Written by: Sylvie Guinois, www.sylvieguinois.com A difficult conversation is one that discusses a subject or brings forward facts that the other may not want to hear. The person in front of you may react defensively or disagree. Such conversations—which no one wants to have—become even more difficult if you haven’t developed your communication skills. I […]
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This year, Futurpreneur Canada (formerly CYBF) is celebrating our 20th anniversary, and to celebrate, we are taking a walk down memory lane to revisit some of the amazing entrepreneur we have helped over the years. Throughout the last two decades, we’ve awarded many awards to our entrepreneurs and mentors, as well as seen them take […]
After arriving in Winnipeg in 2008 from Sri Lanka, Ralston de Zilva had hopes of achieving greater things for himself and his young family. Prior to leaving Sri Lanka, Ralston was an executive supervisor of four different divisions in a major satellite TV company, but he always dreamed of having his own company someday. “I […]
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This year, Futurpreneur Canada celebrates their 20th Anniversary, and to celebrate, we chatted with one of our longest standing entrepreneurs that we helped 12 years ago to see where his business has taken him since the early days of starting. Interest in computer programming came early in life for entrepreneur, John Simpson. His parents gave him […]
Born in Malawi, Africa, and raised in Canada, entrepreneur Veronica Nnensa never lost her passion for the continent. After studying public affairs and policy management with a focus on African development, in 2014, it was no surprise that her passion for her home country led her to launching her business Kuwala, with co-founder, Freeda Mulenga. […]
Hamish Knox is a Futurpreneur Canada mentor, and 2016 BDC Mentorship Award finalist, he received funding through Futurpreneur back when it was known as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and was matched with his own mentor in the early stages of his business. Hamish explained that his Futurpreneur mentor still remains a friend and mentor […]
Compiled By: Lauren Marinigh, Social Media & Content Creation Coordinator, Futurpreneur Canada This Sunday, July 24th, marks International Self-Care Day. Self-care is the care provided by you, for you and is all about identifying your own needs and taking the necessary steps to meet them every day. As entrepreneurs, we are usually leading chaotic, non-stop lives, […]
In May, Futurpreneur Canada hosted their Action Entrepreneurship Summit which brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs, business professionals and a list of great speakers who ran sessions over the two-day summit. Darrell Keezer, Founder of Candybox Marketing Inc. was one of those speakers who hosted a session on how to make customers (not noise) with social […]
With nearly 150 reviews on TripAdvisor, Facebook and Google, Escape Capers YYC opened its doors in September 2016 and has clearly become a go-to escape room in Calgary, Alberta. Escape Capers hosts a live-action game where you and your friends find yourselves trapped in a mysterious room with the challenge to get yourself out. You […]
This year, Futurpreneur Canada celebrates their 20th Anniversary, and to celebrate, we chatted with one of our longest standing mentors to see why she became a mentor with us and what it’s been like mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. In the 80’s, Fi Dastoor, now Futurpreneur Canada mentor, found herself volunteering at the Canadian Executive […]
This past May, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with an award ceremony that recognized not only some of the entrepreneurs that we’ve helped over the last two decades, but also our partners in the community that have gone above and beyond to help the next generation of entrepreneurs. The Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development […]
As a new entrepreneur, there is no question you will experience a lot of ups and downs, and have more questions than you could ever imagined you’d have. But what if you had someone to talk to who had been through it all before? A business mentor can be one of your most valuable business […]
Anthony Taylor grew up as an entrepreneurial kid. Whether it was selling pop by the golf course, putting on rock concerts or running some sort of brick and mortar business. “I’ve always had something going,” he explains. So it wasn’t a surprise when Anthony decided to start his own business, SME Strategy that specializes in […]
It’s time for a roundup of some great content we found over the last few weeks online for entrepreneurs. Need a weekend read? Here is a list to power through and help motivate and inspire this weekend. Feeling Lonely? 5 Ways to Cure the Entrepreneurship Blues – Shopify The rate of loneliness has doubled in […]
This year, Futurpreneur Canada celebrates their 20th Anniversary, and to celebrate, we chatted with one of our longest standing entrepreneurs that we helped 19 years ago to see where his business has taken him since the early days of starting. Born and raised in Canada, Scott Jaeger completed his apprenticeship to become a chef under […]
This past month, Futurpreneur Canada hosted their Action Entrepreneurship Summit in Toronto. As part of the Summit, we had several subject matter experts who shared their expertise with the audience of business professionals, entrepreneurs, mentors, and partners. One of the sessions in particular was a panel of four dynamo female entrepreneurs that was moderated by […]
With a masters in legal studies from Carleton University, and over 15 years of experience in domestic and international market development, Sem Ponnambalam, President and Co-Founder of XAHIVE, decided to join forces with her husband, David Mohajer to start their own business, XAHIVE three years ago. XAHIVE is a cybersecurity company that provides a secure […]
This year, Futurpreneur Canada is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In 20 years, we’ve supported over thousands of entrepreneurs, and have had hundreds of volunteer mentors who have helped support those entrepreneurs. To celebrate the amazing and dedicated entrepreneurs that we’ve seen come through our doors over the last 20 years, we thought this was an […]
