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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1498118
R U N N E R - U P Shama Gupta P R E S I D E N T A N D D I R E C T O R , A E O N G R O U P O F C O M P A N I E S ( A E O N S T O N E & T I L E I N C . , H A B I T A T B Y A E O N A N D P O L I F O R M V A N C O U V E R ) SHAMA GUPTA believes that her career was driven by destiny. Back in Delhi, she was in the business of exporting stone. She often travelled for work, and when her son moved to Vancouver to study at SFU, she didn't feel safe leaving her daughter behind in India. So she relocated in 2008 and launched an online stone business that same year. It wasn't easy, especially as a newcomer. Gupta remembers selling via phone calls, admit- ting that online was just not her thing. She founded Aeon Stone & Tile in 2009, with one salesperson and one warehouse worker. The warehouse worker would prepare product samples, her salesperson would meet clients (mainly designers) and Gupta would manage everything else—calls, interiors, accounting, etc. But, as destiny would have it, the experience helped her realize a market need for Italian stone. "The aim was to bring what was not available in Vancou- ver," she maintains. After changing gears on her offerings, Gupta hired more salespeople to increase client engagement and became more familiar with local designers and architects. That's when she decided to expand the business. "It was my dream to develop a few business- es, not just keep working with one," she adds. In 2017, Gupta launched Habitat by Aeon to veer into the world of high-end kitchens, eventu- ally adding doors, closets, vanities and more to its downtown showroom. A year later, she opened a third business under Aeon to bring Italian furniture company Poliform to Vancouver. Now Poliform Vancouver is the brand's flagship store and Gupta is a member of the Interior Design Show - Vancouver, National Kitchen and Bath Association (B.C.) and Italian Cultural Centre Vancouver. With 20 staff on board, Gupta is not one to dwell on the past: "When the results are good, you just forget the pain, right?" she says. –R.R. BOTTOM: @WHENTHEYFINDUS 28 BCBUSINESS.CA MAY/JUNE 2023 I N N O VAT O R W I N N E R Sabina Russell V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F C L E A N F U E L S , H Y D R O G E N T E C H N O L O G Y & E N E R G Y C O R P O R A T I O N ( H T E C ) I t was learning about the effect of China's poor air quality on children's lifespans that sparked Sabina Russell's interest in cleantech and hydrogen. She started working in the sector soon after graduating from UBC with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1996 and ended up staying for 27 years. "I've seen the narrative changing so, so much," she says of technologies, policies and trends during that time. Russell joined cleantech manufacturer Ballard Power Systems in 1997, a time when conversations around climate change were still new. During outreach activities, Russell regularly encountered people struggling to understand the greenhouse effect. But now governments are committed to net zero emis- sions and how fast we get there matters, she notes, crediting a collective recognition of the fact that not only do we have to cut emissions, we must also try to reverse them. "Build back better" policies promoting cleantech invest- ment are becoming more and more prevalent, and Russell is happy about it. In 2020, she worked closely with the federal Around 2015, Russell left Ballard to take the entrepre- neurial route. She co-founded a consulting firm called Zen and the Art of Clean Fuels with business partner Jeff Grant. HTEC, a Burnaby-based leader in clean hydrogen production and distribution, jumped on board as the firm's second cli- ent before acquiring Zen last year. Russell now serves as the company's VP of clean fuels. In the role, Russell oversees the company's production of hy- drogen as a low carbon fuel, its distribution to station networks (which are like retail fuelling sta- tions) and its role in helping end users understand options for zero emission transportation. " HTEC has built the first net- work of hydrogen fuelling sta- tions in Canada and in British Columbia," Russell says with a sense of pride. —R.R. government's natural resources department to develop a hy- drogen strategy for Canada. It assessed hydrogen's role in combatting climate change and a lot of the paper's recommen- dations were directly tied to government policy. As its lead author, Russell calls it a "stand- out project" in her career. But the rise of electrification and other biofuels is challeng- ing the efficacy of hydrogen. "I've always believed that we're going to need every tool in the toolbox and every technical option behind us to tackle this huge problem...and hydrogen is a big piece of it," the Vancou- verite contends.