CanadianSME Small Business Magazine December 2021 by CanadianSME

ISSUE NO. 37 DECEMBER 2021

CANADIANSME

Empowering Canadian Small & Medium Businesses Banking partner

Shipping partner

UP-CLOSE

Personal Interaction with

SHAHRZAD RAFATI Chairperson and CEO, BBTV Holdings

All Images, trademarks, service marks and logos referred to or appearing in this magazine are the property of their respective owners.

With the holiday season on the horizon, here’s what to expect (and how to plan) It may be hard to believe, but the Holiday Season is here! Here’s what you need to know about holiday shopping, buying and shipping ahead of the season. Our crystal ball tells us … Well, it’s not exactly a crystal ball – it’s experience. We’ve been through this a few times and have a good idea of what to expect. The biggest logistical influences on our holiday season will be: • Continued acceleration of online buying and home delivery. • Demand for package delivery and shipping services will outstrip available capacity – across the industry. • Ongoing global supply chain challenges such as tight airfreight capacity, ocean backlogs and truck driver shortages. • Inventory costs, warehouse prices and transportation costs will continue to rise as demand for these services increases. What you can be doing as a consumer • Buy early. Take advantage as major retailers start promotions earlier in the season and have more inventory. • Ship early. Knock that list out and send holiday gifts well in advance of the holidays. Top four things you can be doing as a business owner and shipper 1. Remind customers to buy early. 2. Make sure the promotional calendar lines up with earlier purchases and product arrival/availability. 3. Staff store and logistics operations using 2020 as a baseline, as opposed to 2019 (pre-pandemic). 4. Ask your customers ‘When do you need this?’ during checkout and optimize between delivery date and fulfillment operations. Also, understand the holiday deadlines and calendars for your carriers. Visit ups.com to view the 2021-2022 Year-End Holiday Schedule.

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Our December issue is officially here, and we are very excited about all the great content we have included in this month's issue! We strive to be Canada's top magazine in providing exclusive insights, strategies, and advice to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Our mission is to include the best inclusive interviews and top business insights from reputable industry experts. Our team works very hard to deliver the most valuable content to our readers to ensure that you stay up to date on all the latest business trends. Empowering small and medium-sized businesses is our prime goal. This month, CanadianSME is focused on corporate leadership excellence by creating an inspirational corner for CanadianSMEs, including top Canadian entrepreneurs' interviews and advice from industry experts. Through "Xero's new inventory solution," you will learn to manage your inventory effortlessly and stay on top. The Power of Education to Drive Economic Growth in Canada By Martin Basiri, How to create a dynamic employee culture post-COVID? by Jordan Rodney & Julie Ruben Rodney, 5 Small Business Challenges & How to Fix Them, Challenges and Opportunities for buyers and small retailers by Robert Bigler. We also included exclusive interviews like Automation driving greater flexibility for organizations with Terry Simpson, President and CEO Senior Solutions Engineer at Nintex; STEM Education goes beyond the classroom with Jennifer Flanagan, CEO & President at Actua and Should Marketers. Invest in their Professional Development? With John Wiltshire President and CEO Canadian Marketing Association. Our nominations for the annual CanadianSME National Business Awards 2021 have opened. We are delighted to continue serving the business community and bringing recognition to be small and medium-sized businesses from across the country. The CanadianSME Business Awards is an important date on our calendars because it marks the day that we celebrate and congratulate those who have made a positive contribution to our country's economy. Since the inception of the CanadianSME Business Award, we've had a very successful turnout with hundreds of small business owners as guests and celebrated over 350 diverse businesses from across Canada. This year we want to continue to show that same support and appreciation for our small and medium-sized businesses. Visit smeawards.ca and apply before the deadline (January 25th) A new year is a perfect time to start fresh. We hope you enjoy your holidays and are excited about what the coming year will bring! Here at CanadianSMEs, we're looking forward to continuing our work in creating positive change within the small business community with support from all of those who believe in our mission - thank you very much! We hope that this month's issue will help give you the knowledge and information to stay ahead in the market.

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Don't forget to subscribe to our magazine to get the latest trends and stay up to date on all of our events Until next month, happy reading!

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

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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.

15 Up-close Personal Interaction with

Shahrzad Rafati Chairperson and CEO, BBTV Holdings

Regulars

COVID-19 and Business Interruption Insurance Class Action By Thomson Rogers

5 Best Small Business Ideas in Canada for 2022 By CanadianSME

The 5 lessons I’ve learned marketing to retirees By Matt Coyle

Xero’s new inventory solution will help small businesses manage their inventory effortlessly and stay on top

Faye Pang Canada Country Manager, Xero

Virtual collaboration made easy for small businesses By Jenny Tin, Marketing Manager, Ricoh Canada Inc.

Bolt works to reduce Domestic and International Shipping Costs

Mark Ang CEO @ Bolt Logistics

The Power of Education to Drive Economic Growth in Canada The impact of international education goes far beyond the classroom or the school campus.

By Martin Basiri

How to create a dynamic employee culture post COVID? Jordan Rodney & Julie Ruben Rodney

Future Skills Centre and Ontario Chamber of Commerce helping all businesses access reliable and reliable information and assistance

Pedro Barata Executive Director at Future Skills Centre

90 Are Adults Making Use of Career Services in

On a mission to Empower purpose driven

Canada?

Tony Bonen Director of Research,

Lee Piccoli CEO & Founder of Helia Capital

Data and Analytics, LMIC

BC is home to the fastest growing life sciences sector in Canada

Leaders to demonstrate gratitude and accountability to their employees this holiday season

By Wendy Hurlburt

By Kim Salzer

An entrepreneur for over three decades since founding Fusion Homes in 1999, Lee Piccoli is Chief Executive Officer of Helia Capital. Fusion Homes is a client experience leader and large-volume developer of low- and high-rise residential homes in Southwestern Ontario. Lee grew Fusion Homes from the ground up, steering the company to its current position as a progressive, agile firm with revenue in excess of $200 million.

Should Marketers invest in their

Professional Development?

Exclusive Chat With

Brian Weiner

Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada

John Wiltshire President and CEO

Canadian Marketing Association

Marketing is not enough to drive growth

Catherine Dahl

A Resilient Woman Entrepreneur to Follow

Michael Haynes Founder and Principal Consultant at Listen Innovate Grow.

CEO at Beanworks

How to Leverage Video Marketing for Small Businesses

By CanadianSME

Priya Chopra

Brewing the Right Solutions for Brands with 1Milk2Sugars!

By CanadianSME

Automation driving greater flexibility for organizations Terry Simpson

President and CEO Senior Solutions Engineer at Nintex

STEM Education goes beyond the classroom Jennifer Flanagan CEO & President at Actua

46 Challenges and Opportunities for both buyers and small retailers

By Robert Bigler

News Labour shortages are back with a vengeance, putting small business recovery at risk LABOUR

Small businesses were already experiencing a very significant shortage of labour at the beginning of 2020, and the pandemic has made the situation only more complex,” said CFIB vice-president of national research Simon Gaudreault.

Purolator announces winners of the 2021 True North Small Business Grant Contest SMALL BUSINESSES

Purolator announced the winners of the company’s True North Small Business Grant Contest, which launched last summer. The three Canadian small business winners will each receive $20,000 in cash, plus $15,000 in marketing promotions and $500 in free Purolator shipping.

Average Ransom Payment for Canadian Organizations More Than C$450,000, According to New Palo Alto Networks Survey TECHNOLOGY

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today announced the results of a new study conducted by Angus Reid, which found that ransomware attacks have been costly for Canadian organizations. The study found that the average ransom paid by Canadian organizations was more than C$450,000 (C$458,247).

Government of Canada announces support for new accessible technology projects TECHNOLOGY

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced that three projects are receiving funding from the Accessible Technology Program.

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News Hyundai Canada to donate $500,000 to Kids Help Phone by 2023, funding Indigenous and Black youth support programs INDIGENOUS

Digital Transformation will be the Most Valuable Business Investment for 2022

The funding will go toward a number of Kids Help Phone programs and initiatives specifically dedicated to supporting Indigenous and Black youth, such as Finding Hope: Kids Help Phone’s Indigenous Youth Action Plan and RiseUp powered by Kids Help Phone.

Minister Champagne announces new measures to help companies meet their diversity and inclusion targets

TECHNOLOGY

Digital transformation has been on the radar of Canadian businesses for years, but the last year has shown us that interest and value for it has soared,” said Brian Moore, Chief Operating Officer, SAP Canada. “We are seeing that organizations will need to continue to fully integrate their operations in the coming year to remain competitive.

DIVERSITY

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced an investment of $28.5 million to support the implementation of a toolkit to help organizations participating in the 50 – 30 Challenge meet their diversity and inclusion objectives.

IBM and TELUS to deliver 5G and edge computing across Canada CYBER SECURITY

IBM is working closely with leaders like TELUS to use hybrid multi-cloud platforms, such as IBM Cloud Satellite, coupled with industry expertise to bring the power of 5G closer to the customers’ data.

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News Global Cisco Study Identifies Top Security Practices to Detect Threats and Ensure Business Resiliency SECURITY

Cisco released its latest cybersecurity report, Security Outcomes Study Volume 2, surveying more than 5,100 security and privacy professionals across 27 markets to determine the most impactful measures teams can take to defend their organizations against the evolving threat landscape.

Business Barometer®: Businesses project unprecedented price and wage growth SMALL BUSINESSES

Small businesses project unprecedented price and wage

increases over the next 12 months, according to the latest Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) Business Barometer®.

Toronto Downtown West Business Improvement Area (BIA) Launches "Neighbourhood" E-Gift Card Program SMALL BUSINESSES

Mayor Tory encourages all businesses in the Downtown

West BIA to register and participate in this program that will support small businesses weathering the challenges posed by the pandemic. He further emphasized, "This holiday program captures the very mission of our pandemic recovery: supporting local.

Five year-end tax tips to help family businesses prepare and protect their succession of wealth TECHNOLOGY

Whether business owners are charting an exit in 2022, or at the very early stages of succession planning, now's the time to give some thought to end-of-year tax planning," says Liam Bordeleau, EY Canada Associate Partner, Tax.

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UP-CLOSE

Personal Interaction with

SHAHRZAD RAFATI Chairperson and CEO, BBTV Holdings

The 5th episode of Canada Business talks featured Canada’s own Shahrzad Rafati Chairperson and CEO of BBTV hosted by Shiraz Siddique, Media Host and Consulting Editor for Canadian SME Business magazine. In this up-close & personal interaction, Shahrzad offered insights into how she grew her idea into a multi-million dollar enterprise with a mission to help creators become more successful. She shares how to measure, monitor and manage these four KPIs: financial, people, social, and environmental, allowing them to successfully quadruple their bottom-line business.

Shahrzad actively pursues ways to encourage social change and is a champion for equality in all forms, and is passionate about job creation, climate action, education, and advancing opportunities for women and girls. In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Shahrzad as Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER, a private sector alliance intended to support the greater recruitment and advancement of women in leadership in the private sector in each of the G20 countries. Shahrzad is an inspiring leader and champion for equality who supports a number of influential Boards and Associations including as Vice-Chair Invest in Canada, Board Director for Bjarke Ingels Group, and Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER. She has been broadly recognized for her contributions to the media industry and entrepreneurship. In October of 2020, Shahrzad also led BBTV’s historic IPO as one of the Top 10 Tech listings of all time on the TSX.

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SHAHRZAD RAFATI Chairperson and CEO, BBTV Holdings

CANADA BUSINESS TALKS Thank you, Shiraz, and Canadian SME, for having this conversation with me. Before we get started, I want to acknowledge that BBTV’s HQ is located on the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TsleilWaututh. And all of us at BBTV, our prayers and thoughts are with those that are impacted by the floods. Shiraz Siddique When you walk into a boardroom, people might be seeing your appearance already formulating opinions, 'she is too young, 'Is she in the right room?', 'does she belong?'. So how have you navigated those moments where you just weren't sure where you were walking into, and they were the ones that weren't ready for you?

Shahrzad Rafati Yeah, that's a good question. At the end of the day, regardless of your background or gender, people can form an opinion. I feel that you always want to be more prepared in the room to speak about your space to speak about the industry. I always tell my team to be over-prepared. No one can challenge that because everyone wants to learn from each other, and I believe that if you're going into a room and you're able to speak to what you do and your landscape better than everyone else, no one can ignore you. It doesn't matter which corner of the world you're from and what your background is. Shiraz Siddique My name is Shiraz; you can imagine how many times my name has been butchered over the years. And I've noticed in many different interviews when they're mispronouncing your name, and you don't even flinch! Instead, you've been more interested in the competence of your content. How do you so easily dismiss other people’s basic lack of attention, even for your name? How do you do that?

Shahrzad Rafati It all comes down to your goal and objective in a meeting. It just comes to the content and knowing what you want to get out of the conversation. I mean, I have a difficult name. So, I don't get bothered. But I appreciate people who ask you how to say your name before saying it. That's always nice and thoughtful. But I think we're all here to have a good constructive conversation to make progress.

Shiraz Siddique Okay, so what I'm hearing is, don't let the objection override your objective. We have lived in this hypersensitive world over the last number of years, all walking on eggshells. And well, somebody is going to be offended or bothered? So how do you walk past those moments? Because what I'm seeing and sensing is your focus is tight, you're not worried about left and right.

"I think life is too short, you want to really focus on what the key objectives are that you want to accomplish in your life."

Shahrzad Rafati Chairperson and CEO, BBTV Holdings

Shahrzad Rafati I feel you can't get distracted by or sweat over small things. You want to stay focused on your objectives, surround yourself with good people, and focus on that long-term vision you have for your life, your legacy, and your company. Look, I grew up in Iran during the revolution, so, you can imagine opportunities were very limited by the situation where I lived. That teaches you a lot earlier to know what you need to focus on and what matters in life.

Shiraz Siddique I appreciate what you said earlier about preparation. And so, in my preparation, I dug into your story before you launched your business. Can you speak about your story before that seed or a business idea was planted? 18 - CanadianSME - December 2021

Shahrzad Rafati It doesn't matter where you're from or your background; your past doesn't define your future. I had more opportunities to fail than succeed. As I said, I grew up in Iran during the war, with so much instability. Content was rationed, inequality was an everyday reality, particularly for me as a young woman. Experiencing that inequality firsthand creates a desire and a passion for being a positive agent for change. And it brings me back to one of my favourite quotes from Gandhi, which is to be the change you wish to see in the world. That's why I moved to Canada to have access to more inclusive and equal opportunities. Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to build a global business from the time that I was a young teenager. So I often get asked the question, well, how do I start? I think that if you believe in yourself and you follow your passion, you'll figure it out, and you're going to make mistakes along the way, and that’s okay. I'm personally so passionate about a quadruple bottom-line business. You see a lot more of that in this new generation of entrepreneurs, where from the beginning, they think about the impact that they have, not just in terms of innovating and driving financial results, but also looking at how they impact the world socially, environmentally, and also how they look at treating their employees and other stakeholders.

