means you have a quiet ego and are open-minded and good at “not knowing.” You don’t reflexively defend, deny, or deflect when someone challenges you. You are willing to change your position when you get better evidence. When talking to others, you have a quiet mind and are fully present and focused totally on listening and trying to understand what the other person is saying. You control your negative emotions and rarely fly off the handle. The goal here is to minimize your automatic reflexive way

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of being and come to the “table” with an inner calmness that allows you to be open-minded, curious, good at “not knowing,” non-defensive, and totally present with a quiet mind and a noncompetitive mindset

Red Flags: A person who can’t “manage self” has to always be right.

Others may describe you as defensive, arrogant, judgmental, or super-opinionated. When you can’t manage yourself, you may frequently interrupt people or multi-task while listening to others. Or behave in disrespectful ways or be unable to control your emotions.

Or raise your voice or glare at people.

BEHAVIOR 2: You have an “Otherness” focus.

No one achieves success by themselves. In the Digital Age, success will be highly dependent upon your ability to build caring, trusting relationships at work that enable the highest levels of thinking and learning with others.

Otherness is a mindset—a belief that you need the help of others to see what you don’t see because of the human tendency to seek confirmation of what you believe. It’s also a behavior—behaving in ways that show you respect the human dignity of the other person.

In the Digital Age, a competitive, survival-of-the-fittest mindset will be the quickest pathway to failure. Your biggest competition in the Digital Age will be yourself, not others.

Red Flags: You rarely ask others for help. You believe you are better than most people. You view each conversation as a winlose, zero-sum game. You will not prevent someone from doing something wrong because you want them to fail. You gossip negatively about others. You might be viewed as a know-it-all or a braggart.

B E H A V I O R 3 : Y o u e m o t i o n a lly connect in positive ways.

The science is clear: Positive emotions enable better learning, better decision-making, and more willingness to explore, create, and innovate. A positive emotional environment liberates people to sync their positivity with each other and be fully engaged without the

limitations of worries, insecurities, and fears. This creates the opportunity to have high-quality conversations that can result in team flow that can lead to “wow” results. When you are able to bring your positive emotions to the conversation, you understand the power of slowing down to be fully in the moment, and you express your positivity by smiling, by your tone of voice and the words you choose to use, and by your calmness. You behave in respectful ways to others even if you disagree with what is being said. You express gratitude often (i.e., “thank you,” “I appreciate that,” “you are kind”).

Red Flags: You are rude to others. You use body language that says, I am not really listening to you or I am dominant. You put others down. You are closed-minded or not engaged. You are constantly interrupting, raising your voice, or getting ready to attack verbally.

BEHAVIOR 4: You enable effective collaboration.

Effective collaboration begins with leaders setting an example. You know how to set up meetings so that people feel psychologically “safe” to join in. You have created an environment where collaboration is not a competition—an environment where people care about each other and trust that no one will do them harm.

During meetings, your people are fully present, attentive, and connected to each other. Everyone gets to speak.

People challenge the status quo and seek the best possible idea, regardless of the status or position of who suggested it.

Red Flags: You dominate and aggressively push your views.

Meetings are not genuine open discussions—the answer is predetermined, and your real goal is consent and compliance. Some of your people don’t speak up at all.

Too often, your critiques get personal.

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people who have different views from you. You don’t mind having respectful difficult conversations. You volunteer for new projects, openly share your views, and ask for lots of feedback.

Red Flags: You are unwilling to take risks. You appear guarded and closed-lipped. Because you fear making mistakes or looking bad, you rarely step out of your comfort zone.

BEHAVIOR 7: You enable and participate in evidence-based decision-making.

Image: Canva

BEHAVIOR 5: You practice reflective listening.

You allow others to talk. You reframe what you think the other person is saying, to make sure you understand.

You ask clarifying questions before telling, advocating, or disagreeing. When you do disagree, you critique the idea, not the person.

Red Flags: You don’t make eye contact. You interrupt. You multitask during meetings. You are a great “teller,” not a great listener. Your ego is wrapped up in showing the speaker that they are the smartest person in the room.

You are not married to your ideas. You are openminded. You never assume. You are always seeking data, even if it will disconfirm your theory or even force a return to the drawing board. You seem to get the statement “I am not my ideas” on a deep level.

Red Flags: You defend your ideas even when there’s no data to support them. You rarely ask for the input of others (and if it’s given, you don’t listen to it). You are invested in being “right.”

Becoming your Best Self is a never-ending journey. But there are many things you can do to accelerate your growth, from meditating to practicing gratitude to setting daily intentions. All of these efforts combined enable you to begin to cast off unwanted behaviors and replace them with the key behaviors that make HyperLearning possible and bring out your Best Self at work.

“The good news is that you can always

BEHAVIOR 6: You possess courage.

In the Digital Age, everyone will have to excel at going into the unknown and figuring things out. That takes courage—the courage to try. When you have courage, you are willing to experiment, even though you know you might fail. You also understand that most learning comes from having conversations with

change your behaviors when they are not serving you or your organization,” concludes Hess. “It takes a lot of intentional work. But as is always true, the first step is admitting you have a problem—and the second is realizing the upside of changing outweighs the downside of not changing.”

