BCBusiness

42 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 2 5 5,000 people on the waitlist for Benny's energy gels. B O T T O M L I N E >> Vancouver-based Benny has sold over 200,000 cans since 2023. It's in more than 500 stores across Canada and on track to hit $2 million in revenue in 2025. "The revenue numbers that we're now hitting in a month, we just never imagined," says Cey. "It's so exciting to think—where will we be a year from now?"—R.R. ISHAAN KOHLI Age: 26 Founder, SkyAcres Agrotechnologies T H E J O U R N E Y >> Entrepreneurship wasn't a part of Ishaan Kohli's origi- nal plan. But by launching SkyAcres Agrotechnologies, he's created what he calls the Airbnb of vertical farms. "SkyAcres is bringing farming to the gig economy, allowing anybody to grow and sell food in any space that they have," he says. Kohli graduated from U of T with a bachelor's degree in physics and math. He joined BC Cancer to follow in his father's footsteps and developed a spray that could deliver medication to lung cancer patients. But his med-tech invention was hit with red tape. At the same time, B.C. was hit with floods and heat waves. It affected farmers across the prov- ince, including some of Kohli's own family members. In 2021, he adapted the technol- ogy in order to serve the agricultural industry. "It's similar to setting up IKEA furniture," he explains. "We have a mobile app that allows [growers] to see step-by-step instructions. They don't need any prior experience." In 2023, when flooding wiped out 80 percent of a blueberry farm's har- vest in Abbotsford, SkyAcres helped it diversify production by growing strawberries and leafy greens in a barn year-round. Its vertical farming chamber can grow 40 varieties of fruits and vegetables, which are often sweeter and higher in nutritional value than those found in a typical grocery store, according to third-party tests. Its technology is also faster than most vertical farming equipment on the market, according to Kohli, and doesn't require water pumps: "Our record time from harvest to delivery is 42 minutes." But growing is only half the challenge—farmers often lack the time, resources and skills to market their produce. So, SkyAcres connects growers with retailers and provides packaging and branding materials to assist with operations. The Surrey-based agtech com- pany now supports seven growers and 120 retailers across the province. It's also developing a cartridge that can capture carbon from the air to speed up growth in SkyAcres' cham- bers. "We're also really interested in cellular agriculture, which is basically a way for us to grow something without needing the actual plant," he adds. B O T T O M L I N E >> In addition to receiving over $500,000 in awards and grants (including $150,000 from Innovate BC), SkyAcres has grown to a team of 10 and crossed $250,000 in annual recurring revenue. "We're able to grow almost 20 pounds of produce per month per square foot," Kohli says.—R.R. JAY MCCAULEY Age: 25 Global ambassador, Telus T H E J O U R N E Y >> As global ambas- sador for B.C.'s biggest company by revenue, Jay McCauley is the link between Telus and its operations abroad. He can be seen jet-setting between Toronto (where he was born), Vancouver (where he was raised) and London, where he spent most of 2023 and 2024 embedding Telus's brand values and social purpose into new acquisitions in the city. McCauley joined Telus in 2020, after four years with Toronto agency Esther Garnick PR. He worked there while completing a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Trinity College. He considers founder Garnick one of his most influential mentors, and his parents role models. "My mom [Quinn McCauley] is a philanthropic advisor, and she's my best friend," he says. "She works with professional hockey players and big CEOs and family offices to direct their funding to meaningful causes. I really am a chip off the old block in that sense that I have an innate love for giving back." In 2024, McCauley co-chaired Telus Friendly Future Foundation's inaugural fundraising gala, which raised $2.5 million to help underprivi- leged students access education. McCauley is also driving change within Telus: he's passionate about elevating young voices and is pushing for inclusion on Telus's 19 community boards around the world, which determine which initiatives the company should invest in. "Now almost every board has a youth representative ensuring that the Gen Z perspective is being heard [in those spaces]," McCauley notes. B O T T O M L I N E >> The Telus Friendly Future Foundation was established in 2018 through a $120-million endow- ment from Telus. The foundation sup- ports 500-plus charities a year, and its $50-million bursary fund helps students pursue higher education. Since 2005, TFFF and Telus's com- munity boards have provided $126 million in cash donations to 10,000 charities and initiatives.—R.R. ANTHONY GREEN Age: 23 Manager, security operations and compliance, CPABC; lead instructor and course devel- oper, UBC; lead curriculum developer, VCC T H E J O U R N E Y >> It almost feels like there are two Anthony Greens. One grew up in Richmond and started building computers as a young kid. He was hacking by the time he was in high school. The other Anthony Green also grew up in Richmond, but was on all the high school sports teams and then coached senior boys' basketball for a decade after graduation. Somehow, it's possible for both of these people to co-exist in one body. Green was originally thinking about taking the sports path, but computers eventually won him over. "I was planning to go into kinesi- ology, but I learned that in order to get a well-paying job in those fields you need to do at least six years of school," he says. So, he enrolled in BCIT. "As soon as I took my first cybersecurity course, I knew that it was what I wanted to do." An internship at London Drugs doing hardware support paved the path: "Basically, they would send me computers that were 15 years old and I'd look at them, figure out what was wrong and replace the parts." Green rose through the ranks of London Drugs' security department before taking a position as the main cyber- security worker at the Chartered Pro- fessional Accountants of BC. Soon, he became president of the Vancouver chapter of ISACA, an international pro- fessional association focused on IT governance, and started developing and teaching courses at both UBC

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