Shiraz Siddique Now, can you describe that window where you began to flirt with the idea of sinking your teeth into it? Trepidation causes many people to struggle at that moment. Do I jump in the water or stay onshore? Can you describe those days? Those weeks, those moments where you're like, do I do this? And what finally pushed you in? Shahrzad Rafati I was still in school. And just before graduating from UBC, I was studying computer science. I was passionate about mathematics and technology. Seventeen years ago, we were in the early days of the digital space. I saw what happened with Steve Jobs and the invention of the iPod, and I just knew that video was going to be the next thing. Given my background, being so passionate about the democratization of content, and being able to

empower all storytellers to tell their story to find the audiences and talk about their passion, that was very important to me. I wanted to play a significant role in all of it, and that's why I started BBTV. So there was no hesitation.

As a fact, I started BBTV before finishing school, and then I went back a year later and took the last four courses to graduate. When I even moved to Canada, I learned about the culture; I learned about the language by watching my favourite pieces of content. And so really, content also played a role as being my teacher, and I learned English watching the news and also The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! Will Smith. I was an immigrant, and he was in Philly. So it was; he was a bit of a kind of an outlier. So all of us feel connected to the content that can help us grow and educate and entertain us. Given how digital can level the playing field, it was an excellent opportunity to democratize content and help content creators become more successful.

Shiraz Siddique You have mentioned a number of influences that shaped your life. Mentorship is something that most people are always looking for. Can you share some of the experiences and the folks in your life that have acted as mentors that you feel contributed to where you are today? What was your experience as you continue to journey, and what do you glean from different people in your life? Shahrzad Rafati Of course, I believe in mentorship. I also like to call it sponsorship because you have skin in the game when you're sponsoring someone. A few people have inspired me in my life, both male and female. I've always been vocal about how important it is for entrepreneurs to surround themselves with amazing people. My first female inspiration was my mom. My parents were both entrepreneurs; my mom ran a textile business, where I supported by doing some accounting work as a young teenager, and my dad ran a real estate business. So they're both inspirational people who I massively admire. But as far as I would say, outside the

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family, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a role model for many. She's an incredible inspiration to me and so many other women. She's a fierce embodiment of equality and changed so much how we look at things in North America, particularly for men and women. She has made the world a better place, and we could all be so fortunate to do the same. The other role model for me is Marc Benioff, the CEO and founder of Salesforce. I admire Marc because when you look at his philosophy, I think he's, if not the best leader; he's one of the best leaders of our lifetime. I admire his philosophy, which is that the most excellent platform for change is business. I agree with him. He's impacting his community, from schools to hospitals, impacting the environment, and of course, his employees and all the stakeholders.

Shiraz Siddique You've mentioned leadership, accountability, and these are words and essential traits that we all share. But they mean more to you than the average bear; this isn't just something that you're spewing out, right? These words mean something to you. Shahrzad Rafati We need to take a moment to look at where we find ourselves today. We've had the largest global pandemic in over 100 years, and the world is coming out of a lockdown or maybe going back to a lockdown. Entire industries have slowed, pivoted, and some of them cease to exist. This was closely followed by one of the most important human rights movements we've seen in generations. So with all that has happened, there has been a realization of the importance of leadership. We've seen vividly contrasting leadership styles by different world leaders who have demonstrated dramatically different results in terms of how they've managed through the pandemic, comforting the public through loss upheaval, and we’ve also become painfully aware of an absence of leadership when it has occurred. Empathy is one thing the best leaders have in common. I believe that empathy is key to inclusivity. We need to really listen and do our best as leaders to understand the variety of perspectives that we represent and impact our businesses, and know that great leadership really is

at the heart of positive change in this world, from accountability to equality to justice. The solutions to the world's problems still lie in great leadership.

and environmental KPIs - that's building a quadruple bottom-line business. It comes down to setting goals, measuring them, and reporting on them, so you also need to make sure that you have the right processes and the right Shiraz Siddique pipelines and incentives across the whole organization. And, of course, You can literally feel your passion you need to have the systems in and your intellect. You're not just a place to make those goals become talking head, there is so much a reality. We need to have both depth to you. And it's represented short-term and long-term plans for in your business. Now, these aren't our KPIs. So the same way you think things that you're just saying to about a budgeting exercise for your sound nice - this really is you and financial KPIs, your revenue, your drives you. We can see who you top line, your gross profit, your are as an individual being EBITDA, you also want to budget for emulated and built out in your all the other bottom lines. Apply business. You've mentioned the that same attention to detail that quadruple bottom line a few times. you do with your financial goals to What is that? the other bottom lines because that's how you build a healthier and more successful organization. And Shahrzad Rafati very similar to your financial KPIs, Quadruple bottom line means you we've done the same thing in measure success, not just based on building that quadruple bottom-line business. It's also the willingness financial results, but you're looking and the desire to be accountable at social, you're looking at people

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for progress. And as you said, it's not about just having conversations around them. It's actually setting goals and tracking them to make sure you're making progress and getting your team to be part of that. So that's what we've done at BBTV and how we truly treat all of our corporate bottom lines.

Shiraz Siddique You sound like you're just as passionate today as you were when you launched this many years ago. What maintains and what feeds that passion, that desire that drives you towards your goals and maintains your focus? Shahrzad Rafati My passion has increased from day one, and every day it grows because I believe that true success is how we can impact the world, and a business can be the biggest platform for positive change. This is an incredible motivator for me. As a mediatech company, we're helping content creators become more successful, and we're helping them to connect to their audiences. We are home to some of the

largest influencers and content creators in the world that define today and tomorrow's culture. With that, they can make a significant impact in the world. And for us to be able to build a business that is empowering that creator economy is something that I'm very passionate about. Doing that and being a quadruple bottom line business is very important to me, and it inspires me. We have had a 0% pay gap for nearly more than five years, and we practice equality and all its forms. So we've implemented policies and programs to ensure that we're a very responsible business, for example from an environmental perspective as a carbon-neutral business. That also attracts the best talent who cares about making an impact and making a positive impact.

Shiraz Siddique You know, it's clear that you're not creating a business or building a business; you're creating a category that didn't exist in the framework with which you've brought it to the market. One of my favourites is Donald Miller, who has a whole program built around building a better brand story. Can you touch on simplifying your message for a quick moment because that's important to almost everybody listening? How was that creative process for you when you were distilling it down to the core of your message? Shahrzad Rafati Yeah, we have an incredible marketing team. But I would say; it's always good to have an outsider because many times, you live it, and even though to you it may sound so simple, it may not be that way to others. You've heard this many times: if you can explain the business to your grandma, your mom, then it probably makes sense, but I feel like it's always excellent to have an outsider. It's an evolution, trying to simplify your message and your narrative and whom it may or may not resonate with. You also need to be able to test it and to see if it really works or doesn't work, because you can have the best brains in the room, and you can come up with the best narrative, and still, you're going to go and test it, and it may not really sit well.

Shiraz Siddique What we're hearing today is don't be afraid to fail. Don't be scared to experiment, and you're never going to know unless you try. There's disruption, but then there is creation, when what you do never existed before. Now that you've created a category, you will see copycats. Other people will try to come in over the next little while and maybe replicate. What are your thoughts on competition? Shahrzad Rafati Yeah, one of the greatest joys as an entrepreneur is constantly disrupting yourself. But, unfortunately, entrepreneurs often fall in love with the idea, the product, everything they build and become too defensive. This is a recipe for disaster; you need to be open-minded and think about how you can disrupt yourself. I think it's probably one of my better traits as an entrepreneur. I always also tried to listen to younger employees and younger generations because how we interact with content changes so rapidly. Having everyone involved in the decision-making process when you're launching new products is important. And also, consider trends if you need to change your strategy, and that's what we've done really well at BBTTV.

Shiraz Siddique Wow. Don't wait to be disrupted; disrupt yourself. Don't settle in; continue to push the envelope, challenge yourself and solve larger problems. You stress and emphasize the leadership factor and the impact that has on our ability not only to take our business forward but when we first began to chat, you spoke about preparation, well over-prepared, so you're never going to be caught off guard, And finally, your objective should always override the objection. And this way, it doesn't matter what people throw at you or how they treat you because you're so laser-focused on your objective. Thank you for taking the time to be with us on Small Business Talks, brought to you by Canadian SME Business Magazine.

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Virtual collaboration made easy for small businesses The ‘collaboration’ experience is also missing! Cameras get turned off or minimized. The presentation deck is shown on full screen so no one can see one another. Your company representative is speaking to an audience they can’t see or interact with which means little to no engagement with your customers. It doesn’t have to be this way! Ricoh has created communication and collaboration solutions designed for small and mid-sized businesses.

By Jenny Tin, Marketing Manager, Ricoh Canada Inc. Remote meetings have become the norm. Practically overnight, many of us had to embrace the ubiquitous conference call for everything from kids’ karate lessons and family dinners to sales meetings and virtual roundtables! For small businesses, virtual engagements with new prospects and customers, if done right, can reap huge rewards. According to a McKinsey report, the amount of revenue generated from video-related interactions has jumped by 69% since April 2020. Together, eCommerce and video conferencing now account for 43% of all B2B revenue. Every virtual customer engagement counts. Businesses need to find simple solutions that help them stand out and make every customer interaction powerful, meaningful, and memorable. Traditional video calls are more tiring than face-to-face meetings. Your brain must work harder to interpret non-verbal cues like body language and tone of voice. People need to pay more attention to get the same result. This becomes mentally draining when we’re jumping from one call to another and staring at the screen, day-in and day-out.

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Elevate. Empower. Enhance. Ricoh’s family of Interactive Whiteboards and Reactiv SUITE collaboration software are fully integrated solutions that redefine the virtual collaboration experience for your employees, partners, and customers. With this powerful combination, your in-office and remote employees can collaborate and create in real-time as if they were in the same room. Elevate your presence and make meetings more impactful and memorable in front of your prospective customers.

Make meetings fun again! best whether you’re pitching to your clients, training a team, presenting to stakeholders or brainstorming. Reactiv SCRIBBLE is a digital whiteboard but it’s more than that: it’s a breakthrough brainstorming and layout tool. It creates an infinite canvas that allows any user to collaborate and sketch, write ideas, mark up pages and develop dynamic layouts that accurately represent the overall team vision. Users can combine a variety of different file types, including web content and natural handwriting, into meaningful pages that can easily be shared, organized or distributed.

The key is ease-of-use. Implementing user-friendly Interactive Whiteboards along with intuitive collaboration software that teams actually want to use increases engagement which makes meetings more efficient and productive. Fit matters. Choose the right size of Interactive Whiteboard for your office, meeting room or huddle space – they come in 32”, 55”, 65”, 75” and 86” so screens that are too small or too overpowering for your space is no longer an issue. The secret to facilitating fluid collaboration and meetings? This isn’t the kind of share-your-screen technology you’ve seen before. It’s a unique software platform that revolutionizes the way users connect, share documents, and consume content regardless of where the meeting participants are located. It allows the presenter to create, meet, present, explain, mark up, refine on the fly, and conclude – as if all the meeting attendees are right there in the same room. Reactiv SUITE is comprised of two components – STAGE and SCRIBBLE – that work in a single ecosystem defined by the type of meeting: presenting, ideation, brainstorming and project management to name a few. Reactiv STAGE is a powerful, non-linear storytelling and presentation tool that enables teams to shift focus from managing the content to the narrative of a presentation. Open, render, mark up, and present content in formats you’re

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For employees who work remotely with touch screen devices, Reactiv SUITE PRO offers the same applications, user functionalities and workflows as Reactiv SUITE with fewer connectivity and peripheral interoperability capabilities that aren’t generally found in a home office environment.

The Simple Solution. Reactiv SUITE is so intuitive and easy to use that your team will be up and running with little to no training. No matter what kind of work your team is doing, it can enhance their collaboration experience, improve productivity, and facilitate deeper and more impactful connections. Drive higher revenue through more powerful virtual selling by making ‘real’ connections with your customers. Now you can be fully engaged with your customers and treat the PowerPoint deck as just another visual aid while you bring up any type of content to support the conversation as it evolves. Capture questions right on the screen and address them throughout your discussion.

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In brainstorming sessions, multiple remote users can simultaneously add their ideas, markup content and capture decisions that arise in the flow of a meeting in real time. This combined effort yields more ideas in less time as well as making everyone feel as if their voice has been heard. This eliminates the unnecessary back and forth conversations, freeing up valuable time for other projects. Looking to bring your remote meetings to life and easily connect your employees, customers, and partners like never before? – It’s time to explore Ricoh’s Communication and Collaboration Solutions.

BC is home to the fastest growing life sciences sector in Canada Wendy Hurlburt

President and CEO, Life Sciences BC Wendy Hurlburt, a passionate global executive with more than 25 years of experience in the Life Sciences and Technology sectors, is the President & CEO of Life Sciences BC.

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Small Business

Wendy has held leadership positions in Johnson & Johnson, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, and Lexmark International where she provided strategic leadership across Finance, Business Development, Operations, IT, Privacy, Compliance, Regulatory, Quality and Risk Management. Her global experience includes leadership roles across Canada, the United States, Europe, and South Asia. Wendy has a BA in Finance & Economics from Western University Ontario, an MBA from Queen’s University, a Certificate in Strategic Leadership from the Sauder School of Executive Education, and is a Certified Privacy Professional (CIPP). Wendy serves on the Clinical Trials BC Advisory Board, the External Advisory Committee of the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Science, and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Government, Budget and Finance Committee. Previously Wendy served on the Board of the Centre for Research and Drug Discovery (adware BioInnovations) and chaired CDRD’s Finance & Audit Committee, co-Chaired of the International Association of Privacy Professionals Vancouver Chapter and was on the GVBOT Women’s Leadership Council, most recently serving as the WLC Policy Chair.

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What is the importance of BC’s life sciences sector on a national level and areas of growth? BC’s life sciences sector has always played an important role, both at home and abroad, and this has been none more evident than in the last 20 months. This is due to BC’s strong foundation of research excellence, recognized alongside a strong community that values risk-taking entrepreneurship, investment, and nurturing skilled talent. Our areas of growth in life sciences in BC include antibody discovery and development, digital health, medical devices, vaccine technology, and mRNA transfer modalities, among many other areas of excellence. Notably, our areas of excellence contributed to national and global health, as BC life sciences have created COVID therapeutics, vaccines, testing solutions, ventilators, and virtual health apps. BC life sciences innovation has been at the forefront of developing solutions to address the impact of COID-19 – from AbCellera’s monoclonal antibody treatment to critical technology for COVID-19 vaccines to ventilators. BC’s innovation sector has been at the center of global solutions COVID-19.