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ZERO TRUST Guaranteeing Security in the Most Extreme Scenarios

IT security is constantly evolving as companies strive to keep up with increasingly sophisticated threats on the part of hackers— though this is not the sole objective of security.

When the way we work changes, IT security must accompany that change. A total transformation has taken place this year: employees have left the corporate building. Yet what does this mean for security?

Because employees are no longer working at a single central location, the attack surface has expanded. Many of these employees are using personal devices to do their work and using home networks to stay connected, making it difficult if not impossible for the IT department to control. As if that weren’t enough, many companies have chosen VPNs as a remote work strategy, despite the fact that it is neither the safest nor the most sustainable model in the long term. In cases in which employees have not received the tools they need to be productive, they have also relied on apps not approved by IT departments.

Since remote work represents the most extreme scenario for security, it requires a security model focused on every remote worker and based on Zero Trust. Zero Trust isn’t a product or a solution: it’s an architecture or framework that IT utilizes to provide safe access to all applications from any device, conducting a continuous trust assessment at each contact point. It is based on contextual awareness and relies on patterns like identity, time and device. This reinforces security, visibility and control while also giving users the option to choose between devices and apps without forfeiting productivity or experience.

Image: Canva

Edward Rodriguez General Manager and Vice-President of Sales, Citrix Canada Edward Rodriguez is the Vice President of Sales and General Manager of Citrix Canada, where he is dedicated to helping Canadian businesses realize a better way to work. With technical knowledge and forward-thinking vision developed over his 20-year career, Edward has refined his expertise in product sales and management, marketing and consulting services with a specific focus on cloud, mobility, virtualization and SaaS. Edward began his career in technical consulting, and in prior roles at Citrix, led teams that focused on emerging markets and channels and brought new products to market.

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As part of this model, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis focused on every aspect of access to applications and corporate data by every remote employee. In other words, it is necessary to decide how to trust each device, app, network and even user, treating them as separate but related entities. The premise of this model is not to trust but to authenticate and validate—only granting a user access to what he or she actually needs. Depending on the context, access-control tools may also prove useful to disable printing, copy-paste and screenshots. Finally, Zero Trust can give employees access to their apps and data within a safe workplace, thus providing more robust corporate security.

With an eye to a context in which every employee is working remotely, a Zero Trust model unquestionably allows us to optimize security in the most extreme scenario: insecure devices, places and networks that are off the radar of IT departments.

We can thus guarantee security coverage for any other situation, raising standards for future scenarios like a return to offices.

The implementation of Zero Trust means rethinking how corporate information is accessed, auditing networks, and coming up with possible threat scenarios for a profound understanding of the company’s infrastructure and all possible vulnerabilities. Though this is no easy process, it is a savvy strategy in a work world where the playing rules have changed— and are unlikely to change back to the way they were.

Image: Canva

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Image: Canva

TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE VIDEO ADVERTISING Source Digital, a leader in providing innovative video advertising, shares valuable tips for marketers using video People love to watch videos. In fact, YouTube reports that there are over 500 hours of content uploaded to the site every minute. It also reports that every day, people watch over a billion hours of video on the website. The fact is that for smart marketers, video advertising is a literal goldmine.

The problem, however, is that most marketers don’t know how to create video advertising that is effective. One company, Source Digital, is on a mission to help change that, helping companies to create video advertising that is productive.

“Marketers who don’t know how to create successful video advertising often just waste their money,” explains Hank Frecon, the chief executive officer of Source Digital. “To get a great ROI, it’s imperative that you know how to create video advertising that is effective. It’s so important.”

One of the biggest challenges with video advertising is determining its effectiveness. A good place to start, according to Frecon, is to consider how time is valued.

Everyone is competing for time, so it’s crucial to ensure that you get the viewers' time and attention, as they are the most valued assets. Source Digital has created Source Activated Moments (SAMs), a new ad technology that autonomously allows interaction and removes engagement guesswork.

Focusing on the “four P’s of marketing,” which are price, promotion, product, and place, SAMs optimize all of those and do so at precisely the right time. Traditionally, someone watches a video and sees an ad for something they are interested in, only to be left with the task of clicking out of what they are watching, which they don’t want to do, or remembering to go find what it is that caught their attention in the ad they saw at a later time.

Source Digital’s technology works in a different way.

Multiple advertised products become simultaneously accessible within pop-up icons that activate when the viewer hovers over the screen, allowing frictionless purchases without leaving the video they are watching.

These Source Activated Moments (SAMs) inspire time sensitive engagement and improve the user experience, promote interaction and provide fora better ROI. Ultimately, SAMs direct the viewer to engagement, capturing attention and saving time which leads to a higher conversion rate.

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Image: Canva

“Despite the pandemic, there are no signs that video advertising is slowing down, if anything, viewing has increased, making it even more important that advertisers strive to become more effective,” added Frecon. “Our technology is a win-win for everyone because it creates a better experience for the viewers, and a higher ROI for advertisers. We have created a way for advertisers to successfully tap into that goldmine.”

Source Digital’s technology is taking the advertising industry forward by giving marketers a unique way to reach their target market and by helping viewers avoid the annoying ads that can take them away from primary video content. Viewers not only save time and ease efforts toward acquisition through this technology, they are ensured that their privacy is not violated; a big concern for most viewers.

