BCBusiness

BcBUsiness.ca april 2016 BCBusiness 57 THE STORY:In 2011, Win- nipeg native Wisam Abdulla, along with father Faiz and brother Tim, launched Pay- savvy to build¥online software for managing payroll, vaca- tion, workforce scheduling and attendance for companies with up to 500 employees—going up against payroll heavyweights such as ADP and Ceridian. While his father has focused on the platform's architecture and raising money, and Tim has served as the CTO, Wisam has been in charge of branding, the sales process and marketing. In February, Abdulla moved from COO to CEO as the company rebranded as Rise, with their technolo±y taking on more functions than just payroll; Wisam abdulla ceo and co-founder paysavvy canada inc. (now rise) age: 24 with new tools for recruitment and retention on its platform, Abdulla hopes to expand into every corner of the HR department.¥ MARKERS OF SUCCESS: Paysavvy's revenues have grown 300 per cent each year since 2011, while the company's headcount has more than doubled since early 2015 (from 20 to 45 employees). The com- pany has raised $4.5 million in venture capital to date. —J.P. inspired Gallagher to pursue a PhD in aboriginal entrepreneurship at SFU. In his thesis, he wanted to address the notion that entrepreneurship is a form of assimilation, because First Nations people have to adopt characteristics of "the white man" to be successful. Through more than 100 interviews (including 30 with indigenous people in Australia), he asked the questions: "What effect does entrepreneurship have on indigenous people's identity?"; and "Do people integrate their Aboriginal identity into their business?" The answers, he found, were overwhelmingly positive. Gallagher finished his PhD in March 2015 and continues to teach courses in the Aboriginal executive MBA program, where he helps First Nations lead- ers ensure that complex land deals or other economic projects have lasting positive impacts for their communities. Soon after graduating, Gallagher also took up a post as business devel- opment manager with Inlailawatash Limited Partnership, a renewable resource company owned by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in North Vancouver, where he manages branding, business planning and development of the corporation whose industries include fisheries, forestry and GIS mapping services. MARKERS OF SUCCESS: Gallagher won numerous scholar- ships and grants for his academic work, and in 2013 was one of 10 Canadian business students to win the Futures Fund Scholarship from Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year, an organization founded by Caldwell Partners. He also cre- ated an award-winning video that helped to share his research with the First Nations people that partici- pated. –M.G. continued from page 55 Beyond family/friends, who inspires you to succeed? "the late milton Wong, former chancellor of sFU and one of my mentors. he was a man who broke down cultural and ethnic barriers and brought people together–a generator of innovative ideas and humble in everything he did" 30 under 30 Best advice you've ever received? "I saw this quote hanging in a co•ee shop and it's always stuck with me: 'If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea'" w i s a M a b d u l l a

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