Action Entrepreneurship is Futurpreneur Canada’s flagship event series that brings together young entrepreneurs, and the stakeholders that support them for learning, networking and idea sharing. At the beginning of 2016, we kicked off Action Entrepreneurship with a series of Community Exchanges in cities across the country which led to our Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit, that […]
Social networks come in all shapes and sizes, and knowing what network is best for what, and for who can be overwhelming for new business owners. Jumping on the bandwagon of every social network “just because” isn’t going to garner the success you are looking for, so taking the time to get to know each […]
“We’re ordinary people with huge dreams just like everyone else! We took a huge leap of faith and we decided that we wanted to pursue our dream jobs, and Caked with Love was born.” Business partners, Marvic Abarra and Eileen Manalo came from very unique backgrounds, and backgrounds that didn’t quite pave the way for […]
Written By: Laura O’Donnell New inventions are running a bit rampant these days. It can be really exhausting keeping up with all the technical changes made to our smart phones, cable services, computers, etc. The largest of the providers continue to update, complicate and otherwise inundate the market with things we don’t need – mostly […]
A Futurpreneur Canada 20th Anniversary Feature This year, Futurpreneur Canada celebrates their 20th Anniversary. To celebrate our anniversary and the recent opening of the 2016 Spin Master Innovation Fund applications, we wanted to take a look at our past Spin Master Innovation Fund recipients and see where they are now. For the past six years, […]
Matt Vance, President of Castaway Golf Technologies was an avid sports fan and athlete growing up, but like many families, it was hard to find the funds to put him into all of them. Golf was of particular interest to Matt, so he found an innovative way to make money that would help him pay […]
At Futurpreneur Canada, we often get questions on our application process and what our team looks for in applicants and their applications. To answer some of our commonly asked questions, I chatted with our Manager of Risk and Credit at Futurpreneur Canada, Derek MacArthur. Derek’s role is to work closely with the other members of […]
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After struggling to find work after a short stint away, Jessica McCarrel decided to take her future into her own hands and start a small Kickstarter campaign to help start her own business, Kaffeeklatsch. From there, Jessica built a mobile pop-up coffee cart which made its first appearance at Nuit Blanche in Olympic Plaza in […]
The Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit, presented by Meridian, is taking place in Toronto from May 30th to 31st this year. The event brings together 300 young entrepreneurs and leaders from across the country to share their expertise, attend professional development workshops, network, and hear from inspiring speakers. This year the lineup of speakers and workshop […]
What do a finance professional, mechanical engineer and operations and sales guru have in common? An innovative new business, that’s what. Philippe Poirier, Paul Shenouda and Mathieu Poirier started their business, Hexa Foods, a Montreal-based company that develops, manufactures and sells eco-friendly and radically sustainable pet foods made with edible insects. Their first brand, BugBites, […]
It’s time for a roundup of some great content we found over the last few weeks online for entrepreneurs. Need a weekend read? Here is a list to power through and help motivate and inspire this weekend. Seven Ways To Protect Your Brand on Social Media – Hootsuite Social media offers a huge opportunity for businesses, […]
Al-Karim Moloo, a Business Advisory Partner at WBM Partners LLP, a boutique tax and advisory firm in Burlington, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta, chatted with us about his tips for entrepreneurs during tax season. Keep reading for tips he has for small business owners when filing taxes, and other recommendations that will help make tax season […]
Since 1956, the Christakos family has been involved in the restaurant business, and when George Christakos started working in the family business at a young age, he would daydream about the businesses he would open when he was older. Fast forward to when George was 23 and his father took notice to his work ethic, […]
As an entrepreneur, you probably naturally dream about growing your business—whether regionally, nationally or internationally—but expanding isn’t an easy move to make, and entrepreneurs often face many challenges along the way, especially if they’re not properly prepared or ready to grow. We chatted with AJ Khan, CEO of the International Institute of Certified Innovators & […]
As a solopreneur, Jenise Lee had to learn quickly how to balance the demands of starting her own business. For many entrepreneurs, other aspects of their life get put on the side burner while they navigate the start-up world, but for Jenise, not only was she starting her business, CertClean, but she was also caring […]
Date:
Oct 5, 2015
Canadian Tire Conference Centre
2200 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
Event Overview:
RCC Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) member committee is meeting on October 5th, 2015. Join us to learn more about the lastest updates on the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP).
The CMP is a Government of Canada initiative managed by Environment Canada and Health Canada aims at reducing the risks posed by chemicals to Canadians and their environment. The CMP builds on previous initiatives by assessing chemicals used in Canada and by taking action on chemicals found to be harmful. So far, the vast majority of their data calls and assessment activities have been focused on molecules and formulations found in consumer products, but as CMP evolves, manufactured articles are becoming in scope. CMP can utilize a variety of risk management tools, one of which is the outright ban of a substance in Canada. This can potentially affect some of the items sold by Canadian retailers and create major business risk.