Source Digital has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies to help create a more engaging and effective video advertising experience. The Source network is able to pull targeted content from a variety of sources, including NBC Universal, GOLF, LiveNation, MotorTrend, and many professional sports influencers. To learn more about Source Digital, visit: www.sourcedigital.net.

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ONE ON ONE WITH Nishaant Sangaavi Founder of EnergyX Solutions Nishaant is the Co-Founder and CEO of EnergyX, a high growth start-up with offices in Toronto and Halifax, that has successfully raised millions of dollars in financing and posted 100% growth year after year. Prior to founding EnergyX, Nishaant was leading global business development and marketing teams across North America and Europe. Nishant has a Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University and an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business. Fascinated by maximizing his own, and others’ potential, here are the words he lives by: “…The definition of hell; on your last day on earth, the person you could have become will meet the person you became."

Image: Nishant Sangaavi

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What was the inspiration behind the founding of EnergyX Solutions? What are you hoping to accomplish through it?

Through my own personal experience dealing with utility companies and the trouble associated with accessing targeted information to make energy improvements, I became aware that I, like a majority of people, was quite disconnected from the energy I used to power my home.

My goal in founding EnergyX Solutions was to help people bridge this disconnect, using data science insights to give recommendations about how to best improve efficiency and lower the cost of their bills. We believe that energy efficiency and conservation are essential for us to achieve our climate change goals and sustain quality of life for future generations. We also believe that when people are empowered with the right information about their homes and businesses, they will make smart choices about their energy use. Our goal is to provide every building in North America with a relevant and personalized energy savings plan. Overall, we estimate that if every home globally used our RetrofitAI technology, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 10 per cent.

What would you say has been the biggest impact that COVID-19 has had on the company and what strategies have you used to overcome any challenges you were faced with due to the global pandemic?

Like many Canadian SMEs, we had to weather a number of pandemic-related business challenges during 2020. COVID-19 has had a negative impact on enterprise buying cycles but fortunately we were able to leverage both the federal government’s Innovation Assistance Program (IAP) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) supports, and I’m happy to report that we’ve been resilient in continuing our pursuit of growth and expansion and have kept our entire team intact throughout this year.

We’re also optimistic about the future. With the pandemic the ability to conduct a virtual audit is critical, and we’re confident this will transcend the pandemic, due to its scalability and the renewed focus on climate change initiatives and deep energy retrofits across North America.

What are some of the initiatives that EnergyX Solutions has put in place to help those impacted

by COVID-19?

First and foremost, we believe fully in the team we’ve built at EnergyX Solutions. We’ve followed the recommendations of public health experts, and our teams in Toronto and Halifax have all been working from home since spring. We’re also committed to the global energy transition, now more than ever. We believe in the importance of energy efficiency, and the work that our

partners are doing to advance the goals of digitization, decentralization and decarbonization. This work includes making sure energy efficiency plays a key role in Canada’s post-COVID economic recovery plan, using deep retrofits as a tool to cut energy costs for families and businesses, reduce emissions and stimulate the economy.

By better focusing on climate change and the innovative green technology sector, Canada can stimulate the economy, create jobs, and provide hope and opportunity for those who are struggling. The clean technology sector employs nearly 300,000 people in Canada and represents $66 billion of Canada’s GDP. EnergyX Solutions has long maintained that cleantech companies will play a fundamental role in paving the way for the energy efficiency programs of tomorrow, and these recent developments prove that our vision and mission are aligned with the country’s priorities.

What would you say are the main benefits of virtual energy audits, especially now during a global pandemic?

In the wake of COVID-19 gathering restrictions, the ability to conduct a virtual audit has become increasingly valuable, as it can be completed without a certified auditor ever having to visit the building site. By identifying energy efficiency opportunities at the building level, we can identify specific homes or regions that will benefit most from deep energy retrofits and help jurisdictions around the world achieve their climate change targets. For these reasons, virtual energy audits are poised to become the industry norm going forward. In addition, our RetrofitAI technology can help identify and pre-qualify the customers who are the best candidates for retrofit programs based on their unique building analysis. The great thing about this method is that it doesn’t require customers to give up personal information, like income status or smart-meter readings, which can be a barrier to uptake of these programs.

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In your expert opinion, how do you believe the cleantech sector is playing a crucial role when it comes to bridging the disconnect between everyday people and their energy use?

In the case of EnergyX, our AI-powered technology can provide deep insights about where a building’s most prevalent energy inefficiencies lie. Once the consumer has these insights, they can set more specific and measurable energy usage goals - for instance, to lower their monthly bill by a certain dollar amount, or to reduce the amount of energy consumed by a certain number of kilowatt-hours.

Now that the consumer has these goals in mind, our solution can also provide suggestions about what efficiency programs or retrofits are available to best help them attain those goals.

From there they can start informed conversations with their utility provider or a contractor.

A good case study for what I’ve described is EnergyX’s partnership with Energy New England (ENE). The provider launched our MyEnergyXpert Integrated Intelligent Marketplace in September of 2020. In the first month, ENE boasted conversion rates of 40 per cent and generated an industry-leading 12 per cent uptake on their free energy saving kits. Uptake of the ENE MyEnergyXpert platform stands at an annualized rate of 7.2 percent, with over 450 unique savings profiles created on the platform in the first month alone. Currently, ENE is on track to achieve seven times the industry average for uptake of an online energy assessment.