Small Business As I said in the BC business leaders’ post-election wish list (BIV Sept 27-Oct 3): “Life sciences will continue to be a significant driver of future growth, prosperity, and health in our country.” And with growth, BC life sciences and biotech generate employment, with family-friendly jobs for sustainable income and security. In our sector profile June 2020, written in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada and the Province of British Columbia, our analysis shows that according to 2018 data, more than “17,300 people were employed in the sector, earning relatively high wages. The life sciences sector is one of British Columbia’s fastest-growing sectors, with employment increasing by 5.6% between 2017 and 2018.”

What are the biggest challenges for BC’s life sciences sector and how can we overcome that? Our biggest challenges are space, talent, and investment. All these were recently put forward at our Invest in BC Investor Summit by Gordon McCauley, CEO of adMare Bio Innovations, and Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera, as obstacles or potential limiting factors to the continued growth of the life sciences in BC. In our annual Life Sciences magazine this year, Brigitte Petersen’s article, BUILDING A BIGGER LIFE SCIENCES SECTOR IN B.C. also identifies these issues. Referencing in the report Life Sciences BC co-wrote with GVBOT in July 2021, she also notes that inconsistent collaboration across levels of government, academia, research, and industry to scale companies and adopt innovation, and the lack of a coordinated data strategy are also obstacles to success. LSBC is addressing these concerns through events such as the virtual investor summits and Career Connect Day, which seeks to connect emerging talent and the institutions responsible for nurturing this talent with potential employers, companies, and other stakeholders.

How can we create more life sciences companies and scale up the existing ones? Continue to invest in research, where discoveries are born Support early-stage company creation and growth through ensuring that we have a globally competitive environment to attract capital and talent, and ensure that we have commercial wet lab space for SME’s Attract, develop, and retain talent – scientific talent, leadership, and entrepreneurial talent

Small Business How can federal and provincial governments help to boost the life sciences sector? Again, as mentioned in my post for BC business leaders’ post-election wish list (BIV Sept 27-Oct 3): “…Canadian life sciences need development of a comprehensive national life sciences strategy in alignment across governments, industry, and academia; investment in the development, attraction, and retention of critical talent; and a globally aligned, modernized and streamlined regulatory process.” Additionally, attention must be given to investment in talent and infrastructure (e.g. wet labs, manufacturing facilities).

Where does BC’s life sciences sector stand when compared to other developed markets? BC is home to the fastest-growing life sciences sector in Canada. Additionally, life sciences are one of BC’s fastest-growing sectors. With more than half of the Canadian-listed venture companies, BC has a great reputation as an incubator for up-and-coming businesses. (from the CEO Message in our annual magazine: Life Sciences 2021 )

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Despite the pandemic, the life sciences sector in BC continued to grow during 2020. The 2020 BC Capital Market Report from the BC Securities Commission shows that our biotechnology sector increased capital raising to $2.3 billion, an increase of 123 per cent. Furthermore, the majority was raised by four of our LSBC members—AbCellera Biologics, Zymeworks, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, and Xenon Pharmaceuticals.

Compared to 2019, where BC biotech companies raised $700 million from the top four deals, in 2020 they more than doubled that to $1.5 billion. Startup Genome recently ranked Vancouver 21 (out of 280 global ecosystems) as the top life sciences start-up ecosystem in the world, the only Canadian city to be in the top 25 (as reported in a recent BC Business article).

A recent BIV article shows that Vancouver is also the third fastest-growing tech hub in North America adding 13k jobs over the last two years. For comparison, Toronto added 40,200 jobs and Seattle, 38,559 jobs.

5 Best Small Business Ideas in Canada for 2022 By CanadianSME

With the grip of the virus finally easing out from our lives, it’s probably the right time to reimagine your entrepreneurial dreams. The global economy went down in 2019, but it’s now slowly on the rise. And if you have always dreamed about having your own small business in Canada, 2022 is the right year to take the leap. And in this article, we have curated a simple list of small business ideas in Canada which you can think through before becoming an entrepreneur.

Let’s dive straight into the ideas then.

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Small Business 1. Real Estate As mentioned earlier, the economy is rising. And with a flourishing economy, the idea of people buying and renting homes, offices and condos will be in fruition. Almost all the real estate companies in Canada are small-to-medium sized. So, if you are interested in selling properties, you can start with your own real estate firm in Canada. For this, however, you will have to keep your fingers on the pulse of the local market and you’ll have to be really good with people in terms of communication. The real estate sector in Canada is a profitable option to consider if you wish to start your entrepreneurial endeavor.

3. Waste Management Service It is quite natural for a country to witness a huge accumulation of waste with a rising economy. The business will expand, more paper will be used, old electronic products will be tossed to make place for the newer models, construction debris will pile up, and so on. And all of these waste materials aren’t good for the environment. So, this could be a good opportunity for you to come up with a waste management business which will help the environment and make way for a sustainable future. You can be one of those conscious entrepreneurs who will not only make profits in terms of money, but will make the environment profitable for all species.

2. Monetize on an Existing Hobby This one is second on our list because if you have a hobby which you think you can monetize on, you are already halfway there. For example, if you make soaps at home, or can create lotions and creams at home, or if you are an artist who paints, or can curate gift baskets, you can think about a way of selling these to other people. How to do that? Well, that’s easy. You can create social media pages, post pictures of your products and sell them.

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Small Business 4. Financial Services Are you good with finance? Do you have interest in accounting, bookkeeping, financial management or consulting? If yes, you can consider starting a small business which will take care of this knowledge of yours to help other humans. You can help other companies save on taxes and streamline their bookkeeping or accounting processes. This business of yours can lure clients, who will also be willing to pay you handsomely for your know-how.

Wrapping it Up, Starting a business will give you the opportunity to earn for yourself and be your own boss. And if you have that entrepreneurial bug buzzing in your head all the time, it’s probably the right time to take a step forward and listen to your heart. All the best!

5. Fitness Centre/Lessons The pandemic made all of us sit at home. And due to this, there has been a rise in unhealthy lifestyles. Basically, humans have become lazy and unmotivated due to the constant lockdowns. So, if you have a passion for fitness, you can start motivating others on how leading a healthy lifestyle can help them. You can start giving online lessons on yoga, HIIT, CrossFit, and so on. In some time, you can even start your own fitness center. This could be another very profitable business in 2022 when we all are slowly moving out of slumber forced by the pandemic.

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For more such amazing content on

doing or starting a small business in Canada, do not forget to subscribe

to our monthly CanadianSME Small Business Magazine.

Small Business

5 Reasons Why Digital Transformation is Imperative for Your Small Business The way of doing business has been altered in the past due to the global pandemic. Today, the customers crave for connection. And this has become all the more important because we all are working (and buying) from home. So, small businesses need to make themselves feel more genuine by having a robust online presence. This will not only be beneficial for the consumers but also truly profitable for the business owners.

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Small Business In this article, we will talk about 5 most important reasons to go digital for your small business. Let’s have a look at what they are.

1. Responding to a Revolutionised Consumer Behaviour COVID-19 has changed the way consumers behaved and shop. The retail eCommerce sales in the US grew more than 33% and reached up to $799.18 billion in the last year itself. And this figure will keep growing as the consumers have gotten used to shopping online in the past year. And this way, small businesses can adapt to the change and meet new customers for their brand. This will include eCommerce companies including online payment options as well as a strong presence on social media.

2. Integrating Digital Tools for Better Efficiency Remote work has become the new normal. Hence, businesses worldwide need to accommodate their employees in the same way. Now, if you think about how your small business can get help from the cloud and digital tools to maintain a remote team, you’d be happy to know that there are now several technologies available online which will make your digital team better efficient. Also, with a remote team, you will be able to save money as you will not have to pay for an office space.

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Small Business

3. Taking the Affordable Way of Marketing Most of the businesses aren’t aware of this yet but digital marketing is way more affordable than traditional marketing. For example, with social media marketing and email marketing, you can reach out to a number of probable customers in just a few seconds through emails or social media creatives which will not even cost you as much as printing ads on a newspaper. Yes, paid ads are a big part of digital marketing but if you know your strategies well, you can also get customers organically. That is the power of a good digital marketing solution.

4. Be at Par with Your Competition Through Digital Transformation You might or might not know this but your competitors are already online. According to a report on small businesses, from 2019 and beyond, more small businesses are opting for online marketing strategies for their businesses. And by simply going through their social media pages and websites, you will be able to understand what they are doing, how they are doing and how you can be ahead of them. And once you are sure of their tactics, you can create your own strategy to boost your online presence.

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5. Competing with Big Brands Online

Summing it Up

Finally, when you will start marketing your products and services online, it will be easier for you to compete with the bigger brands. This is because they are already digital. And when your brand will start appearing on Google and on social media channels, even your targeted audiences will know about your brand (and how you are an affordable alternative to your expensive competitor). You will be able to gain a lot of insights into your industry when you will start competing with bigger brands online.

So, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you ready yet to go digital? This is the perfect time to take the leap and start networking online. Come up with a robust digital marketing strategy. And for this, you can even take help of a digital marketing agency. All the best!

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To know more about taking care of your small business the right way in the postpandemic scenario, do not forget to subscribe to our monthly CanadianSME Small Business Magazine.

Small Business

Catherine Dahl A Resilient Woman Entrepreneur to Follow Catherine Dahl, a powerhouse of talent and

an industry-leading women entrepreneur in Canada, is the Co-founder and CEO of

Beanworks. It is an automation software company which is making accounting

processes better for the industries. Catherine is a CPA and CMA, with 25+ years of

experience in accounting and management.

She has a very unique perspective regarding the accounting industry and her expert

insight has managed Beanworks to become a thriving company with a highly motivated and fast-growing team.

CEO at Beanworks

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Small Business

A Little About Catherine Dahl Catherine started her career at Olive Garden, a restaurant in Ottawa, Ontario. She spent five long years there and learned management fundamentals being a part of the company. She learned accounting during her tenure at Olive Garden and she loved the management accounting processes there. Now, as the Co-founder of Beanworks, her favorite business topic is still management and accounting. Today, she calls herself a thought leader. Someone who can communicate well is fluent in their domain expertise and is constantly learning. Catherine is a dynamic woman entrepreneur in Canada who boasts a clear pattern of resilience, determination, and cautious execution of ideas. Not only did she make Beanworks a thriving organization, but she has also been instrumental in securing partnerships, funding, and a great team to scale up the business. Catherine, through her volunteering efforts, is also a highly engaged member of the Canadian entrepreneurship community.

What is Beanworks All About? AP or Accounts Payable is often termed as the most time-consuming aspect of a business. Hence, at Beanworks, the team of accountants make it easier for the organizations to scale up their accounting processes. It is a business built by the accountants for accountants, and the team of experts aim at automating the management accounting to make it simpler and more effective.

To know more about Beanworks, click here https://www.beanworks.com/

For more such updates on resilient women

entrepreneurs in Canada, do not forget to subscribe to our monthly CanadianSME Small Business Magazine.

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How to Leverage Video Marketing for Small Businesses

Using video marketing as a part of your business growth could be quite helpful for gaining revenues. Video marketing has gained a lot of traction in the past across businesses of all sizes. The crucial reason behind their popularity lies in the fact that they are easy to engage with prospective clients across several social platforms. Also, with the right kind of video marketing, business owners can effectively attract its target audiences towards their brand.

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The Rise of Video Marketing According to the current trends and studies, it has been forecasted that an average individual will watch at least 100 minutes of an online video every day in 2021. Also, 88% of marketers have said that proper video marketing has helped them gain a positive ROI in the past years. Furthermore, around 92% of marketers have claimed that video is a vital part of their marketing strategy. So, with the rise in the number of viewers of online videos, companies can leverage a lot by incorporating strategic video marketing for small businesses.

How to Get Started? The good news is, with video marketing, you do not need a huge budget. You just need a good camera or a smartphone with a good camera, and you can make great videos on your own for your brand. And once the videos are made, you can share them on your website or on your social media channels like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. But in doing all this, you will need to have some kind of technical knowledge as well. So, with the help of some effective video marketing tools, the job will be easier for you. So, if you are now sure about introducing video marketing in your business’s marketing strategy, keep in mind the below-mentioned things:

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Make Use of the Existing Video Platforms

These videos can direct the audience from social media to your website. In addition to this, your videos on social media channels can help you make sure that your brand is reaching out to your potential customers. So, if you can create attractive videos with good messaging, it can be truly beneficial for your brand in the coming days.

Be a Storyteller Through Your Videos Always remember that the best destination for your business video content will be on the platforms that are already there like, YouTube, Hulu, and so on. You can also promote your brand through ads on YouTube which are more likely to be seen by your target audiences whenever they will search for a similar product as yours on the search engines.

Demonstrate Your Brand Well Without Beating Around the Bush While creating videos for your brand, you need to understand that your audience are busy people. So, you need to have a fundamental respect for them and value their time by creating videos which will specifically talk about your products and services. Your consumers’ attention is vital and your content needs to earn it through the right kind of messaging. Also, your video should blend perfectly with the content and should not just explicitly sell your service.

Increase Website Traffic Through Videos If you upload videos on your social media platforms, it can drive traffic to your website. So, try to add product reviews or tutorials as small videos on your social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.

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Try to be a storyteller through your brand videos. It has been proven by the University of West Alabama that 55% of consumers who love the story of a brand are more likely to purchase from them. Try to present the content of your video in a narrative. If you are hoping to share the specifications of your product, weave them into a story keeping in mine the concept of the product. This way, customers will recognize your brand better and will respond to your videos in a more positive manner.

Summing It Up, Depending upon the type of your products or services, you can choose the type of your video for marketing. It could be know-how videos, how-to videos, testimonial videos, webinar videos, and so on. However, while marketing those on social platforms, try to be professional and always provide to-thepoint messaging to your target audiences. To know more about such important tips on doing business in Canada, do not forget to subscribe to our monthly CanadianSME Small Business Magazine.

Exclusive Chat With

Brian Weiner Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada

Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada, Brian Weiner sat down with CanadianSME to talk about the ways that VISA is helping small business owners with innovative products and resources to help them overcome the most challenging parts of their jobs so they can be as successful as possible. Brian Weiner is the Vice President and Head of Product for Visa Canada. His organization is responsible for the development and roll-out 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.

Small Business Visa has recently announced it is working with Moneris on a rollout of Visa Installments. What was the motivation and inspiration behind this and what are you trying to accomplish through it? Visa Canada is committed to driving the evolution of the payments ecosystem to meet consumer demands – and that demand is for more choice in how consumers pay. With the rollout of Visa Installments with Moneris, participating Moneris merchants will be able to present installment payment options to eligible Canadian credit cardholders on qualifying purchases. Moneris is scheduled to begin offering Visa Installments to its customers in spring 2022, giving more Canadians the flexibility they want when it comes to purchasing.

