With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1501233
40 BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2023 3 3 UNDER A R N A V M I S H R A AGE: 23 CEO, Dyne Technologies Inc. LIFE STORY: Originally from Odisha, India, Arnav Mishra began his entrepreneurial journey as a high schooler. He developed an idea-sharing platform similar to TEDx, where high school students could share their thoughts and start meaningful initiatives. Fast-forward to 2018, when Mishra moved to Vancouver and started studying business technology management at UBC Sauder School of Business. As a self-proclaimed foodie, he spent much of his time outside of class exploring Vancouver's restaurant scene. "No matter which country, religion or culture you come from, food is what connects us," he says. When the pandemic hit, this social outlet was taken away, and restau- rants were struggling to survive. "I thought, what if I could help these restaurants grow their businesses and, at the same time, help people be able to eat meals together in a socially responsible way?" Soon, he built a team and created what's now Dyne—a platform that connects foodies with local restaurants and each other, all while also boosting the local economy. On the foodie side, users download the free Dyne app—which currently has over 30,000 users—to find new res- taurants, events, discounts and people to connect with. For businesses, the platform integrates its AI assistant into the back-end of a restaurant's operating system. The tool works behind the scenes to collect and analyze data, which then gives valu- able insights related to menu pricing, competitor tracking, staffing, inven- tory and branding so that the business can improve strategies and stand out in a competitive market. BOTTOM LINE : Dyne Technolo- gies operates across five Canadian cities (Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto) and has over 700 clients and a team of 22 full-time employees—who are all under 25 years old. In five years, Mishra plans on entering the Asian and European markets. –R.W. M A R Z I A S A G E R AGE: 25 Co-founder, Glow Within Foundation LIFE STORY: Marzia Sager grew up in the Phillipines but moved to Vancouver when she was nine. At first, she thought she'd follow in the footsteps of her mom or grandma, a pharmacist and doctor, respectively. At least up until a first-year university chemistry class. "I hated it, I just thought, this is not it," she recalls. Sager ended up graduating from SFU with a major in communications and a minor in publishing. But it was a certificate in entrepreneurship and a startup venture class that really set her on her current path. "I wasn't feeling the whole tech industry at the time," recalls Sager. "I met a group of young women and talked about our experiences in high school. I was bullied there and had a lot of anxiety growing up. Being Asian in a high school in Canada, the experi- ence is so different and I didn't have older sisters to relate to." While most of her classmates in the venture class were developing for-profit ideas, "I thought, why don't we go against the grain and start a non-profit? The prof said we were crazy, but we registered it and it took off from there." BOTTOM LINE : Port Moody- based Glow Within Foundation is a non-profit organization providing interactive workshops and educa- tional resources to feminine-identi- fying youth in the Greater Vancouver area and several schools in Alberta. Sager, her two co-founders and a volunteer base of about 10-12 facilita- tors have introduced the program to over 1,000 students. –N.C.