On a final note, what are some of the projects you have planned in the near future? How do you see the next 5 years of the company?

Today, EnergyX Solutions is growing steadily and quickly.

We’ve raised approximately $5 million in dilutive and nondilutive funding, have achieved 100 per cent year over year growth in average annual recurring revenue, and have licensed our software to 17 utility partners across North America. In terms of presence, we expect to further expand our footprint in the United States market beyond our current client base.

President-Elect Biden called for a $2-trillion, four-year investment in climate-related projects, including retrofitting four million buildings to significantly reduce energy use and emissions. In our own country, the recently-tabled Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act mandates greenhouse gas emission reduction targets with the goal of reaching net zero by 2050. We also recognize that the problem we’ve undertaken to solve is global in nature, and to that end we’ve also started undergoing pilot projects with utilities in Portugal and the United Kingdom.

What can you tell us about the Canadian Technology Accelerator’s Cleantech program that the company has participated in? What are the main benefits of the program and how is it contributing to the success of early stage startups?

The CTA Cleantech program supports early-stage cleantech companies looking to secure Seed to Series A funding rounds by enabling access to four of the most robust cleantech markets in the United States. - those being San Francisco, Denver, Boston, and New York. The program is led by the Consulate General of Canada in each of these cities, working together with cleantech ecosystem contributors like the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The program has served over 62 companies that have secured more than $219 million in venture funding to date. Applicants are evaluated based on product-market fit and growth potential, and we were fortunate to be one of 13 companies selected for the 2020 cohort. The opportunity to connect with mentors, investors, customers, and innovation partners will be instrumental in helping us continue to expand our reach across North America.

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How small businesses can invest in IT Exclusive chat with Kale Johnson

As a sales manager at CDW, can you tell us about some of the responsibilities of your role?

As sales manager for our National Small Business team, it is my responsibility to formulate and execute our strategy for businesses with under 100 coworkers. As well, I oversee the development and professional growth of our sellers to ensure they are prepared to be a trusted advisor and indispensable resource to their customers.

Of the survey that was commissioned by the CDW, what would you say was the most interesting findings of the report?

Interestingly, our survey conducted with Angus Reid found that nearly half small business respondents were able to navigate the transition to working remotely, with 40 percent stating their organization was prepared for the shift to remote work. That said, 19 percent of respondents stated they had some difficulties with the transition and 12 percent stated that while they were not prepared, they were still able to pivot. This demonstrates that, while a surprising number of small businesses took a proactive approach to remote infrastructure, there is still work to be done as an alarming amount were caught off-guard.

Given most people are remotely working from home.

How important is device protection not just for business owners but Canadians in general?

Device protection is paramount for all parties, especially in a remote workforce. Keeping software up to date and safeguarded is an important cybersecurity measure all Canadians and business owners should take to prevent a cyberattack from occurring. A separate survey looking at device protection found that nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of small businesses permit BYOD devices, so we recommend employees separate their home networks into two connections, one for their personal devices and another for the devices they use for work. This allows for an added level of protection for both business and personal data from being breached.

Kale Johnson Senior Sales Manager, CDW Canada Kale Johnson is a senior sales manager at CDW Canada. He works to develop small, medium and enterprise sales teams to provide the right IT solutions to customers across Canada.

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What are some findings from the device protection report that you would like to share with our readers?

Despite the increased prevalence of data breaches, 21 percent of respondents to our device protection survey said they rarely or never review their device security and privacy settings. Additionally, 20 percent said they believe this process is unnecessary because they have never experienced a breach. This is extremely discouraging to see, as cybercriminals are continuously coming up with new ways to penetrate devices and gain access to data or credentials. Regularly reviewing security and privacy settings, avoiding re-using passwords and using multi-factor authentication for signing into devices are simple steps to maximize device protection.

Only 36 percent of working Canadians cited app, program or software security as a top cyber concern.

This is a very sobering finding, as clone apps are often put on the app store in hopes of being mistaken for the official ones, making it easy for hackers to access device data once the app is activated. It is critical to always check the publisher and look at reviews before downloading and installing an app to ensure authenticity. Another way to verify this is to question the app permissions when prompted. Ask yourself, “why does this app require access to my microphone or camera?”

What are some suggestions on how business owners can better protect their data and security when working from home?

Employee cybersecurity education is key, as the biggest risk to a business often sits between the keyboard and the chair. Unfortunately, our small business survey found that 48 percent indicated they provide training on cybersecurity training resources, the lowest of any business size. Proactively engaging in cybersecurity education is one of the most effective ways business owners of all sizes can better protect their data and security when working from home because when employees are made aware of potential dangers, they can serve as the first line of defence, flag any suspicious activity and avoid falling into traps set by cybercriminals.

Keeping software up to date is an important cybersecurity measure all businesses should take to prevent a cyberattack from occurring. When software is outdated, it’s at a greater risk of being exposed to cybercriminals. While it can be tempting to continuously click “schedule for later”, allowing software updates to take place is a critical component to ensuring cybersecurity.