The pandemic has certainly fueled a demand among Canadians for choice in how they purchase, and that demand is not going away. How is Visa stepping up to provide Canadians the flexibility in how they pay? It is very true that the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a change in the spending habits of Canadian consumers and what they want from the payment experience. The latest Visa global study found that a third of Canadian consumers (35%) say they would not have made recent purchases if BNPL was unavailable. At Visa, we are constantly seeking solutions to meet the demands in an ever-changing payments landscape. This new offering with Moneris is the latest example of how Visa is doing this, by providing more Canadians with a flexible BNPL solution through Visa Installments.

Visa & Growth from Knowledge Survey, September 2021

(Results from 7-market global survey in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Russia, U.S., U.K.)

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What are the latest trends in the installment market? How has Visa been able to stay competitive within an evolving technology and digital landscape? Installments are a rapidly growing segment of the payments market, with adoption further fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. It currently represents over $1.7 trillion of global payment volume, and in Canada, the opportunity is expected to be about $50 billion annually. Globally, installments have grown 2.5 times as fast as traditional credit cards and it is rising approximately 20% year-over-year. Canada has seen 30% growth in the last year alone.

Euromonitor International 2020 Installment Sizing Report, commissioned by Visa

Euromonitor Consulting Data Compilation for Visa Inc. $CDN

Small Business Looking ahead to a post-pandemic world, how important will it be for Visa to continue adapting its services and offerings to meet the ever-evolving needs of the consumer? Post-pandemic, Canadian consumers think flexible payment options are more important than ever. The pandemic has driven changes in the spending habits of Canadian consumers, particularly when it comes to how they pay, which seems certain to stay.

Visa Canada is embracing installments because it measurably expands choice and convenience for buyers and sellers alike – and we understand that is what they want. A recent Visa Canada study found that nearly the majority of Canadians (47%) recognize the importance of flexible payment options since the pandemic began. Visa has also been supporting the global growth of fintech-led BNPL financing Since 2017, Visa’s fintech solutions have enabled a number of leading BNPL fintechs to issue digital credentials or virtual cards, so consumers can seamlessly use installments at checkout.

How important is it for merchants to be able to offer this flexibility to their customers? When BNPL options are available at checkout, merchants also benefit from an increase in spend and may see more shoppers completing their purchases. By extending Visa Installments through this offering with Moneris, we are helping Canadian merchants to adapt to a rapidly evolving payments landscape.

Visa Canada is committed to driving the evolution of the payment ecosystem, finding solutions, and anticipating and meeting changing consumer demands – this will continue to be the case beyond the pandemic.

What tips do you have for small business owners to help them get ahead of the competition? Visa Canada has long been a supporter of the small business community, through initiatives such as its #MySmallBizReco campaign that encouraged Canadians to recommend their favorite small business, and the Visa Canada Small Business Hub which has resources and solutions to help enable small businesses to thrive. Small Businesses are encouraged to visit Visa’s Small Business Hub. It’s a localized online resource center, providing tools, special offers and information on how to start, run and grow digitalfirst small businesses.

Ipsos survey: Visa Credit Installments Research - September 2020 Visa Canada Post-Pandemic Payments Shifts Survey by Pollara Strategic Insights

Visa Canada Post-Pandemic Payments Shifts Survey by Pollara Strategic Insights

Priya Chopra BREWING THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS FOR BRANDS WITH 1MILK2SUGARS!

President & Founder at 1Milk2Sugars The name of the company might trick you into believing that it’s a coffee shop or a bakery. But wait, it isn’t! 1Milk2Sugars is an award-winning public relations and digital marketing agency, with a brand portfolio of some of the industry giants like Nivea, L’Oréal, and Centrum. It took years of persistence and grit to get the company where it is today, right at the top! Priya Chopra, the Founder of 1Milk2Sugars and one of the most influential women entrepreneurs in Canada, started her dream company in her 20s.

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Small Business She, like any other entrepreneur, had to overcome several challenges to be where she is today, in her 40s. The company now has some of the biggest brands in its kitty and Priya Chopra couldn’t have been proud about her decision to walk on a less treaded path.

About Priya Chopra Priya was born and raised in Montreal. With an East Indian background, she is fluent in four languages. Based in Canada, Priya Chopra is a real epitome of a strong woman entrepreneur, with a vivid cultural diversity. She is not only business-savvy but also a mother of three, which makes her an intuitive mompreneur. She had a decorated corporate career before stepping into her entrepreneurial journey. With a scholarship from Queen’s University and a Marketing degree from the Co-op Program of Concordia University, she went on to pursue a Masters in Fashion Management after leaving her job stint with L’Oréal at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, one of the best business schools in Europe. After getting the degree, she had two choices, either to get into another job with an industry giant or to travel the road less traveled by. And she chose the latter. In 2012, she started her own shop, 1Milk2Sugars, and today, it is one of the mostcoveted PR and digital marketing agencies in the world. Priya Chopra is also an elite member of the Forbes Agency Council. This is an invite-only organization for the executives serving in the fastest-growing agencies worldwide. Forbes handpicks members for this world-class community, and Priya has also been featured on Bloomberg TV, Forbes.com, Globe and Mail, and so on. In 2018, she was awarded the PR in Canada, and the Women in Communications Award in the “Founders” Category.

About 1Milk2Sugars Priya launched 1Milk2Sugars in 2012. This agency specializes in social media, PR, and Influencer Marketing. The company, in all these years, has almost tripled in size, both in terms of clients and employees. It has already won several international accolades like the USAbased PR Daily’s Social Media Awards. 1Milk2Sugars has some of the most coveted clients in its roster that including brands like NIVEA, Pfizer, e.l.f, Innisfree, and Sotheby’s. The company now has three offices; in Toronto, Montreal, and one in New York. The name of the company suggests its mantra which is, ‘as custom as your coffee’. With the guidance of Priya, the agency has seduced clients from all over the world, across several industries like pharma, beauty, tech, and so on.

To know more about 1Milk2Sugars, visit

here - http://www.1milk2sugarspr.com/ For more such amazing features on

women entrepreneurs in Canada, do not forget to subscribe to our monthly

CanadianSME Small Business magazine.

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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES for both buyers and small retailers

Robert Bigler General Manager, Canada at eBay

A senior business leader with global management experience and a track record of building businesses, teams, and people. Works collaboratively with executive teams and boards to develop and implement pragmatic strategies and transform organizations across functions and industries. An intellectually curious, fact-based problem solver with a bias to action. Proven team player with a track record of empowering and championing people.

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What are the challenges and opportunities for both buyers and small retailers during this unprecedented holiday season? Supply chain disruptions and scarcity issues mean that a lot of the hottest holiday items – think in-demand sneakers, toys, electronics – are going to be harder for Canadian shoppers to get their hands on. But empty store shelves in traditional retail are motivating consumers to shop differently and take a more open-minded approach to buy holiday gifts, looking to marketplaces like eBay which have always been a great place to find-demand and hard-to-find items.

Small Business For many small retailers, supply chain issues have been a part of their reality for a while now, and though it may present challenges, small businesses are nimbler and more entrepreneurial by nature compared to their big-box counterparts. And, with consumers shifting away from traditional retail locations, it’s a great time for smaller retailers to fill the void with their inventory. This, combined with the growing appetite to support small local businesses, makes this an opportune moment for small retail.

What are the ways Canadians are shopping differently? As mentioned, because of scarcity issues and supply chain challenges, more Canadians are looking beyond traditional retail for their holiday shopping this season. However, it’s not just how or where they’re shopping, but also for what. People are discovering the unique, the nostalgic, and the pre-owned, with purchases that reflect individual interests. Sneakers are a great example of this. Enthusiasts come to eBay for a rich assortment of styles, and many of the most coveted pairs are pre-owned. In fact, we’re seeing double-digit growth in the number of listings for pre-owned sneakers on our site. Pre-owned condition is even part of our new sneaker Authenticity Guarantee offering, which helps fuel the pre-owned collectible sneaker market by building a trusted trading experience for buyers and sellers.

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Refurbished is another example of this. Not long ago, there was a stigma attached to gifting anything that wasn’t brand new and in season. But with a renewed focus on sustainability, and offerings like eBay Refurbishedthat redefine the way people shop for like-new products, refurbished items are topping holiday shopping lists.

How online marketplaces like eBay are built for scarcity? One of eBay’s core strengths is that it’s a marketplace powered by millions of sellers, with a distributed supply chain, that can quickly adapt. Online marketplaces in general are driven by supply and demand, and naturally, backfill products that are sold out everywhere else. On top of this, the preowned and collectible inventory that’s found on eBay – and becoming more and more in demand these days – are more insulated from many supply chain disruptions.

eBay has been focusing on creating bestin-class experiences enthusiast product categories that often face scarcity issues, like trading cards and collectible sneakers, and more recently, electronics. eBay Refurbished, for example, gives shoppers an alternative way to shop coveted and indemand products this holiday season.

Small Business Please share any other consumer trends this holiday season. Shopping and supporting small businesses really picked up at the beginning of the pandemic and remains a priority for consumers; we anticipate this carrying through the holidays. eCommerce has leveled the playing field for small businesses, enabling them to reach more consumers beyond their local catchment areas. In particular, established online marketplaces like eBay give sellers instant access to an active consumer base through a trusted experience, which is incredibly powerful. In fact, eBay is made up of millions of small businesses, which drive the majority of sales on our platform.

What is your key advice to entrepreneurs in the retail industry? The retail industry is always shifting in one way or another – from pandemic repercussions to shifting consumer mindsets, to new technology. My advice is to diversify your business model to ensure you’re able to adapt to changing times. Having an omnichannel retail business can help you keep up with changing consumer preferences or macroeconomic implications. The start of the pandemic lockdowns really brought this to life, where small brick-and-mortar shops that pivoted to focusing online were able to weather the storm, or in many cases, even thrive. I also encourage Canadian small businesses to think globally. eBay’s marketplace connects you to more than 150 million active buyers from around the world, so you can instantly become an online exporter. Reaching new markets is another important way to diversify and allows Canadians to build thriving local businesses that grow and scale with global sales.

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For small businesses looking to get online quickly and easily, eBay has a great program called Up & Running, providing all the tools and resources you need to add eCommerce to your business. It’s a free program, and it’s free to list your items on eBay, so there’s really no risk in giving it a shot!

On a mission to Empower purpose driven businesses across Canada & United States Exclusive chat with

Lee Piccoli

CEO & Founder of Helia Capital An entrepreneur for over three decades since founding Fusion Homes in 1999, Lee Piccoli is Chief Executive Officer of Helia Capital. Fusion Homes is a client experience leader and large-volume developer of low- and high-rise residential homes in Southwestern Ontario. Lee grew Fusion Homes from the ground up, steering the company to its current position as a progressive, agile firm with revenue in excess of $200 million. A strong self-belief pushes Lee, but an honest and transparent approach defines him. Lee is passionate about long-term sustainable growth and, like many entrepreneurs, he is no stranger to putting everything he owns on the line. Largely selftaught, Lee recognizes that every day is an opportunity for growth – professionally and personally — and is currently participating in the YPO/Harvard University President’s Program.

Small Business What was the inspiration behind Helia Capital? What was the deciding factor that made you want to reimagine Fusion Ventures and launch Helia Capital? As an entrepreneur, the opportunity to achieve what I dream up – whether big or small – is my daily inspiration. Having grown Fusion Homes from an idea to what it is now twenty years later, I just feel I have so much to share with those who are seeking a similar or greater trajectory. The evolution from Fusion Ventures to Helia Capital is acknowledging my growth in this space. Starting with a couple of great partnerships with some very inspiring entrepreneurs, I realized I not only loved doing this but that my team and I were good at it. We just needed a brand that was representative of this realization and commitment.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as an entrepreneur and what strategies did you use to overcome it? For me, transitioning from an entrepreneurial company to a professionally managed organization. So many key decisions are made during this time that can severely impact your culture, your relationship with the customer, and the perception of your brand.

Having the right people in place is key during this transition – people you can trust to strengthen the culture and deliver a strong customer experience.

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Helia Capital has achieved great success since its launch. What would you say are the main aspects that have contributed to the company’s success? I’m very excited about our value proposition and every time I chat with entrepreneurs, I feel more confident in it. Having a team experienced in the very thing we are advising on, paired with a patient approach, means we can genuinely be there for each of our partners. We also seek out compatible relationships - working with likeminded businesses that see value in balancing people and profit in their decision-making.

Small Business Would you consider yourself an innovative leader? Is innovation a crucial part of your way of leading your employees and doing business? I would consider myself a passionate leader, with innovative approaches being a by-product of my full commitment to balancing the needs of our people and the business. Being flexible and open to the needs of our employees is necessary when it comes to recruitment and talent retention. By being truly open to your people, you will have no choice but to be innovative in the experience you deliver to them.

In a matter of weeks, we were able to start selling homes online without ever having much of that infrastructure in place to do so. This is something that is beneficial even as restrictions relax, as a growing segment of customers demands a digital homebuying experience. Before COVID-19, we were a strictly inoffice, 8 am-5 pm workplace. During the various lockdowns, we saw how effective a flexible schedule could be. Moving forward, we have kept that flexibility paired with a more limited in-office requirement.

What’s been the biggest impact that COVID-19 has had on the company? How has the global pandemic impacted your business and the way you do business?

What advice can you give to your fellow entrepreneurs when it comes to doing business during these challenging times?

In speaking with colleagues from various industries, it seems we all had very similar impacts – accelerating the digitization of our customer experience and flexing on how our employees can work.

I always come back to VUCA and the importance of prioritizing agility and flexibility. Being rigid in increasingly uncertain times will date you quickly and will not allow you to attract and retain talented people. Listening and making timely decisions will continue to be my preferred approach.

Should Marketers invest in their

Professional Development?

CMA conducted a recent survey, what was the motivation and inspiration beyond conducting the survey and what are you hoping to accomplish through it?

John Wiltshire

President and CEO Canadian Marketing Association A highly accomplished senior executive with experience in marketing and product strategies, John is currently in the position of President – CEO for the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA). In this role, John provides the overall strategy and execution of the CMA mandate and champions the fundraising and product development of a new Chartered Marketer designation. Prior to this role, John spent over 20 years as a senior executive in the financial industry. His core strengths include product design, branding, promotions, and communication. John is renowned for using a combination of diplomacy, tenacious leadership, strong core values, and objective decision-making to deliver results. His strong leadership and operational expertise as well as his people-first approach have left a significant impact on the companies he has worked for and the people he has worked with.

We wanted to hear from marketers – CMA members and non-members – about their needs in professional development, advocacy, and community engagement. As we continue to navigate through economic uncertainty at home and abroad, it’s crucial that we are providing marketers with the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to contribute to their organization’s

Can you highlight the key findings from the survey? The survey delved deeply into many areas. One thing we learned is that decisionmakers place a higher value on professional development than their employees do. This is a gap that needs to be addressed. Marketing leaders should have conversations with their teams about the key role that professional development plays in business success and career growth.

