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/383533
62 BCBusiness OctOber 2014 Natacha Beim Founder and CEO CEFA Early Learning W hen teacher Natacha Beim couldn't fi nd any early child- hood education schools in Canada that were on par with the ones she had taught at in Europe, Asia and South America, she decided to develop her own curriculum and open a school in West Vancouver in 1998. After the success and popularity of her fi rst school, Beim jokes that she was "coerced" by parents and CEFA teachers into expanding, explaining that going from one location to a 15-school franchise bringing in $15 million in annual revenue was never part of the plan. "I never saw myself as a business person. I even resisted the term," she says, adding that her biggest challenge has been developing her fi nancial acumen. But her ambitious plans for the future—establishing 100 more schools across B.C., Alberta and Ontario in the next fi ve years—suggest that she's warmed up to the entrepreneurial side of education. —Kristen Hilderman Brad, Mike + Mitch Trotman Vice-president; president and CEO; vice-president Trotman Automotive Group A fter taking over his father's Langley Chrysler dealership in 1996, Mike Trotman—aged 24 and fresh out of a UBC commerce degree—quickly realized that the reigning paradigm in the car business was broken and set out to change it. "We met up with a lot of pushback, a lot of turbulence and learned very early that people didn't like change," says the eldest of the three Trotman sons, each with a part in the business, about investing in culture, team building and focusing on the process rather than the results. Brothers Mitch and Brad joined the business in the mid- and late-'90s, respectively, after completing their degrees, and together the trio has weathered economic storms and auto industry crises to grow their operation to seven dealerships across B.C., with an eighth acquisition com- ing aboard this fall. —K.H. f i n a l i s t s i knew my business was a success when… BRAD TROTMAn: Our fi rst chrysler dealership, Langley chrysler, became one of the top 10 dealerships in canada. i get my best ideas when… CHAnG: i am doing some- thing physically active in the outdoors—on my bike, skiing or paddling. People tell me the phrase i most overuse is… BeiM: "Keep moving forward!" The most underrated trait of an entrepreneur is… CHAnG: belief in yourself; the ability to turn no into Yes; high sense of urgency; acceptance of failure and being wrong; and eternal optimism. if i weren't doing this i'd be… MiKe TROTMAn: coaching Little League baseball. The person i learned the most from was… CHAnG: robert Meggy, president of Great Little box company. robert taught me about measuring and managing key performance indicators and making people your number one sustainable competitive advantage. f i n a l i s t iLLustratiOn: carsOn tinG 6 QUES T IONS B u s i n e s s - t o - C o n s u m e r outdoors—on my bike, skiing or paddling. People tell me