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Defining and enforcing an IT policy that employees must follow, especially when working remotely, is vital to protecting the sensitive business data and security. Consider what devices, software and digital tools employees use, so policies can be developed that are tailored to help protect specific business resources. When establishing the rules, set guidelines for employees to follow and outline violation penalties to ensure employees take them seriously.

Would you say small businesses face barriers in IT investment? And what is your recommendation on how they should invest in IT Technology?

Small businesses face many IT investment barriers, namely cost/cashflow (34 percent), not knowing what they need (22 percent) and being unsure where to start (13 percent). Having essential IT tools and infrastructure in place is critical for employees to be able to get their work done, especially from home, and including plans for IT investments during yearly budget planning is a great way to proactively combat barriers and avoid unexpected costs down the road. Partnering with an external solutions provider like CDW Canada can also be an effective and cost-efficient way to invest in IT, so you can remain focused on day-to-day operations while your partner handles all things IT for you.

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What are some key initiatives or new projects that the CDW has launched to help small businesses during the pandemic?

What was the toughest challenge you faced in your role as sales manager and how did you overcome that challenge?

We understand that part of the battle can be knowing where to start when looking at IT investments, which was noted by 13 percent of respondents in a small business survey we conducted in October. CDW Canada is here to help small businesses along their IT solutions journey so our customers can focus on growing their business. We are proud to offer an entire line of business dedicated to small business support.

From dedicated account managers to solution specialists, CDW Canada is here to provide advice and IT support every step of the way.

One challenge was small business owners coming to us during the pandemic and not knowing how to shift their business and ensure business continuity. Our survey found that 22 percent of small businesses weren’t sure of their needs when looking to invest in IT during the earlier stages of the pandemic. While it was difficult to hear these real-life stories from small business owners, as an organization we worked tirelessly to find the right solutions for them to try and remedy one burden they’re facing in this uncertain environment.

This Angus Reid survey gave us findings that have strengthened our understanding of small business needs and reinforced our commitment to providing tailored, customer-centric solutions and services for small business across the country.

On a final note, what is your advice to small business owners during these challenging times?

We’ve leveraged these findings to regularly share reports and insights on our website specific to small businesses and their unique needs. CDW also has a membership shipping program for small businesses, where members get free ground shipping on orders under 75 pounds for a $75 annual membership.

As we remain unsure of how the Canadian work landscape will look moving forward, our survey findings indicate that small business owners and employees remain optimistic, and that’s inspiring. My advice is to remember that even though small businesses will undoubtedly face many challenges ahead, both pandemic and non-pandemic related, if Canada’s small businesses are known for one thing, it’s resiliency. Don’t lose sight of that and remember that you don’t have to go through the IT investment process alone – we are here to help.

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Government Funding for Canadian Businesses Your Canadian small business may be eligible for government grants and loans to offset costs associated with COVID-19, hiring and training, new technology, innovation, and more.

Understanding Government Funding Canadian government funding programs: what are they and where does one even begin the discovery process? Maybe your business has applied to grant or loans before, and maybe you know that there are hundreds of programs available for business support, but it’s worth noting that funding applications can be incredibly diverse and often complicated if not addressed with the proper information and context. For instance, all grant and loan programs have their own unique deadlines, allocations, eligibility criteria, project guidelines, and other factors to consider. The reality is that maintaining an in-depth understanding of core details (including a program’s purpose, timing, and how its applications are assessed) can be exceedingly difficult for most businesses. This is the reason Mentor Works, based in Guelph, Ontario, focuses on educating businesses on the funding available to them, as well as assisting in streamlining the application process if a business requires additional support.

To simplify the government funding landscape a little, here are five areas currently providing financial support to projects around the country.

Support Funding for COVID-19 Predictably, and unfortunately, one of the most heavily funded areas of government support currently revolves around financial aid to help businesses during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Canada continues to push programs such as the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) to help offset employee wages, purchases of personal protective equipment (PPE), and to simply stay afloat during hard times.

Research and Development Research and development projects support innovation and enable Canadian businesses to achieve competitive market expansion. Innovation funding is available for all types of businesses that seek growth for their products and/or services. There are a variety of government funding programs available to offset R&D costs and help companies stretch their innovation-based budgets; one example is the Canada Media Fund, which supports the creation and commercialization of interactive digital media projects.

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Capital and Tech Adoption Canadian businesses can access capital and tech adoption funding that offsets the purchase of innovative technologies to support the improvement of business performance. An example of this type of government funding program is the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), a program that provides large-scale grants and/or loans for advanced industrial and technological projects.

Business Expansion Developing a strategy for global expansion is a great step towards sustainable, achievable business growth, yet few companies leverage the financial resources and support that help guide exporting projects. Government grant programs such as the CanExport Program help offset costs associated with exporting, such as digital marketing, producing certifications for industry standards, participating in international trade shows and trade missions, translating materials, marketing research, hiring international market development assistance, and more.

Grants for Hiring and Training

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Last but not least, there are a variety of Canadian government grants for the hiring and training of qualified applicants, with ongoing support for future business growth plans. Funding programs such as the Canada Job Grant (CJG) help companies hire or retrain staff, improve their effectiveness, and train staff in new areas such as advanced technologies or operational processes.