Why has it become important for marketers to invest in their professional development? In professions that face rapidly changing circumstances, such as marketing, professional development helps employees expand their knowledge and skill base to remain relevant and keep up with developments and trends.

What strategies should the market leaders adopt to be clear with their staff about the importance of continuous learning and building skills? It’s important for leaders to be specific about which professional development options align with their employees’ career goals, strengths, and opportunities for growth. Leaders should include professional development in performance objectives, to incentivize marketers to make learning a priority. Finally, decision-makers should lead by example, demonstrating how their own continuous learning and professional development benefit them as individuals as well as their organizations.

What are your predictions about what's going to happen in the world of marketing over the next five years? Marketing is going to be increasingly more focused on 1:1 relationships, rather than targeting, with an elevated level of content creation, data literacy, and customer journey mapping required to respond to a stronger voice for the consumer. As we move away from third-party data mechanisms that many marketers have relied on for years, re-skilling and upskilling will be paramount. The acceleration of digital will continue, though perhaps not at the lightning speed we are experiencing today.

Silos within organizations will break down further as companies and leaders become more agile, nimble and responsive to their customers needs and expectations.

Marketing is not enough to drive growth

Michael Haynes

Founder and Principal Consultant at Listen Innovate Grow. For over 20 years, Michael has worked with companies ranging from micro-businesses to large corporates across Australia and Canada to develop and implement customer strategies and programs to drive business growth.

Small Business Passionate about helping to create truly customer-centric organizations, Michael is also an avid traveler and is regularly invited to be a guest speaker and panelist for an array of SME and start-up events and podcasts across Australia, Canada, and the United States. Michael is available as an expert guest speaker for multimedia engagements, podcast appearances, and online workshops. Please get in touch via the contact form for bookings & availability

How random marketing tactics might be hurting your business (and why marketing is not enough to drive growth) Random tactics may be simply “throwing money down the toilet”. In a B2B context, marketing tactics need to be focused on the B2B buyer (i.e. those decision-makers and influencers making the purchase decision) and what activities, tools, and sources they use in their decision-making.

Driving business growth in a B2B context requires 3 elements: Strategic Marketing: that is both data and buyer-driven Business Innovation: making new introductions and/or improvements across your company based on market/business customer needs

Why “content vomit” can sabotage opportunities (and what business clients are really looking for)? Content vomit refers to the massive amount of information that product and service providers have flooded onto the internet. While often from trusted sources, the large and varied quantity of information is often confusing for business customers. According to Gartner, over 44% of B2B buyers struggle to navigate through it all.

1) “Sense-making” - they want to know what information is relevant for them and then should focus on 2) “AIR”—Advice, Insights and Recommendations which will provide them with guidance and a “roadmap” as to how they will achieve their objectives

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“Sense-Making Sales”: focusing on providing a roadmap as to how your company will WORK WITH the client to achieve its objectives.

Small Business What is the reason why focusing on the customer alone is insufficient to succeed in B2B and what are the 3 components of a business growth strategy? In B2B, it is not sufficient to understand the business customer (i.e the company you are serving), you must also have an in-depth understanding of the buyers (i.e. The decision-makers that make the actual “Yes” or “No” decision and those who provide input to/influence the purchase decision) so that your marketing and sales efforts can be tailored to these individuals, their priorities and how they make purchase decisions. There are 3 key activities that must be undertaken to have sustainable profitable growth which I call the Listen Innovate Grow B2B Framework.

Listening: Having an in-depth understanding of : ·Your company (i.e Goals, Vision, Key Strengths, Capabilities) “The Market” (i.e Your target industries and geographic markets, key competitors in terms of trends, developments, performance) The “Business Customer” (i.e understand Who buys, How they buy, Why they buy, What they expect from you)

Listening on these 3 levels tells you WHERE TO FOCUS

Innovating: Making new introductions and/or improvements across the business in alignment with market, customer and buyer needs Growing: The approaches (or pathways) by which you will grow your company such as: pursuing new customers, new markets, selling more to existing customers, providing new offerings

As well as how you will manage your people, finances and changes that are occurring in your company as it grows

Why business innovation is not a fancy, big corporate concept but a strategy that is critical for SME growth Business innovation is about making new introductions and/or improvements to your company across 1 or more of the following areas:

Products Services Organizational Structure Processes Marketing

Studies have shown that high growth firms that achieve 20% or more growth over a 3-year period innovate in multiple areas. However, previous studies have shown that over 50% of Canadian businesses with less than 100 staff innovate.

Setup meetings with the decision makers at these key clients.

LISTEN: to Learn as much as you can about their goals, priorities and objectives

On a final note, what advice would you give to the small businesses that are struggling to survive and thrive in these challenging times? Start with your existing clients and customers. Make a list of those customers who are:

a. your “raving fans, b. account for the largest portion of your revenues.

Meet with your management team, review this list and identify: Who are the key decision-makers When have you last had discussions with them (eg. virtually or in-person) What are their key priorities, challenges? What are their key goals?

Following these client discussions, conduct workshops with your senior management team and relevant members of your crossfunctional teams. Identify how to best serve and support these key clients and their urgent challenges and priorities.

Automation DRIVING GREATER FLEXIBILITY FOR ORGANIZATIONS TERRY SIMPSON

Senior Solutions Engineer at Nintex Terry Simpson is a senior solutions engineer at Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation. He is an experienced PMP-certified project manager, consultant, trainer and speaker at numerous SharePoint events including SP Tech Con, Nintex User Groups, SharePoint Conference.ORG, SUGDC, SUGATL, and SharePoint Saturday events around the country. Terry is a graduate of Marshall University with a degree in Finance and holds a master's in Business Administration from Frostburg State University.

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Small Business

Can you tell me more about Williams Engineering Canada's situation? Why did Williams Engineering Canada choose to automate processes before COVID-19? The catalyst for automating processes really started with a desire to move IT assets to the cloud. Once that move started, process automation became an obvious way to gain value out of the cloud and mature the process.

What types of processes did the company automate? Are some used more than others? Williams Engineering Canada started simply with processes like vacation requests. Following that, they moved onto other HR-focused processes that added value back to the business – onboarding, offboarding, reviews, training, etc. All of these forms were available in a central location on SharePoint where employees could get quick access to them.

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How has automation helped improve the safety of workers? In any business, risk is a major component of employee and organizational longevity. To mitigate that risk, processes or controls are introduced. Safety is a major part of risk reduction. By introducing automation into the equation, workers are guided through a process. The automation helps ensure the processes are followed consistently and removes elements where human error can play a major factor.

How is automation driving greater flexibility for organizations? In today’s world of automation, solutions can be configured and deployed in a matter of hours or days, not weeks or months. Those organizations that can react quickly to needs have a higher probability of success.

Small Business What has the pandemic caused organizations to realize about their processes? The pandemic has made many organizations realize how many additional processes are capable of being automated. 15 years ago, you were considered “digital” if you had a PDF that was able to be filled in on a computer and then printed out. Many organizations have not made it down the digital maturity path over the years. The less digitally mature organizations must grow quickly. The second thing organizations have learned is that “they can do it”. After getting thrown into the deep end by the pandemic, many organizations now understand that process automation doesn’t need a developer and IT staff to implement – average business users can do it.

Santiago Gomez, Director of Digital Transformation at Williams Engineering Canada

At Williams Engineering our purpose is to brighten the lives of people in our communities by engineering sustainable cities that are safe, inclusive, and resilient. The construction industry is a huge engine of economic growth, and consulting engineering provides essential intellectual capital to build the cities of the future. Digital transformation challenges businesses to re-cast legacy processes with new tools and a new mindset. Technology has decoupled traditional value chains and allowed new service platforms to emerge, empowering creators and consumers alike. Productivity and teammate experience are two of the four main pillars of our digital transformation at Williams Engineering. Nintex process automation allowed us to digitalize legacy paper and email-based processes into structured data. Process data creates a positive feedback loop for better data-driven decisions and management visibility. . Teammates could complete processes easily from their mobile devices without

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having to re-enter information or route things manually. In 2020, Covid-19 created a whole new paradigm for remote work and safety requirements. Our field staff were able to meet customer needs while at the same time complying with new public health guidelines. With Nintex we have been able to orchestrate and automate processes in Finance, HR, Safety and more.

About Nintex Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organizations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimizing business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Xero’s new inventory solution

will help small businesses manage their inventory effortlessly and stay on top

Exclusive chat with

Faye Pang Canada Country Manager, Xero

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Faye Pang is the Canada Country Manager for Xero, the global small business platform with more than 2.7 million subscribers worldwide that are dedicated to making business beautiful. Faye brings nearly 15 years of experience building businesses from the ground up. Prior to joining Xero, Faye helped launch Uber Freight into the Canadian market. She also helped launch the Uber Eats app in Toronto in December 2015, scaling the business from 80 restaurants on launch day to 20,000 partners by the end of her tenure. As a leader, Faye prioritizes growth above all else, and practices authenticity, transparency, and empathy in the way she manages her team. She strongly believes that we all have a set of values that we have to live by at all times (rather than keeping our work and personal lives separate), and keeps this consideration top-of-mind when championing her team’s growth, both personally and professionally. She is passionate about creating systems that lift women up while tackling the hierarchical barriers that have disproportionately affected women in the workplace.

Xero recently announced its integration with Shopify, what was the motivation behind this partnership and what are you hoping to accomplish through it? Xero aspires to create a seamless experience for eCommerce and goods-based business customers, helping them to manage their accounting and eCommerce operations in one place to provide an enhanced and centralized view of their business performance.

LOCATE’S inventory-accounting workflows are some of the most comprehensive in the US market. It connects goods-based business owners’ sales channels into one platform, providing a centralized view of all inventory and sales performance. This helps small goods-based businesses to better understand their inventory costing, profitability, and sales channels performance.

This integration supports our strategic priority to grow the Xero small business platform, strengthens our ecommerce offering, and supports our growth opportunities in North America and globally as we strive to be the most insightful and trusted platform for small businesses. By building Xero solutions that seamlessly integrate with Shopify, we aim to support our small businesses community to not only weather tough economic conditions but to manage and grow their businesses via one of the world’s largest eCommerce platforms. We are also excited to introduce Xero to a whole new suite of potential customers around the world via Shopify.

How will the acquisition of LOCATE Inventory (LOCATE), a US cloud-based inventory management provider, help small businesses in Canada with their ecommerce capabilities? This acquisition supports Xero’s strategic priority to grow our small business platform, and it helps strengthen our ecommerce offering and opens the door to additional growth opportunities in North America.

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We’re thrilled to embed the LOCATE team and their inventory management capability, talent, and expertise into Xero to help build a new cloud inventory management solution for our Canadian customers.

Small Business What are some features that you're excited to develop as a result of the LOCATE acquisition?

and expanded our partnerships with a number of Canadian accounting firms to make Xero a preferred solution for their practices.

Xero’s new inventory solution will help small businesses manage their inventory effortlessly and stay on top of their supply, demand, and financial performance across all channels, so they can focus on growing their business.

We see the small business community as the heart and soul of Canada’s economy, and our mission has been to provide these businesses with the digital tools to help them thrive. As the Canadian small business economy recovers, Xero will continue to invest in developing our platform to meet the needs of Canadian businesses now and in the future.

Our vision is to provide an inventory management solution that will help accountants, bookkeepers, and small business owners:

save time on manual and repetitive data entry manage the balance of supply and demand in your business, so you don’t over-purchase stock and can better manage your cash flow make smart decisions about how you price your products, so you can improve the profitability of your business grow your business sales, by making it easier to sell on new sales channels and reach a wider audience

Xero delivered a strong performance; including operating revenue, which grew 23% (26% in CC) to $505.7 million NZD, subscribers, which increased by 23% to 3.0 million, and AMRR, which surpassed $1 billion NZD for the first time. How will these achievements support the small business community in Canada? We were pleased with our H1 FY22 results, which also included 23,000 net subscriber additions in North America to reach a total of 308,000 subscribers. Xero continues to focus on supporting our partner channel in North America and

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What is your advice for small businesses as we come out of the pandemic and they try to recover? While operating during a pandemic has been incredibly challenging, one of the bright spots has been seeing the adaptability and flexibility of small business owners and their teams. In our research, digital maturity has proven to be a crucial success factor during the pandemic, and it will be just as important for businesses moving forward. From the research that went into Xero’s One Step report, we know that 7 out of 10 small business owners in Canada say they are confident embracing new technology in their business. However, only 21% said they are “Adopters” of new tech, while 30% identified as “Delayers”. We worked with a team of behavioral scientists to dig into the reasons small businesses were slow to adopt technology and we found that for these companies, their hesitancy stems not from a lack of information or choice, but from discomfort or anxiety with the idea of change. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that change is inevitable, and you either embrace it or risk getting left behind. Small businesses that readily adopt new technology see 120% higher revenue on average, and experience 106% higher productivity. While change can seem costly in terms of time and effort, these stats clearly show that the cost of not changing is much higher.

Technology Is Vital To Drive SMEs’ Financial Performance By Mostafa Sayyadi Management Consultant | Business & Technology journalist

Information technology is necessary to build high-performing SMEs and also may be necessary as the globalized market demands are increasingly difficult to adapt to and sustain profitability. Financial performance in global markets is dependent on continuous learning. Corporate learning plays a critical role and is a strategic prerequisite for increasing sales and market share in today’s knowledge-based economy. Effective corporate learning can enable SMEs to actively respond to environmental changes and customer needs and organizational members’ growth needs. Thus, information technology is a key factor that should be embraced at the senior level of SMEs to enable financial performance in globalized markets through building a learning climate and empowering organizational members. In the absence of effective IT management, SMEs cannot implement successful plans in order to adapt to today’s global business environment.

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Small Business Information technology is a key factor to improve financial performance for SMEs. Forbes’ Reports on American industries clearly indicate that effective IT implementation significantly contributes to SMEs’ financial performance. These researches acknowledge that information technology is an important enabler to effectively manage business processes. Information technology can reduce paper-based transactions for SMEs that can potentially decrease costs and subsequently improve profitability for SMEs. Furthermore, it can be seen that information technology enables SMEs to effectively identify opportunities in an external business environment that leads to identifying the best opportunities for investment that potentially improves financial performance in terms of return on investment. Information technology can also help SMEs to effectively create more innovative solutions for their organizational problems. More innovative solutions and better ideas can improve the quality of products and services, which in turn increases sales and market share for SMEs.

Two important dimensions that all managers world-wide can learn from this article is that informational technology can help SMEs to accomplish their goals that they would not ordinarily consider part of their competencies. The question posited for top management executives and leaders in any and all SMEs is to accept the challenge of information technology implementation in order to address the current gaps in business effectiveness and improve their competitiveness in global markets. Thus, I recommend that executives should consider information technology as key driver for improving financial performance and sales in today’s hypercompetitive environment.

