How Canada’s Top Entrepreneurs Overcome Obstacles to Growth

Summary of the event produced by The Globe and Mail’s Events Team. The Globe editorial staff was not involved.

Report on Business magazine published its annual ranking of Canada’s fastest growing companies in October. The list is a roundup of the country’s most daring companies – those that are increasing their revenues, increasing their workforce and venturing into new markets. How do they do ? The Globe and Mail hosted a series of webcasts called Growth week in October, to bring some of these entrepreneurs together with industry experts to share tips and lessons learned from the fast-track process.

James Cowan, former editor of Report on Business magazine, kicked off the series on October 4 with a webcast titled Ask the experts: tips and tricks to facilitate growth, featuring entrepreneurs and executives from the Top Growing Companies list. The panel discussed strategies for accessing capital, setting the right pace for growth, finding and retaining talent, and supporting employee engagement.

Did you miss the live event or want to watch it again? Scroll down to the video player, below.

The panel included the following speakers:

• Suzie Yorke, CEO and Founder of Love Good Fats. Ranked number one on the list, Love Good Fats is a hyper-growing business, growing from concept to one of the best bar brands in North America in just a few short years. Ms. Yorke explained how her business has grown rapidly, including a recent expansion in the United States.
• Loren Rafeson, Partner, Growth Capital with BDC. Mr Rafeson explained how the pandemic is changing business plans and priorities and he also shared strategies for entrepreneurs to tackle issues such as finding the right balance between growth strategy and profitability.
• Mallorie Brodie, CEO of Bridgit. Ms Brodie spoke about her experience starting Bridgit, a software company in the construction industry, as the first founder. She provided strategies for finding and retaining talent and overcoming financial challenges through growth.
• Navaid Mansuri, Financial Director of Dialogue. Ms Mansuri explained how Dialogue, a virtual healthcare company, maintains the corporate culture, especially during the pandemic. He shared ideas to support employees and keep them engaged in the age of remote working.

Watch the full webcast (60 minutes) below:

Interested in hearing from other growing businesses? Watch the second event in the series: E-Commerce 2.0 – Strategies to Grow Your Online Business by clicking here.

The Globe and Mail presented the event with the support of BDC sponsors.