The Mentor Works team of experienced grant writers work directly with clients to design and implement tailored solutions to support business growth. They work with Canadian businesses to develop dynamic government funding plans that support all areas of business investments. Their clients are awarded an average of $180,000 in grants, and an average of $2.4 million in loans per year.

Author: Alena Barreca is a marketing coordinator at Mentor Works in Guelph, Ontario. She enjoys utilizing her creative and analytical skills to bring educational awareness about government funding to Canadian businesses. You can find her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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SIX STEPS BUSINESS OWNERS CAN TAKE TO TRANSITION THEIR BUSINESS Image: Canva

The pandemic has brought hardship and important lessons in survival for small and mid-sized businesses across the country. Many business owners are having to make tough decisions to manage through the crisis. They are also looking to the future and what it may hold for themselves and their business in a post-pandemic reality. It’s a reality characterized by different market dynamics and the rapid shift to digital to serve evolving customer needs.

According to a recent survey by KPMG in Canada, more than a third of entrepreneurs (37 per cent) wish they could retire, transition or sell their business but aren’t prepared. Most entrepreneurs (78 per cent) said companies must go digital to compete, and 70 per cent believe a more tech savvy generation of leaders is needed to succeed going forward.

Whether you are a family business owner passing the reins on to the next generation or selling outright, preparing your business for the transition requires serious planning. In the current climate, the normal timeframe to solidify leadership and governance structures has been accelerated. Getting a handle on what you need to know and do now will be critical to a successful business transition. Consider these six steps on your journey:

Mary Jo Fedy National Leader, KPMG Enterprise

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Plan now for the Future

Groom Your Successor

Most major decisions require multi-year planning, so don't delay. If you are a family business owner, the first step is to decide whether the business should continue as family-owned entity or will be sold to non-family members.

Succession planning can be one of the most challenging aspects of owning a family business, yet it's critically important. KPMG and the Ivey Business School teamed up to create the Family Shift program, which helps prepare next generation leaders. Many founders will continue to act as an advisor to their successor even after handing over the reins.

Prepare Your Business KPMG's survey revealed that many business owners do not have audited financial statements. Review and make sure the business's financial records, contracts, and corporate documents are up to date and accurate, and that strong governance frameworks are in place.

Assemble a Strong Team Work with a team of professional advisors in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, tax and law who understand the current market and can help you better structure the transaction and engage with prospective buyers. Your team should be capable of taking into account all the financial and non-financial implications involved and ensure you get the best price for your business.

Get a Valuation The pandemic is impacting the valuation of businesses and M&A activity globally. You may want an independent assessment of your business value and, prior to a sale, implement operating and financial performance improvements that lead to a higher sale price.

Prepare Your Family Include family members early in the planning process. Many families rely on a family office to foster communications and family unity. Consider what the transition or sale will mean to you and your family. What does life look like for you and the family after the exit? How will you oversee the family capital and financial matters?

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How McCarthy’s Is Reinventing School Fundraising for the Age of COVID Vanessa Iarocci, President, McCarthy Uniforms

At McCarthy Uniforms, we know schools, workplaces, and community organizations. We’ve been supplying uniforms across the country for more than sixty years, and have always maintained strong relationships with all of our customers. Over this past summer and into the fall, through those close relationships, we heard over and over again that schools and organizations were worried about fundraising. In-person activities – which relied heavily on parent volunteers – like pizza lunches and bake sales have long been important ways of raising money, but with all the restrictions due to COVID-19, those events simply can’t happen this year.

We looked inward to see how we could help, and we realized that we had a great solution to offer: McCarthy Rewards. Offered through our non-uniform line, Navy & White, McCarthy Rewards is a cashback fundraising program that gives 5% of the price of all purchases right back to schools or community groups (sports teams, camps, workplaces, etc.). The program allows groups to raise money while offering easy access to spirit wear— comfy apparel and accessories such as T-shirts, hoodies, gloves, fanny packs and masks, customized with their school logo or other personalized artwork, in addition to a full line of PPE (masks, hand sanitizers, and sanitizing gel pens).

We quickly got to work promoting this option to groups in time for holiday and graduation-gear orders. We do all the work including setting up a custom website for each school or community and customizing artwork on products. We also provide complete order fulfillment, delivering items right to customers’ homes, which eliminates the need for in-person volunteers to handle sorting and distribution.

It was our commitment to cultivating deep, long-term relationships that allowed us to identify this business need, and we feel very fortunate that we were in a position to help in such a direct way.

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COVID-Safe Supplies, Including New Mini Masks Another way we expanded the fundraising program’s reach is to extend it to our line of COVID-safe necessities, including our new mini masks, which are designed to fit children aged three to six. These, too, were a direct result of what we heard from customers: they told us how difficult it was to find masks for very small faces, and parents were understandably concerned about protection for their young kids.

We had had great success with our line of masks for middle-school and high-school kids. So, just like we’d done for the older bunch, we held focus groups with little kids to find out what they wanted. With their input, we created a line of very small masks, designed by kids, for kids. At $2.50 each ($7.50 for a package of three), they’re extremely affordable, which parents also love.