Business success for SMEs in today’s global business environment can be, therefore, achieved when information technology is effectively applied and widely used to achieve a higher degree of financial performance. When information technology can create a learning workplace and inspire a vision for the future expansion into global markets, SMEs will secure a foothold in the ever-expansive global marketplace.

Mostafa Sayyadi, CAHRI, AFAIM, CPMgr, works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies and helps companies— from start-ups to the Fortune 100— succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to HR.com and Consulting Magazine and his work has been featured in these top-flight business publications.

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Bolt works to reduce Domestic and International Shipping Costs

Mark Ang CEO @ Bolt Logistics Mark co-founded Bolt Logistics (formerly Second Closet) out of the University of Toronto, where he obtained his Bachelor of Commerce. He was also selected to participate in the Creative Destruction Lab as part of the MBA program, an incubator/accelerator focused on scaling disruptive businesses. Prior to founding Bolt, Mark worked in various roles spanning investment banking, assurance, and management consulting.

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What was the inspiration and motivation behind founding Bolt Logistics? And what are you hoping to accomplish through this platform? When we started a valet storage business, we set out to revolutionize the consumer storage experience. The service picked up, photo cataloged, stored, and returned your stuff at the click of a button. When we took a step back, what we were actually building was a 3PL for people’s stuff. We became experts at managing big and bulky products that would routinely come in and out of our facilities. We’re now leveraging that expertise to deliver world-class last-mile experiences. As we continue to win more of the market, our aspiration is to have more impact on our sustainability initiatives by conducting these executions with electric vehicles (We’ll have the largest fully electric truck fleet in Canada by Q1 2022). In the US, 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, and although our volume is lower than larger incumbents, we can do our part to help the environment and ensure our operations are carbon neutral or negative.

How does Bolt work to reduce domestic and international shipping costs through leadingedge software that provides access to the best shipping rates? The biggest factor in shipping cost is the weight of a

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package and the distance it travels from the “ship from” to the “ship to” address. All things equal, weight is what it is and can’t be influenced by a fulfillment partner. This leaves distance traveled as the factor within the circle of influence of the fulfillment partner.

What Bolt does to help influence this is analyze our merchants’ SKU level data and intelligently distribute orders across our network to forward place their product and minimize the need for split shipments. This helps reduce cost and increase delivery speed to the shopper.

Do you think that small businesses need more reliable coverage with quick turnaround times? For sure -- as small businesses compete with large marketplaces like Amazon that have set wild consumer expectations for faster delivery of all product types, there’s a need to democratize the fulfillment landscape so small businesses can stay competitive.

Small Business Do you think the commitment to sustainable retail practices is important for any business? How do you feel about Bolt Logistics' efforts in this area? Absolutely - climate change is knocking on everyone’s door and it’s imperative that we all take action in whichever ways we can. The thinking that our efforts will have too small of an impact and therefore aren’t worth the effort is the kind of thinking that perpetuates the problem. Whether retail business ships one order or one million orders, use one box a day, or 10 thousand boxes a day, finding ways to ensure everything we do is sustainably oriented will, in aggregate, make a strong impact. There are more and more options in the market where you can vote with your wallet and choose a sustainable solution, so it’s becoming easier than ever before to hop on and have the impact that you want to. There is still certainly room for improvement, but directionally, this is where the industry is going. We consider Bolt to be a leader in this space, making heavy investments in EV infrastructure, sustainable sourcing practices, and making carbon-conscious decisions throughout our organization.

What is your opinion of eCommerce and how do you think it will shape Canada’s future? The pandemic propelled e-commerce forward by 10 years. Businesses of all shapes and sizes need to develop an omnichannel approach to distributing their products. E-commerce is decisively here to stay but I think it’s how businesses architect and position themselves within that arena. Owning the customer from an acquisition and data perspective is key -- it allows you to remarket, survey, and build upon a customer base versus jockeying for a position within a marketplace. This flows through to the last mile as well, where your brand really needs to show up in a big way (shipping on time, in full, and meeting customer experience expectations). What we’re also seeing is that it’s not necessarily the brands with the longest track record in e-commerce that are winning, it’s ones that have a consistent system from production to fulfillment that is able to capture market share and win. Given the shift to a “work from anywhere” environment and the digitally native aspects of ecommerce, merchants can and have launched their brands from anywhere in the world. For those who choose Canada, Bolt is there to ensure they are represented by a world-class logistics and fulfillment partner.

The larger incumbents are

virtually all based in the US, and we’ve been cognizant of the

opportunity to support proudly Canadian brands.

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How to create a dynamic employee culture post COVID?

Jordan Rodney

Julie Ruben Rodney

President, MaxPeople Founder, Rodney Employment Law

Founder & CEO MaxPeople

Jordan Rodney is the President of MaxPeople and Founder of Rodney Employment Law. A lawyer who brings a unique HR perspective to every issue and case he takes on, Jordan’s true passion has, and always will be helping people. A risk-taker at heart, he left the corporate world nearly 11 years ago to team up with his wife to provide in-house employment law services as part of the MaxPeople service offering. His combined passion for HR and law give him a unique perspective and he is grateful for the opportunity to continue sharing that with everyone that works with the Rodney Employment Law and MaxPeople teams.

Julie Ruben Rodney M.Ed., CHRL is the Founder and CEO of MaxPeople, a consulting firm specializing in HR Services, Training and Employment Law. A proud Maritimer to the core, Julie truly values people and relationships which led to her start in organizational behaviour early in her career. She has always been a trailblazer and her company inception, and its structure is no exception. Julie’s passion for HR is apparent from the first time you meet her. She lives and breathes her company purpose of helping people be focused, happier and more productive and is grateful for the opportunity to assist other organizations to achieve the same.

Small Business Many employers have made the decision to continue to monitor trends with returning to the workplace and allow employees to adopt a hybrid solution for a physical return to work. What the new workplace might look like & the best practices being implemented? (Julie) A hybrid environment that combines in-office and work from home time will likely be the new normal for many organizations. What exactly that entails for each company really should be carefully considered and customized for best results. The key to success is ensuring that you really know your people and do what it takes to keep them focused, happier, and more productive, at work and in life. That isMaxPeople’s core purpose because we know first-hand that if you build your culture on these tenets, you’ll set yourself up for growth and success.

Key things to keep in mind when implementing a hybrid model:

Listen first and really get to know your team Make surein-person time is very purposeful Be clear on what is mandatory vs. voluntary for in-person meetings and events Update policy documents on a regular basis to clearly reflect your new workplace realities Be transparent and ensure policy changes are communicated to all staff proactively

How to create a dynamic employee culture post COVID? (Jordan) What we noticed is that companies with strong employee cultures pre-COVID were better able to pivot quickly when the pandemic hit. Whether your organization fits that

description or you’re working toward it, now is the perfect time to focus on doing the work to build or enhance your workplace culture. As a company we live by the advice we share with our clients and therefore were able to act quickly during COVID and ensure we not only maintained but strengthened the MaxPeople culture. Some suggestions to help build the foundation within your organization:

Define or update your Value and Purpose Statements and communicate them to all staff Focus on employee engagement – having employees fill out an engagement survey can be a good first step along with focus groups and quarterly pulse checks Take the time to evaluate whether your communication and collaboration processes and tools are still working for your team and adjust as required

Small Business Identifying solutions to meet employer needs recognizing that one size does not fit all? (Julie) The first step in ensuring that you are taking a customized approach is to empower your frontline managers to have one-on-one conversations with all of their employees. This will help you gather a pulse on what your people are looking for and how you can better meet their individual needs. It’s also important that those direct managers are properly trained to lead those conversations and help implement changes investing in their growth and development is critical as well. From there it is up to you and your company leaders to actively listen to your employees and make meaningful changes in order to best set them up for success – which will ultimately lead to strong talent attraction, retention, organizational growth, and overall success.

For employees, it provides them with peace of mind and confirms their rights. For employers, it sets out expectations to staff in the new workplace environment.

What is your key advice to employers? (Julie) + (Jordan) Throughout the pandemic, we have been incredibly fortunate to retain our client base and maintain high engagement levels despite the loss of in-person time. We owe that to the passion and commitment of our team. We realized very early that as leaders, we had to continue to be agile to support them as their needs changed with the evolving situation. It will be important for employers to retain this mindset in the coming year and beyond.

How to approach new legal realities including and not limited to vaccination policies, occupational health and safety, and employment standards for employees? (Jordan) Some other key takeaways for leaders:

This has been a very uncertain time in the legal realm as we are facing truly unprecedented situations and challenges. This will continue for many years as new cases are heard and decisions are handed down by the courts and/or arbitrators. In the meantime, our focus has been to work with our clients to ensure they have the proper legal agreements and policies in place to mitigate risk. We cannot stress enough the importance of being proactive when it comes to these documents as they can help you avoid costly and time-consuming legal battles down the road. Having updated policies (e.g., working remotely, vaccinations, health, and safety, pandemic policy, IT use, etc.) related to the pandemic has been invaluable to both employees and employers.

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Invest in your managers as they are key to engagement and retention across your organization Take the time to get to know your employees and make sure they feel valued - high performers are more likely than ever to be approached by competitors or recruiters Pay close attention to mental health in the workplace – it’s more important than ever to ensure support is available for those who may be struggling Be comfortable being uncomfortable as this is our new reality Don’t be afraid to invest in external expert advice and support

THE 5 LESSONS

I’VE LEARNED MARKETING TO RETIREES

Earlier this summer I helped launch Longevity, a pension-style mutual fund targeted at retirees, where I came to understand that age group a little more indepth. Surprisingly, many of us working are very familiar with what retirement is supposed to look like, at least in the 20th century. We see it being about withdrawal. And inactivity. That when you stop working, you somehow both stop having any ambition to truly live your “golden years.”

By Matt Coyle Creative Brand Builder, Marketer, Leader, Designer with a passion for doing work that has impact

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The truth is many newly retired people—particularly the ones in their early years—tend to feel most energized and excited about what they can finally do. Here are a few considerations when marketing to an audience between 55 and 75.

Small Business

1.People retire from work, not life

Retirement marks the time in life when we get to choose what we really want to do, and whom we want to do it with. It’s energizing to be in that position. Paint a new picture of retirement that showcases the desire to build, the boldness to dream, and the drive to make an impact.

2. 50 is the new 35

Last year there was a meme going around comparing Blanche Dubois from The Golden Girls to J Lo. Both were in their early fifties. Clearly our perceptions and expectations around age have changed. The point is that if you’re going to market and portray people in retirement, skew younger, because it’s a trap to use references that are older.

3. Market with both “new” and “traditional” media

Retirees might get a physical newspaper but then scroll Instagram afterward, keeping the habits they enjoy but adding new ones in order to stay connected. Don’t be scared of longerform content—retirees are curious to learn and educate themselves and now actually have time to consume longer pieces. When selecting your media, ensure you don’t exclude one for another. They’re all valuable and play a role.

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Small Business

4. Anyone can be influenced to change habits, if encouraged by their close network

Their kids, grandkids, friends, and community have great influence on them. They may be resistant at first, but if what you’re proposing keeps them better connected and benefits them, then they’re game to try it. When targeting this demo, ensure you’re also including their “influencers” into your communications.

5. Avoid the cliches

We know them. We make fun of them. They’re tired. In every retirement category from pharma to vacation to retirement living. Sunny beaches. Hand holding. Sunsets. BIG smiles. Retirement is portrayed as some utopian cult. The only way to cut through all that BS is by being authentic. And trying a little hard. Think about it: if you were 65, would that appeal to you? There is so much opportunity to speak to this group in a meaningful way. I call upon all the marketers out there to inspire us, so that maybe when we’re retired, the marketing will portray what retirement should be—the best years of your life.

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The Power of Education to Drive Economic Growth in Canada The impact of international education goes far beyond the classroom or the school campus.

By Martin Basiri CEO and Co-Founder of ApplyBoard

Mission Education is a right, not a privilege. Every year many students choose to study abroad and take advantage of educational opportunities across the world in order to further pursue their careers, better their life’s trajectory, and improve their future. There are millions of students who just don't have access to higher education, simply because of where they were born. As a nation and as an open and welcoming community, Canada has the unique opportunity to help attract and educate these students.

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The past two years have shown every Canadian business leader how important it is for our country to stay innovative, attract talent, continue to keep inventing, and stay nimble to keep up and frankly, survive in the ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic. Not many people recognize or consider it right away, but international students have a huge impact on Canada’s innovation and a profound economic impact on markets like North America.

From March to October 2021, UK

After two years of challenges and uncertainty, 2022 is on the horizon and new data shows that there is pent-up demand for international students to study and travel abroad in the new year. This is good news not only for the education sector but for immigration and all the benefits of international education that come along with it. We at ApplyBoard have a positive outlook for the future of international education and we’re predicting that 2022 will be the biggest year for international enrollment. We're already seeing a huge increase in the number of international students applying to universities and colleges next year and can’t wait for the strides we'll make as a global community.

750% compared to the same

All countries are paying close attention to international students because of how critical international enrollment is to the ongoing strength of their workforce talent. ApplyBoard recently released a new trends report that showcases the future of opportunity in international education and looks at the types of trends that are influencing a student’s decision-making factors. Despite a lot of unknowns caused by the pandemic, student application volumes at ApplyBoard are booming.

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student applications on the ApplyBoard Platform rose by more than 300%, Canadian applications grew by over 200%, and US applications spiked by period in 2020.

Small Business Now is the time to increase accessibility and build new opportunities for connections between cultures and communities through international students. I was an international student ten years ago and ever since my experience of moving to Canada, I made the decision to dedicate my life to improving global access to education through technology. Technology can level the playing field, close the gap and allow students the opportunity to access education. We decided to create a platform that could connect students and counselors with programs that best suited each student. With the help of ApplyBoard, international students no longer need to spend countless hours reviewing the pages of school and program details to find out if they are qualified.

Through the platform, educational institutions are able to find and attract excellent students, and in the end, destination countries like Canada welcome talented immigrants into their communities.

There’s a beautiful synergy that co-exists within the international education sector. While international students build a stronger career and future for themselves as they embark on their international studies, the country simultaneously becomes more enriched and refined by all the good fortune and innovation they bring forward. In fact, 55 percent of America’s billion-dollar startups have an immigrant founder. Microsoft, Twitter, Tesla, and Google are just a couple of examples of successful companies led by international students. International students have the drive to push forward global economies, advance emerging industries, and create technological innovations that re-shape our world. Here in Canada, those who come to study at a domestic institution play a critical role in driving Canada’s innovation economy forward. Recent findings show that one in every four small-tomedium-sized Canadian businesses are owned or run by immigrants and almost half of these companies have implemented at least one type of innovation in the last decade. We need to continue to fuel the growth of international students to help overcome the issues that exist within the pandemic and also, the economic obstacles in Canada in the years to come. With job vacancies in Canada on the rise and nine million baby boomers in Canada expected to head into retirement over the next decade, it’s important that we continue to invest in the amazing international talent that has helped boost the Canadian economy.

