BCBusiness

34 B C B U S I N E S S . C A A P R I L 2 0 24 online nonprofit dedicated to helping newcomers start businesses in 2021. Today, Vision2Reality offers programs, workshops, networking events and mentorship. It gives internship opportunities to post- secondary students at institutions like UBC, BCIT and Douglas College, and also provides its online community with access to resources from part- ners like the Surrey Board of Trade, Immigrant Services Society of BC and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. "Over 60 percent of newcomers to Canada want to start a business," says Ching, "but a low percentage actually do, because of the barriers to starting a business in a new place. Vision2Reality addresses that... through actual help. Despite being at 800 members, if you joined the com- munity today and sent our CEO Winnie a message, she'd get back to you in, like, an hour. And that's something we pride ourselves on." B O T T O M L I N E : In 2023, Vancou- ver-based Vision2Reality grew to almost 800 members and made $80,000 in gross revenue. –R.R. LAUREN SUDEYKO Age: 29 Founder, Seray L I F E S T O R Y : It was a crisp October morning in Toronto when Lauren Sudeyko and a couple of friends went biking along the city's lakeshore. The path runs east-west, with two-way stops going north- south the other way. Sudeyko was clipped into the bike's pedals. Then, after a car ran through the stop sign and sent her flying, she wasn't. She landed some five metres away from her bike. Her helmet shattered into pieces. Then came the vomit. "When I got to the hospital, they were like, 'Oh, your arm, your arm,'" she remembers. "And yeah, I had broken a bunch of bones in my arm. But all I felt was the head injury." The driver took off. "I've made peace with it," she says with a relaxed smile. But the effects of the incident stayed with her for some time. "I was on long-term disability for six months," she says. "I spent a lot of time in bed, and as my concus- sion symptoms started to get better, I wasn't getting any better because I couldn't sleep at night. I was sweat- ing all night, trying to relax. I had more anxiety than ever before." She realized that going to bed in an old polyester gym shirt wasn't helping. "You're essentially sleeping in Saran Wrap every night. I was so uncomfortable." She tried the higher- end sleepwear brands but didn't find much success there either. In her search for better sleep, she found a sweat-wicking, cooling fibre called Tencel Modal. In 2022, the former Google and Pepsi employee moved to B.C. with the goal of launching Seray, a women's sleepwear line that wants to be part of your evening routine. "Our focus is 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.— it's the feeling when you get home at night and put something on that you feel good in, versus the old sweat pants, old gym shirt," says Sudeyko. "We liken it to back in the '90s, when people wore their worst clothing to the gym. When you invest in something premium, you invest in yourself and you feel revitalized and motivated." B O T T O M L I N E : East Vancouver- based Seray has a team of three and manufactures most of its products in Richmond. The company sells its 13 SKUs online and in brick-and- mortar stores like Hill's Dry Goods and Nettle's Tale. –N.C. PRISHITA AGARWAL and ABHIUDAI MISHRA Ages: 22 and 23 Co-founders, Mosa Technologies L I F E S T O R Y : Prishita Agarwal and Abhiudai Mishra went to boarding school in Bangalore, but they didn't become close until they bonded over social impact causes at UBC Sauder School of Business. Growing up in Surat, India, Agarwal watched her mom upcycle everything at home, from using old clothes as cleaning rags to turning orange peels into facemasks. "When I see a problem, I want to try to solve it," she says. Mishra also grew up in India, but he took initiatives like writing letters to the prime minister advocating for cleaner cities or encouraging neighbours to carpool. "Civic and community engagement have always been a centrepiece in all of the work that I've done," he maintains. That's how Rescued Glass was born in 2021. After a party, the UBC students wondered how they could repurpose the many glass bottles that were left over. The pair started clean- ing and cutting glass in their kitchens and quickly partnered with student residences, bars and restaurants to collect more. In 2022, they rebranded to Mosa Technologies and acquired a diamond blade cutter, which spiked their effi- ciency significantly: "Our production capacity used to be 100 a week and now we've grown to around 400 a week," says Agarwal. B O T T O M L I N E : Vancouver-based Mosa's team of eight upcycles glass to make products like candles and shot glasses. It partners with various local businesses to collect glass and sells products via its website and 15 retail stores in North America—in- cluding the UBC Bookstore (where their products always sell out). "To date, we've saved 10,000 glass bottles," says Agarwal, "and our aim is to rescue 500,000 in the next three years." Mosa continues to strengthen ties with local businesses like Richmond-based Lulu Island Winery and offers collection services for those willing to donate more than 20 glass bottles. –R.R. JULIE WANG Age: 28 Founder, CEO and lead strategist, Tiny Planet Digital L I F E S T O R Y : Julie Wang is a true zillennial—walking that fuzzy line between millennial and Gen Z, she grew up around social media but not immersed in it. That said, the potential of the digital marketing space piqued her interest when she was studying at UBC's Sauder School of Business. "I fell in love with the possibilities," she says. "Smaller businesses are able to compete, and people who are usually underrepre- sented in traditional media have the opportunity to build a platform and have a say." Wang was born in Taiwan and moved to Surrey when she was 12. "I am where I am today—a female, immigrant BIPOC founder—stand- ing on the shoulders of trailblazers that have come before me," she says. At Tiny Planet, her own digital marketing company, Wang aims to be that trailblazer for an (even) younger generation. Vancouver-based Tiny Planet offers internships for students, teaching them the hands-on skills that Wang feels are lacking in biz school. It's beyond studying demographics and consumer behaviour: interns learn about managing websites, UNDER UNDER

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