The rest of our COVID-ready line includes fanny packs by Jansport and a GermBusterz Hand-Sanitizer Spray Pen, which is great for quickly cleaning doorknobs, railings and even subway poles, as well as hands, of course. Schools, groups and parents alike all have told us that being able to add these products to their spirit-wear orders is a great convenience, and a great addition to their fundraising programs.

We began promoting McCarthy Rewards as a fundraising option in November, and we’re already seeing a great response. Throughout our sixty-plus years as a leader in the Canadian uniform industry, we’ve always put our customers first, and we’re very proud that we’ve been able to continue serving our community through this pandemic. As a business, it’s important that we make purpose-led decisions that actually help our customers with their challenges. The McCarthy Rewards program, complete with spirit wear and COVID-safe supplies, is just one way that we’re supporting Canadians through this very difficult time.

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& CARRY ON Bruce Lancaster, CEO of Wilson Electronics

As a successful business leader, how do you perceive the changes that happened since the pandemic arrived? And in your perspective how did these changes affect the small businesses landscape, both in the U.S. and in Canada?

I have a somewhat unique position of being responsible for a company that has multiple job types. We own our production facility in Southern Utah, which employs over 100 production and warehouse jobs that are all essential to keeping our company running. They make and ship the products that generate the revenue that pays the wages for all of our employees, even the “white collar” workers that are able to work from home. It has been a challenge for everyone, but the warehouse team that shows up every day, wearing masks and limiting social interaction, have been hit the hardest. That said, we have a happy and engaged workforce that values the ability to be part of the Wilson Electronics mission. We were just honored with the Utah’s Best Company award for the third time. Small businesses are certainly challenged with the pandemic, but we have shown that we are also flexible and resilient to do what needs to be done to keep everyone working. This is the advantage of being a smaller company; people can see a direct impact to the success of the company based on their individual contributions.

You have an impressive resume. You hold a degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Washington State University. What inspired you to pursue an MBA after engineering?

I love building things and solving complex problems that are at the heart of most engineering challenges, but also are part of running any business. How businesses operate fascinates me, and coming from a pure product and

engineering background made me realize that I needed to broaden my education to understand the many different facets of business in order to be the most effective. That led me to a formal education in business.

Wilson Electronics claims to solve the world's connectivity issues. But we're all aware that the world is also facing a huge energy crisis. Most of the energy experts are speculating that unconventional sources of energy is the future of sustainable energy consumption.

Would Wilson Electronics try to explore green and unconventional sources of energy?

Wilson’s mission to improve communication that in-turn, will improve the lives of those that are able to stay connected regardless of their location. That said, energy is a finite resource that needs to be used wisely. At its most basic source, all of our energy comes from the sun. Fossil fuels are a result of the sun shining millions of years ago. Wind, solar, biomass and other unconventional sources are all driven by the sun as well, but in the present. It makes sense to “short-circuit” this conduit of energy as directly as possible, which also leads to a much cleaner and infinite supply over time (for as long as the sun burns), and harvest energy as directly from the sun as possible.

That said, we have to be realistic about the amount of energy that the sun can provide the earth at any point in time. This is finite in any unit of time. We must strive for efficient uses of all the energy that we harness. As the population continues to grow, we must improve energy efficiency, since the need will grow.

At Wilson Electronics, we strive to improve the efficiency of our products in every design we build, so that we minimize the energy consumed vs. the service they provide. We also can extend the range of signals that are already present, reducing the need for more power-hungry base stations. This is important to us.

Image: Wilson Electronics

KEEP CALM

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Wilson Electronics is resolving connectivity issues almost everywhere-office, home, marketplace but can we get seamless connectivity during air travel too?

This is already happening today through satellite-based communications to the planes. It is mainly presented as wifi, while onboard. Although it is possible for mobile phone connectivity, while in the air, this is something that would be limited by individual country regulations. The current communications channels to the planes could be used and broadcast inside the planes on mobile frequencies, but it is currently prohibited by regulations.

We can understand that implementation of 5G needs more towers so that the users can enjoy a seamless network. But lately, the radiation from mobile towers has come under radar for its acute toxicity. Do you think this may discourage the installation of more mobile towers?

This is where science needs to balance out the hype. At one time, many people talked about 5G towers spreading COVID-19, which is untrue and a result of hype and fear mongering taking precedence over scientific facts. RF levels are measured by power at a distance and in order to be harmful, RF signals have to be very high-power at a very close distance. The reason that more towers are needed for 5G is because the distance that 5G mmWave travels through the air is very short - it dissipates quickly. If there were strong signals, then more towers would not have to be built. In other words, devices need a certain signal level density to operate, and towers are only built to reach that signal density. Once achieved, no more towers are needed.

This is a continuing story. Data demands will continue to grow exponentially for many reasons. Wilson Electronics and many others are continuing to develop solutions to tackle these demands and will continue to develop new innovations to support this need.

On a final note, what is your key advice to small business owners during these challenging times?

Stay true to your mission. Take care to keep your employees and your customers safe and focused. Be flexible and adapt as needed to meet the demands that continue to challenge us each day. Remain positive. Keep calm and carry on.

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Mobile, WiFi networks, and other internet-based communication helped the world to survive the pandemic. But in an after-Covid19 world, the WFH trend will continue and most of the business meetings will be organized virtually. Ergo the demand for internet and connectivity will become stellar in the coming decade.