Small Business In the next couple of years, I think that we’re going to continue to see a lot of technology companies come to the table to help make education more accessible and respond to the various issues impacting our students, for example, improving hybrid and remote learning methods, building more customized experiences by leveraging artificial intelligence, bridging the financial challenges students face and other gaps that impact access to education.

ApplyBoard has grown rapidly throughout the pandemic, and this is because our platform was designed to serve students. In our early days of the company, investors were so inspired by our mission to educate the world. Our partners and investors value the longterm success and growth of our technology not only to help make it possible for the student but for our world and our global economy. Since we launched in 2015, we’ve helped our students and recruitment partners understand important factors that affect a student’s visa approval through our innovative technology. In fact, ApplyBoard students were almost 20% more likely to have their Canadian study permit approved in 2020 compared to all applicants. At the end of the day, we are only one player in this global initiative to increase access to education. We are trying to bring new players and new organizations to help eliminate barriers international students face in their journey to access quality education.

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That’s because our platform alone can’t solve the problem of improving global access to education. There are millions of students globally who don’t have access to higher education and our global community can and will thrive as more are able to continue their education. We’re just one company helping to do our portion. In 2022, I invite all Canadian entrepreneurs who are inspired by the mission of education to roll up their sleeves, try to solve all the problems the sector is facing and think of ways they can use tech for good.

Autho r

Martin Basiri was driven by his own belief that education is a fundamental right for everyone and not a privilege. He launched ApplyBoard in 2015 along with his brothers Massi and Meti. It is now the world’s largest online platform for international student recruitment. ApplyBoard assists more than 120,000 students all throughout their educational journey to study in Canada, the UK, the USA, and Australia. Under Basiri’s leadership, ApplyBoard was coined as the fastest-growing technology organization in Canada by Deloitte in 2019. With just four years in business, Basiri helped ApplyBoard reach the number 1 rank in the Fast 50 list by Deloitte.

COVID-19 and Business Interruption Insurance Class Action By Thomson Rogers Canada reported its first case of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”). By March of 2020, the number of COVID-19 cases was rapidly increasing every day. In response, civil authorities across Canada began taking steps to limit outbreaks of COVID-19, including the implementation of closure orders of various businesses. The effect of closure orders on independent, small businesses has been incredibly damaging. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses estimated that as of February 2021, the total debt taken on by Canadian small businesses as a result of COVID-19 was $135.1 billion. 40% of small businesses say that it will take at least a year to return to pre-COVID-19 profit levels.

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Small Business Many, if not all, Canadian businesses hold some form of business interruption insurance that provides coverage for losses suffered as a result of an insured event (or peril). One insurer in particular, Aviva Insurance Company of Canada (“Aviva”) sold policies to Canadian businesses, which included protection for the loss of business income as a result of an outbreak of a contagious or infectious disease. These protections are often included in a form titled “Business Income Actual Loss Sustained Form” and numbered 912000.

Recently the Honourable Justice E. Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified the class

proceeding, meaning that this matter is appropriate to be dealt with as a class action.

It is quite possible that many business owners across Canada are unaware of potential claims they may have for business interruption insurance against Aviva. “Canadian businesses insured by Aviva should immediately review their policies to determine whether they include these significant coverages that are often referred to as Restrictive Access, Negative Publicity or Interruption by Civil Authority coverages,” say Robert Ben and Stephen Birman of Thomson Rogers.

Canadian businesses small and large have applied to Aviva for contagious disease coverage and have been denied coverage by Aviva, which takes the position that many of its policies do not provide coverage for losses arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. A class action is a civil lawsuit where one (or a small number of) plaintiffs sue a defendant (or a number of defendants) on behalf of a large group of plaintiffs who have the same claims against the same group of defendants. This type of proceeding can save costs for all parties and help to conserve Court resources. In this instance, the class action has been brought on behalf of all policyholders with this coverage, which is estimated to include thousands of businesses.

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Policyholders who have losses and have not submitted claims to Aviva should consider submitting a claim to Aviva, either directly or through their broker. Please contact one of the law firms handling the case (Thomson, Rogers, Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb, or Miller Thomson) for more information about the class action.

Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, “Canada’s small businesses now collectively owe over $135 billion as a result of the pandemic”, (February 25, 2021)

Future Skills Centre and Ontario Chamber of Commerce helping all businesses access reliable and reliable information and assistance

Pedro Barata Executive Director at Future Skills Centre

Known for his strategic leadership, an active voice on social policy, and a commitment to community building, Pedro Barata’s career and extensive volunteer work in the non-profit sector spans two decades. As the Executive Director of the Future Skills Centre, Barata works with the key project partners to realize the Centre’s mandate and objectives: to build a network of key partners and stakeholders, lead and invest in cutting-edge research, test and evaluate innovative projects, and ensure that knowledge is shared and acted on. During his tenure as United Way Greater Toronto’s Senior Vice President of Community Impact & Strategy, he oversaw United Way’s $94M community investment and partnership strategy as well as communications, policy and public affairs, research and evaluation, and cross-organizational strategy. Prior to joining United Way, Barata held roles at the Atkinson Foundation, Family Service Toronto, Social Planning Toronto, and the City of Toronto. Barata holds a Bachelor of Arts from York University and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Toronto.

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Small Business What is the motivation and inspiration for partnering with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and what are you trying to accomplish through it?

to enable them to recruit, train and retain staff, as well as ensure that the skills of their team members are keeping pace with business needs for the future.

The motivation is to support small businesses in forging a path to economic recovery and preparing for the future of work. This partnership between the Future Skills Centre and OCC aims to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) bolster skills development and talent retention to support growth. The OCC represents a diverse network of 60,000 members through 157 member chambers of commerce and boards of trade. Its extensive connections to SMEs at a grassroots level make it uniquely positioned to collaborate and drive this project forward to succeed on a national scale. This initiative will help SMEs address the many challenges they face by giving them tools and resources to tackle skills gaps and labor shortages. An online training and learning management program will support at least 200 small businesses in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada by helping them upskill and train their employees.

What are the Future Skills Centre and Ontario Chamber of Commerce doing to help all businesses access reliable and reliable information and assistance?

How have labor market disruption and the pandemic in particular impacted small and medium-sized enterprises? Many SMEs have faced severe labor market disruption due to the pandemic, with lockdowns and business closures. However, even before COVID-19, 40 percent of SMEs identified skills shortages as a major competitive challenge. SMEs form the backbone of our economy, employing almost 90 percent of all Canadians who work in the private sector. Although SMEs drive economic growth, businesses often cannot stay competitive since they lack the resources to upskill and train their employees – hindering growth, recruitment, and retention of new and diverse workers. These SMEs often work on tight margins with very little extra time or money to develop a skills strategy. They desperately need access to resources and tools

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FSC is investing $3.7 million in partnership with OCC to give businesses an injection of support to tackle skills gaps and talent shortages with the launch of a training and learning platform. This platform will include curated content that builds on work spearheaded by the Diversity Institute and utilizes Magnet’s technical infrastructure to connect users to a wide range of free resources on topics including leadership, diversity and inclusion, mental health and wellness, digital skills and regulatory compliance. These will be in the form of short courses, e-learning modules and other workforce tools. We are sharing skills and training content that is cost-effective and customized to meet the unique needs of individual companies. Full details of the partnership are available in the news release and on the FSC website.

Small Business How do you see the impact of this initiative for SMEs over time? It will help SMEs build resilience and address the challenges they face in shifting to new business models, giving them a place to turn when they and their people need support in learning new skills. Nurturing business solutions by creating digital tools and resources is a crucial step in supporting the workforce of the future. Training content will be identified, sourced, and validated to meet the needs of SMEs across Canada, including at least 30% of SMEs led by equity-seeking groups.

Training on diversity and inclusion aims to reduce hiring barriers for these groups. This investment is part of FSC’s strategy to test approaches that anticipate and address labor market disruption and invest in research and training partnerships that prepare people for the future of work.

On a final note, what is your key advice to small businesses during this recovery phase? We want SMEs to know that we empathize with them and appreciate the challenges they are facing, and we are working with the OCC and business leaders to support SMEs as they move toward recovery. It’s going to be important for all businesses to recognize the need to stay current, and that will mean reskilling and upskilling for many of their employees. Continuous learning and a focus on skills can help to address and solve the problems that have blocked their path to prosperity. All of this hinges on an inclusive recovery that includes other types of support to ensure that vulnerable and disadvantaged groups are not shut out of the recovery. That will require cooperation between business, government, community organizations and boards of trade as we work collectively to build back better. We encourage SMEs to connect with their local boards of trades and chambers of commerce to learn about the availability of resources and tools they need to survive and thrive in the economy of the future.

Pandemic or not, your small businesses can grow this year - here’s how

By Leigh Smouti President of the World Trade Centre Toronto at the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

As the share of vaccinated Canadians continues to tick up each day, governments are painting a new picture of the year ahead – one without lockdowns, restrictions, and stay-at-home orders. Key among those most enthusiastic about this pivot: small business owners. Alongside sectors like tourism and entertainment, small businesses have disproportionately felt the burden of this pandemic-fueled recession. With cleared-out main streets and low commuter foot traffic drying up demand, Canada's small businesses have collectively taken on more than $135 billion in debt to survive. While continued government aid and measures to partially reopen business districts will help, there’s another, an oftenoverlooked lifeline for businesses to grab hold of: International trade.

Even as Canadians create new businesses at a higher rate per capita than Americans and rank second in the world for starting new enterprises, only 12 per cent of our small businesses are exporting their goods and services.

The initial pandemic shock may have disrupted supply chains, but the majority of countries now have cross-border exceptions for business and trade-related affairs. In other words, travel and tourism may still be down– but the world is ready to buy Canadians. Trade isn’t just for the big players either. Here are three things that every micro, small or mediumsized business should know about international trade in the age of COVID-19.

First, there is no economic recovery without international trade. Canada’s domestic market is just too small and fractured to support a rapid and widespread increase in consumer demand, and interprovincial barriers for some products are even more restrictive than international barriers. Canada benefits from a strong brand and a global reputation for fairness in business and quality goods. Use those advantages to regain lost pandemic revenues.

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Second, look beyond the usual trade suspects. Canada has 14 free trade agreements, covering 60 percent of the world’s GDP and a global pool of 1.5 billion consumers, yet 75 percent of our exports go to the United States despite it being a highly competitive market. It’s understandable that businesses – and especially smaller ones– might be intimidated to look beyond our immediate neighbor for new customers, but there are resources to help. A new World Trade Centre Toronto report identifies high-potential export sectors and international markets primed for entry by Canadian businesses, such as those with a fast-growing middle class, similar regulatory frameworks or that have a large diaspora here. On that last point, homeland connections matter in trade and business – and multiculturalism is a uniquely Canadian strength we can capitalize on.

And finally, get online. Almost half of the Canadian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises did not have a website in 2019, and only 8.5 percent of those that did feature online payments options. Firms that do employ online sales predominantly do so for local customers, with only one in 10 reporting customers outside of Canada or the United States.

Small Business And going digital is not just about e-commerce. Better

integrating technology into front, middle and back offices

can connect these businesses with global customers while at the same time improving productivity, remote-work

capacity, and record-keeping. Again, there are customized programs designed to help businesses transform digitally. They are here to help at no cost to the business.

Small businesses are putting these steps into action.

Toronto-based Suku Vitamins, for instance, have been able

to leverage virtual trade missions and other programs from the World Trade Centre Toronto and Trade Commissioner Services to launch their sugar-free, plant-based gummy

vitamins products in Latin America and Asia. Their CEO, Ju Young Yoo, credits their expansion to being small but

thinking global – something all small business owners should do.

Why do these support programs exist? Because trade is key to Canada’s economic future.

Every $100 million increase in exports creates more than 1,000 new, typically higher-paying jobs.

Graduates of the World Trade Centre Toronto’stradereadiness programs see their revenues grow by roughly a quarter within a year of participation and double within three years. We are a nation of bright, ambitious entrepreneurs and business people who are turning great ideas into valuable companies. What we need to get better at, however, is getting value from our intellectual property by selling our

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products and services to the world. Unless we do, any potential bump in domestic spending following the removal of COVID restrictions will be a drop in the bucket compared to our missed opportunities internationally.

Author A creative, logical, and insightful executive with extensive experience developing and leading strategy and business development. Strategic, a highly motivated, strong, and compelling leader who is able to get the best from his team through collaborative leadership and a consistent commitment to achieving results. Experienced President, CFO and COO.

How Leaders and Employees Can Show Gratitude this Holiday Season

Michael Timms Founder of Avail Leadership

Michael Timms believes that everyone has the right to be inspired and uplifted by their leaders at work. As principal of Avail Leadership, Michael shows executives how to create a people-first culture and build a pipeline of leadership talent. He also provides leadership training and is a professional speaker. Michael is the author of the book Succession Planning That Works, which has received critical acclaim as “an invaluable guide for identifying, and taking advantage of, talent within organizations.” Leadership guru, Marshall Goldsmith, called his new book, How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability, the ultimate guide for embracing accountability as a leader. Prior to forming his own consultancy, Michael was a consultant with Deloitte and an HR leader in the construction and manufacturing industries. When Michael is not helping leaders improve their game, he enjoys spending time with his family and going on challenging outdoor adventures in remote wilderness locations.

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Small Business What are some ways for leaders to demonstrate gratitude and accountability to their employees this holiday season? Accountability is taking ownership of results and working to improve future results. Managers who regularly express gratitude make it easier for employees to get the right results more often. Here’s why.

Behavior That Gets Praised Gets Repeated. We are all addicted to the chemical dopamine which is released in our brain when we are thanked and praised. It feels so good that it drives us to continue doing whatever will give us our next dopamine hit. Managers who want to improve employee performance recognize good behavior whenever they see it and express their appreciation. Targeted Gratitude Focuses Employees on the Right Results. Effective leaders help employees become more accountable by aligning their gratitude with achieving desired results. For instance, instead of saying “Thank you for your work on the ABC proposal.”, leaders who drive accountability say “I noticed that you stayed late the other night to get the proposal submitted to our client on time. Thank you for enhancing our reputation as a company that meets its deadlines.” Scheduled Gratitude Drives Accountability. Effective leaders hold regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with each of their reports (via video conference for remote employees) to review assignments and ask their employees what they need to be successful. This creates a follow-up mechanism to make sure no balls are dropped and provides a perfect opportunity to acknowledge the positive things employees did the previous week and thank them for it. Gratitude Is A Consequence. Leaders who create a culture of accountability help employees feel the impact of success and failure by providing consequences for effort and results. Expressing gratitude is a positive consequence that is free and is a more powerful motivating force than monetary incentives.

