Winners of the fair’s annual Business Pitch Competition awarded
In these challenging social and economic times, where we are bombarded with the noise of social media and continuous marketplace shifts from tariffs to AI, starting a successful small business can be a courageous leap.
This Small Business Week, DIVERSEcity Entrepreneur and Small Business Fair, presented by TD Bank, returned for its ninth annual event in Surrey, BC, bringing together 400+ attendees, including emerging entrepreneurs, service providers and business experts like keynote speaker Neel Singh, founder of Tropoly, which helps organizations scale and become innovators.
A recurring theme of the evening was fostering innovation and building connection as an entrepreneur at a time when navigating new challenges is a daily endeavour.
“We get bombarded by 10K messages a day. As a business, as a brand, you have to answer this one question: ‘Why should the customer choose you?,’” Neel Singh said to the entrepreneurs in the audience. In his keynote address, Neel encouraged them to be differentiators, to be customer focused and to be, above all, human. In other words, creating and connecting notwithstanding all the noise and shifts to build something meaningful and successful.
Neelam Sahota, Chief Executive Officer, echoed this. “Being an entrepreneur takes strength, courage and creativity. It’s about believing in your dreams, your ideas and having the determination to bring them to life,” she said, citing a few interesting statistics. As of 2023, according to the Government of BC Small Business Profile, there were 534,400 businesses, 98 percent of which were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
“Those in the 98 percent are foundational to the economy, job creation, community vitality and innovation. In BC, with 34 percent of GDP and 41 percent of employment coming from small business, the health of this sector is directly tied to provincial economic strength.”
Supporting the entrepreneurial journey
But the entrepreneurial path is also full of uncertainty and risk, especially for those from marginalized communities, which is why it’s critical to provide support, knowledge and resources to support their business.
That’s what DIVERSEcity’s award-winning Diverse Entrepreneurs Business Incubator aims to do — supporting emerging entrepreneurs to plan, launch and grow their business ideas.
Participants from the TD-supported Diverse Entrepreneurs Business Incubator, as well as from other resource partners such as platinum sponsor Societé développement économique de C-B (SDECB) came together at the October 22 event to connect and learn from each other.
DIVERSEcity Business Pitch Competition, Dragon’s Den style
Seven of these entrepreneurs were shortlisted to participate in the event’s annual Business Pitch Competition, Dragons’ Den style.
In front of our panel of “dragons,” — including Neel Singh, Matthieu Giacri from SDECB, David Chu from BDC, Dustin Yerdon from Invest Surrey and Lynne Brisdon from the YMCA of Greater Vancouver — these entrepreneurs each had five minutes to pitch their business.
Sponsored by SDECB, which supports the economic development of the Francophone community, the Francophone Business Award – 1st place ($1,500) went to Corentin (Cory) Babaud of Launch & Sell, a firm that supports businesses that don’t have extensive or experienced sales team to learn how to sell without selling.
After coming to Canada seven years ago, and working in sales, Cory, a self-proclaimed introvert, came to an epiphany about honest, authentic strategies for sales and started his business to help others. “I help turn their expertise into customer trust,” he says.
In 2nd place ($1,000) was Wholistic Osteopathy Inc., led by Patricia Ropert, a Vancouver-based practice in the rising field of osteopathy, a holistic, manual therapy.
For the DIVERSEcity Business Awards, 1st place ($1,500) went to Asiya Dewji and Zahra Dhanji from OV (Our Village) Conversations, supporting mothers facing isolation with trauma-informed workshops, connection and products. With their backgrounds in psychology and social work, their “conversation starter” card game, essentially gamifies self-care, identity and growth.
“Mothers must mother each other too,” they said. “When mothers are given a space to connect, they are reminded they are not alone.”
Kati Kuo from Fancycuppa, which manufactures high-quality decaffeinated instant coffee products, came in 2nd place ($1,000), after an energetic presentation, complete with making a steaming cup of coffee onstage and ambitious plans to grow her business in the retail market. “One out of four adults are sensitive to caffeine. I’m challenging the narrative that decaf is dull, weak and second best. Decaf is not an afterthought.”
Nadia Karmas, owner of Dar Mina, a seller of Moroccan textiles and artisanal products that bring the heritage, culture and stories of Morocco alive, won 3rd place ($800).
Théo Boucherie from Sustainscale Consulting Inc. and Ranjit Singh Saini from FlourishLifeTech each received Honourable Mentions ($250).
“This event is all about the celebration of innovation and community. I’m so proud of every entrepreneur joining us this evening. From those in our Diverse Entrepreneurs Business Incubator to others from across Metro Vancouver and BC, who are part of this growing ecosystem of small business leaders,” said Florence Kao, manager of DIVERSEcity’s entrepreneur program and fair.
“Each of you represents the drive, creativity and ingenuity that fuel our communities and strengthen our local economy. Congratulations to all of you for your courage to dream, to build and to share your ideas with the world.”
Thank you to the event’s Presenting Sponsor TD Bank, Platinum Sponsors SDECB and Western Community College; Silver Sponsors BDC and Vancouver Community College, and media sponsor Surrey Now-Leader, for your support.
Learn more about the Diverse Entrepreneurs Business Incubator here.