Do you think we are prepared to meet the astronomical demands of connectivity?

STAY TRUE TO YOUR MISSION

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How Visa's fast track program can enable fintechs to rebuild the global economy Brian Weiner Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada Brian Weiner is the Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada. His organization is responsible for the development and rollout of Visa’s full Canadian product suite, including its traditional credit, debit, and prepaid products, as well as its expanding array of digital products and capabilities.

Since 2006, Brian has been an active member of Visa’s leadership team, responsible for shaping the organization’s strategy through one of the most dynamic periods in the history of the payments business in Canada.

Looking ahead, Brian and his team are focused on re-imagining the future of payments in collaboration with many partners across the payment’s ecosystem in Canada and around the world. Brian has won multiple awards for his work in evolving electronic payments in Canada, and he was recognized as a global winner of Visa’s Go Beyond program.

Brian has been in the Canadian financial services industry since 1997. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business and a Bachelor of Commerce from Carleton University. Brian lives in Toronto with his wife Shelley and their two daughters.

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Visa recently announced an expansion to its newly-launched fintech Fast Track program. Can you share more information about this program and how it aims at rebuilding the global economy?

As more people and businesses manage their money digitally, fintechs are arguably more important today than ever before. They’re becoming a pivotal part in helping to restore and rebuild the global economy, and providing a way for people to regain some financial control by being able to move their money with a tap or a click.

But we know that for many emerging fintechs and start-ups, scaling their business is difficult, as can be catching the attention of large organizations. That’s why we developed Visa’s Fast Track program, launched globally in 2019, which allows fintechs to more easily leverage the speed, security, reliability and reach of the Visa network, helping them grow faster. It provides them access to everything they need to get started online. The program is growing at an incredibly fast pace. This year, we saw 360% growth globally year-overyear, with hundreds of fintechs now part of Fast Track. We have recently added three new Canadian enablement partners – i2c, Galileo and People’s Trust – to the program.

We recently announced two new resources to the Fast Track program. One is the Fast Track Partner Toolkit, which is designed specifically for fintech partners who onboard with the program. It provides our partners with access to educational resources, as well as Visa’s experts in marketing, design, and risk management, to really help them accelerate their growth.

The second addition is Visa Ready for Fintech Enablers, our latest solution to simplify the process of getting to market with the best partners possible, all certified by Visa. This certification is designed to help tech companies build and launch payment solutions that meet our global security and functionality standards. These companies then help fintechs build their own products by providing the solutions and expertise they need to get up and running.

The Fast Track Partner Toolkit is available for all fintech partners who onboard with the program. Companies can learn more about the Fast Track program and the new Visa Ready for Fintech Enablers solution by visiting partner.visa.com.

What other initiatives has Visa implemented during the pandemic that has benefited entrepreneurs?

Visa supports millions of small business owners around the globe who are keeping our communities running. Earlier this year, Visa announced a global commitment from the Visa Foundation to provide $210 million in COVID-19 relief funding to address the longer-term needs of small and micro businesses over the next five years by digitally enabling 50 million businesses to power recovery in communities worldwide. We also launched the new Visa Canada Small Business Hub which includes access to tools, partner offers, actionable tips and more for entrepreneurs at all stages of business growth.

At the start of 2020, Visa Canada supported the increase of contactless transaction limits from $100 to $250, to allow consumers to shop safely at businesses that provide essential goods and services to Canadians.

Through the Visa Back To Business Study, we uncovered that one-third (33%) of Canadian small businesses do not consider their local community supportive of their business during the pandemic. That’s why we launched our national #MySmallBizReco campaign, encouraging Canadians to recommend their favourite small businesses to help them attract more exposure and new customers. We also highlighted hundreds of small businesses on Visa’s social channels.

Finally, the Visa Back to Business Study, Holiday Edition revealed that while more than four in five (85%) Canadians will still be shopping this holiday season, nearly one-third (28%) of businesses feel unprepared for the influx of sales. That’s why we developed five tips for small businesses to help businesses prepare and maximize sales.

What are the benefits of this program for small business owners?

On a final note, what is your advice to small business owners during these challenging times?

We have many fintech partners in the Fast Track program focused on providing solutions for small businesses. UKbased digital lender Capital on Tap, which provides credit cards and loans to over 60,000 SMBs, and U.S.-based Fundation, which provides an application processing platform for banks and small business lenders, are part of the program. Konfio, a Mexico-based startup that uses a data-first approach to enable fast credit assessment for SMBs, and Neat, a Hong Kong Fintech startup enabling SMEs to grow their business globally, are also standout members creating new B2B innovations from across the globe.

The pandemic has changed the way we shop, with a huge shift to e-commerce and contactless payments. Small businesses looking to reach their customers and grow their business need to adapt to these changes. Taking creative and actionable steps to swiftly pivot with the times and respond to the demands of consumers can help many small business owners thrive and innovate despite the circumstances. In fact, most small business owners remain optimistic about the future (77%).

How can a fintech company get started with implementing the Partner Toolkit and Visa Ready components of the program?

Visa is committed to helping small businesses bounce back, and we encourage small business owners to take advantage of Visa’s insights, tools and resources by visiting the Visa Small Business Hub.