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What powerful habits should a leader adopt that not only make one a better leader, they also inspire everyone to take more ownership of their work? Most business leaders instinctively focus on trying to get their employees to be more accountable. However, the most powerful way leaders can create a culture of accountability is by becoming the supreme model of accountability for their organization. Nobody will demonstrate accountability to a higher degree than their leader, and most leaders can set a much higher standard, they just don’t realize it.

Demonstrating personal accountability can be boiled down to three simple habits:

1. Don’t Blame. Blame kills accountability. When we discover a problem, we are all naturally wired to blame the people closest to the problem. Unfortunately, blaming people for problems leads to predictable outcomes: Blame people stop taking the initiative, hide mistakes, and attempt to deflect blame onto other people. No one will take accountability if they think they will be blamed for doing so.

Small Business 2. Look in the Mirror. Acknowledge your part in the problem. Few problems are 100 percent caused by one person. Most problems are caused by several factors, including flawed processes and the leader’s past behavior. Accountable leaders identify and admit how they contribute to problems to make it safe for others to do the same and to discover insights that will lead to more sustainable solutions. 3. Engineer the Solution. Fix processes, not people. Our brains are hardwired to assume that most problems are caused by other people and to ignore the systems and work environment that enabled the mistake to happen. Weak leaders ask “Who’s at fault?” Accountable leaders ask, “Where did the process break down?”

What are some Simple Steps leaders can take to Ensure Effective Time Management at Work? Getting substantially better results at work can be as simple as putting the right things on the calendar. This may seem like common sense, but it is not common practice. Many executives and executive teams fail to complete critically important work for no other reason than they don’t put those tasks on the calendar and discipline themselves not to reschedule them. That’s it! The following three simple steps ensure the most important stuff gets done.

1. Differentiate between your most important activities and less important activities. (Check out a free activity analysis HERE). By admitting how they contributed to the problem and investigating how the organization’s systems allowed the problem to happen, leaders obtain the moral authority to ask others how they may have contributed to the problem.

2. Put important activities in your calendar and assign enough time to complete them.

What is the importance of an action-oriented

How have studies proven that being an

assessment tool for leaders and employees which tells you the real truth about your

3. Do not cancel or reschedule them!

accountable leader lessens stress and anxiety?

leadership and environment?

Kindness in the workplace has been shown to boost our

Accountable leadership is the result of behaviors, not

pressure, and reduce our cortisol level. Conversely,

a greater positive impact on people and results than

produces the opposite effect on physical and mental

immune system, improve heart health, lower blood

personality traits, and some leadership behaviors have

being blamed triggers the fight or flight response which

others.

health.

The best organizations identify the leadership

When leaders resist the urge to blame, admit how they

outcomes and a) make those behaviors the promotion

systems solutions, they create a psychologically safe

feedback based on those high-impact leadership

about protecting themselves and more concerned with

that matter most.

leadership create a healthier work environment, it

behaviors that consistently lead to successful

contribute to problems, and focus people on finding

criteria, and b) provide managers with 360-degree

work environment where employees are less concerned

behaviors to encourage them to develop the behaviors

contributing to solutions. Not only does accountable

produces a more productive and motivating workplace culture.

Are Adults Making Use of Career Services in Canada? Tony Bonen Director of Research, Data and Analytics, LMIC

Tony Bonen leads LMIC’s team of labour economists and data scientists. As part of the LMIC leadership team, he collaborates with colleagues across government, academia and the private sector to deliver high quality labour market information. Tony brings over 10 years of experience in quantitative and data analyses, econometrics and research design.

Prior to joining LMIC, he led the development and integration of housing price and macroeconomic stress test models for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Other areas of research expertise include: climate change economics, analysis of the US pension and retirement system, and economic policy and geopolitical analysis affecting member countries of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. During the summer, Tony enjoys playing tennis; in winter, he skates on the Rideau Canal.

Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) and the Future Skills Centre (FSC) recently released a report “Are Adults Making Use of Career Services in Canada” Can you please highlight some of the key findings from the report? Our report highlights that only one-in-five Canadian adults have used career services in the past five years – this is half the rate of other countries like the US and UK. It’s a surprising figure because we know there has been so much disruption in the labour market recently, and it begs the question: why aren’t more Canadians using career services?

What barriers exist to the use of career services for Canadians? And have you noticed any major changes in recent years among the Canadian labour force? We’ve been dealing with the pandemic for about 20 months at this point, and as a result, there have been major shifts in the labour market. As we continue to recover, many people are reconsidering their relationship to work, potentially changing career paths, or training in a new field. This means we are living in a time where career services are increasingly important to helping Canadians through their career transitions. However, the lack of awareness of these services and how to access them, as well as cost, are some of the reasons people are prevented from accessing career services.

Small Business 3. What do you think needs to happen in order for Canadians to be more engaged in career services? First, we need to build a broader understanding of what career development is. The report shows that people often consult their own trusted networks of friends and family about important career decisions and feel they are getting the information they need from these networks. This finding shows the need to build a broader understanding and awareness of what career development is and the unique expertise and value career professionals can offer to adults. We also need to make sure career professionals are equipped with the information Canadians need most. Our report also shows that, when adults do access career services, the skill requirements of jobs are the common type of information received. But skill requirements are also the most challenging type of data for career professionals to access. Tools like LMIC’s Canadian Online Jobs Posting Dashboard are one way that career professionals can learn about emerging trends in skills needs and gaps in the Canadian labor force, and an upcoming refresh to that dashboard in 2022 will make this important data easier for professionals to find.

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4. Do you believe that there is a generational divide where younger workers are less reliant on job hunting sites because of the jobs offered through digital media? An interesting finding from the survey was that 50% of Canadians aged 18-24 reported having used career services in the past five years compared to only one in five (19%) of Canadian adults aged 25-64. So we do know that younger workers are seeking out career advice from formal channels – it is likely these are services offered by their high school, university, or college.

5. What is your key advice to recent graduates looking for jobs? What are the benefits? Take advantage of career services at your school. A lot of universities offer career counseling for free even after you’ve graduated. If your school doesn’t offer this, look to your community. There are career organizations that can help you work on your resume, cover letter, and interviewing skills. Tools like 211.ca provide free online and telephone directories that can connect you to career service providers in your community.

STEM Education GOES BEYOND THE CLASSROOM JENNIFER FLANAGAN CEO & President at Actua

Jennifer Flanagan is the co-founder and President and CEO of Actua, a national charitable organization that engages Canadian youth in inspiring and innovative science and technology experiences. Through camps, classroom workshops, clubs, and community outreach, Actua's programs reach a quarter of a million youth annually. Over the past decade, Jennifer has led the development of Actua's national barrier-breaking programs, which engage Indigenous youth, girls and young women, youth living in rural and remote communities and other at-risk youth. To accomplish this work, Jennifer partners with leading corporate sector companies, governments and other non-profits. Jennifer has served on the boards of several local, national and international groups that are committed to furthering educational opportunities for youth and for women. In 2007, Jennifer was named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women and in 2011 she was the recipient of a Y Women of Distinction Award (Education and Training) and was named one of Ottawa's Top Forty Under 40. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of New Brunswick and a Master of Management from McGill University in Montreal.

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Small Business and coding - skills that are now essential to a

lot of jobs - that may not have been available to many students through the steaming system.

Why do we need to prepare youth for the jobs of tomorrow?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and highlighted an array of underlying

weaknesses in Canada's economy. Most

notable, the pandemic has and continues to,

How does the current system create barriers for many

accelerate the pace and scope of digital transformation.

youths and does removing these barriers creates clearer pathways for students to STEM-related careers?

Every student should have the opportunity to succeed at school regardless of background, identity or personal circumstances. As it stands, the current system does not provide equitable

outcomes for all students. Applied and academic courses in secondary schools were initially designed to accommodate

diverse learning styles and keep future education and career

pathways open. However, these applied and academic streams have been shown to disproportionately affect Black and low-

While technology may play a critical role in our

chance of going to a post-secondary institution, and in turn, it

significant problem threatening the potential of

income students when it comes to graduation rates and the

post-pandemic world, there remains a

does the opposite of what it was intended to do.

its workforce - the persistent and widening skills

Removing these streams helps break down the barriers they

intelligence and robotic automation, are being

encouraged to pursue other areas and careers they may not

required for today’s workforce are in a constant

gap. New technologies, such as artificial

have created, and will help more youth feel confident and

introduced at such a rapid rate that the skills

have otherwise been exposed to - such as STEM education,

state of flux.

At Actua, we know students often learn better when they can

We’re hearing more and more

which is critical to our future workforce.

apply foundational STEM skills and concepts to real-life

scenarios through hands-on activities. We’ve seen a shift away from the credentials associated with your name, and place more importance on the experience you bring. The new

curriculum is also said to reflect and promote this theory by

integrating more real-life, practical lessons on financial literacy

jobseekers say they’re concerned that post-secondary graduates lack the practical and real-world skills needed to drive innovation and re-build our post-pandemic economy.

Small Business The rapidly changing nature of work is increasing not only for technical skills but for soft and human skills such as communication, adaptability, empathy,

leadership, collaboration, problem-solving, cultural

competence, resiliency. According to the RBC Future

Launch Report - 2.4 million expected job openings show an increasing demand for these foundational skills.

Why do we need to continue to close gaps in the education system?

The barriers and gaps that exist in our education system are a reflection of the larger barriers that exist in our society as a whole. The wider the gap becomes, the

more prevalent it will become in our future workforce and economy.

What are ways to bolster student success for young people who are not succeeding in the traditional educational setting?

Some ways to bolster student success include

engaging with youth early and often in hands-on,

practical learning experiences, such as STEM education, that connect learning to real-world scenarios. STEM

exposure and experience continue to be one of the best and more effective ways to develop these much-

sought-after skills and is an excellent foundational

study to prepare for any future career path. To develop

the skills needed to build solutions that further Canada’s innovation, our current and future generations of

Creating diverse learning environments is also critical to growth and innovation. Research shows that

organizations with inclusive cultures are six times more

innovative and agile and eight times as likely to achieve better business outcomes (Deloitte, 2018). In other

words, diversity leads to innovation, and innovation leads to better outcomes. This is true within the workplace and education environments. So, to ensure a resilient and

prosperous economy and society, we must focus first on creating inclusive, diverse, and equitable educational environments where all students feel safe and

supported to learn, explore and share their unique perspectives.

students need to be equipped with skills and confidence in STEM.

At Actua, we know STEM education goes beyond the classroom - so it is so important to create these learning opportunities in and outside of school. Beyond traditional education settings, we aim to engage and equip parents with the tools and knowledge to foster this. Additionally, Actua believes students should not only learn about diversity but experience it. All students

should see themselves and their classmates reflected in their education. To help them succeed, we have to allow youth, from all backgrounds and identities, the

opportunity to take an active role in their education, and help them make learning relevant and fun while embracing difference, identifying, and creating opportunities to share and amplify different perspectives and voices.

What is your key advice to women in STEM careers?

Women have long been underrepresented in STEM.

That’s why so many incredible women across all levels

of our innovation ecosystem are working relentlessly to

break down the barriers facing women in STEM. Here are my key pieces of advice for women who may come up against some of these barriers:

Remember, you’re not in this alone. Find a champion and build a network of like-minded women who you can lean on for support. Speak up and out against

inequalities. There is a generation of girls and young women behind you who will thank you. Get

comfortable with being "uncomfortable". Growth and success lie outside your comfort zone.

Opportunities are not linear. Don’t be afraid to

embrace new and different opportunities to build as much experience as you can.

95 - CanadianSME - December 2021

Creating an ideal work environment to attract and retain talent during the Great Resignation

By Diandra Forde

Head of People & Culture at Mednow

Businesses are inherently fluid environments, even more so given the accelerated changes brought forward by the pandemic. What’s making it more challenging to operate in this new dynamic is doing so against the backdrop of the “great resignation” as Canadians re-evaluate working life and look for new opportunities. According to a recent survey by recruitment company Hays Canada, 65 per cent of Canadians are looking for a career change, a 16-point increase from the year before. Turnover of this nature is incredibly disruptive. At Mednow, a digital health care provider rooted in pharmacy, we’ve benefited from this shift – our headcount has doubled over the past six months as people have left jobs, in some cases, coming from entirely different industries to join our growing company.

Here are three observations from interviewing and hiring new candidates about an ideal working environment.

1. Creating meaningful impact and being at work to do it Without exception, candidates crave an opportunity to have a genuine and meaningful impact at work. Everyone we’ve interviewed at Mednow has sought the role out because of opportunities to influence how health care is delivered in Canada. And while we have a purpose more explicitly baked into the description of our business, it isn’t exclusive to our industry. It doesn’t matter if you’re in enterprise software, manufacturing, or virtual pharmacy as we are, being able to explain the desired end-state and mapping out how all roles support it will give candidates the confidence that they are part of a movement rather than just a cog in a wheel. They are more willing to commit to a company providing they understand the vision and feel they can help bring it to life.

96 - CanadianSME - December 2021

Small Business 2. Compensation in a talent-led market: When demand outstrips supply there’s pricing pressure. It’s the same with people too and today’s future employee is keenly aware of that.

All companies will have to check their moral and financial compass here as there’s no standard equation to figure it out. I will add this task is made infinitely harder if you haven’t identified the organization’s purpose.

I’ve found junior candidates to be far more financially literate than they were even a few years ago. They come to conversations about compensation extremely well-armed and ask questions about incentive pay, bonuses, benefits, options, and increasingly group retirement plans. However, all candidates, junior to more experienced, share one common theme – they understand their value in today’s job market so be ready to have the upper tiers of your pay structure tested. And yet it's completely impractical for companies to spend top dollar on every candidate. The question for businesses to answer is when should they invest in a star candidate versus decide to let someone walk?

We focus on determining internal equity – do they bring a technical skill that helps fill a gap? Are their soft skills advanced? Are they a culture add and driver of corporate values? Answers to these questions will help you determine overall suitability.

97 - CanadianSME - December 2021

3. Workplace culture amid new models of work: Leadership visibility is critical, and employees want to be near them in the office. As a start-up that’s recently gone public, we are fighting every day to earn our growth. When employees see and hear from our business leaders, and can freely interact with them, their passion becomes infectious. Think of this as another investment where leadership’s time with employees translates into establishing a workforce that feels empowered to help plot a course to success. Accommodation is another prevalent theme. For many, working from home isn’t exactly the most tranquil setting. There can be lots of daily distractions and disruptions, especially for employees with a shared space. That’s why we’ve created different zones at Mednow – “focus zones” offer a quiet spot within the office that is distraction-free, and “collaborative zones” encourage employees to gather and work on a project. The past couple of years has introduced an unprecedented number of changes at work. I expect more are on the way, but what we can be sure of is that nothing will move forward without the people to power it, and to attract them you’ll have to create a desirable place to work.

CanadianSME Small Business Magazine December 2021

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