Agenda:
1. Environment Canada and Health Canada Presentation – 10:00am
Chemicals Management Plan staff will be presenting the rationale behind gathering data on chemicals, the value of the process, how it is being used as well as discuss alternative data gathering mechanisms they have used in the past.
This will be followed by a specific presentation on the Polymers and Nanomaterials mandatory surveys (under section 71 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act) due this winter.
2. WERCSmart Presentation (including lunch) – 12:00
The session will focus on providing retailers with information on the WERCSmart compliance Program. The program has wide scale adoption in the U.S. among the largest national retailers. It has been used to support compliance and sustainability goals. Among other things, it provides support for chemicals’ handling, storage, transportation and environmental reporting.
3. Discussion on RCC’s strategy and what are our next steps in this file – 2:00pm
The discussion will focus on what alternatives RCC has been working on to shift the CMP reporting burden away from retailers.
To attend the meeting, please contact Philippe Cantin, Manager Environment at RCC, by phone at 514-982-0267, ext. 336, or by email at pcantin@cccd-rcc.org.
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Correction Notice Important Notice re GST/HST on Feminine Hygiene Products and Related Provincial Issues
June 29, 2015
Last week, RCC issued this notice in regard to the removal of sales taxes on feminine hygiene products, effective July 1.
We noted the pending removal of tax on feminine hygiene products in all of the five HST-harmonized provinces and in Quebec and Saskatchewan. With an existing exemption from the PST in British Columbia and there being no provincial sales tax in Alberta, we had erroneously stated that Manitoba would be the last province still taxing feminine hygiene products. The last piece of information re Manitoba was erroneous, as Manitoba removed PST from feminine hygiene products in 2002.
Taken together, the effect of all of these changes is that feminine hygiene products will no longer be taxed in any province, as of July 1.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact: Karl Littler, Vice President Government Relations and Strategic Issues at: klittler@retailcouncil.org or 416-467-3783
Retail Council of Canada satisfied with Quebec budget: no tax increases for consumers
March 26, 2015
The Quebec Minister of Finance tabled his budget for 2015-2016 in the National Assembly on the 26th of March, 2015. Here are the highlights:
- Quebec will finally have a balanced budget again: in the current year.
- The Ministry of Health and Social Services will continue to be the main area for spending, with a 49.4% allocation.
- This balanced budget is supported financially by an increase of only 1.5% in spending and an anticipated increase of 4.4% in revenue.
- Establishment of a $3.4 billion economic development plan (including $2.5 billion in tax breaks) for the next 5 years:
- Gradual elimination of the health tax contribution by 2020.
- Introduction of measures between now and 2017 to prevent workers from being penalized for receiving wage increases.
- Reduction of the corporate tax burden by $215 million as of 2020.
- Reduction of employer contributions to the Health Services Fund (FSS) from 2.7% to 2.25% as of January 1, 2017.
- Reduction of the general corporate tax rate from 11.9% to 11.5% – the same rate as in Ontario – as of January 1, 2017.
- Occupational Health and Safety Commission (CSST) will be consolidated with the Labour Standards Commission (CNT) and the Pay Equity Commission.
- Raising of the minimum payroll requirement for employee training under the Workforce Skills Development and Recognition Act (the so-called “1% law”) from $1 million to $2 million.
- Budget cuts on the order of $30 million to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ), primarily to La Financière agricole.
- Budget cuts on the order of $5 million to the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MDDELCC).
- Additional cuts to the budgets of the Consumer Protection Office and the Office de la langue française.
Liquor licenses
More flexibility for the Régie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux (RACJ) in applying suspension measures to licenced establishments.
Quebec Sales Tax
The government also promises to consider what action to take in response to the report of the Quebec Taxation Review Commission. The government confirms that an increase to the Quebec Sales Tax (QST) is being considered.
Readers may note that sales taxes of various sorts will bring in over $18 billion for the Quebec Government in 2015-2016.
Next steps
At the Quebec budget hearings, as you may recall, the RCC asked the government not to impose any new taxes on products and to start thinking instead about e-commerce as a source of tax revenue. The government has accepted this suggestion.
The RCC today published a news release acknowledging the effort the government is making not to raise taxes on consumption before considering this issue in greater depth.
The RCC will ask the government to share its future ideas on taxation in Quebec in response to the recent report of the Quebec Taxation Review Commission. The RCC will use its expertise to help strike a workable balance between sales tax and income tax revenues, without reducing the competitive edge of Quebec retailers against their competitors in Canada and other countries.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call Jean-Guy Côté, director of government relations and public affairs, at 514-982-0267, extension 332, or email jgcote@cccd-rcc.org.
Raymond Aaron
Frank O’Dea
Jim Geraghty
Jim Grieve
Janet Carding
Diane Brisbois
Jason Field
Cheryl Gregory
Maxine Warsh
Cathy Nesbitt