BCBusiness

THE STORY: Anthony Liu's Canadian journey began in a boarding school in Nova Scotia. "Far away from everything," he says with a laugh, describing life as a 15-year old immigrant from Taiwan. Five years later, following a stint in the engineering faculty at McMaster University, Anthony moved to Vancouver to join his parents and younger brother, Johnny, with whom he would take over the family busi- ness, Milo Enterprises, as their father eased into retirement. Before immigrating to Vancouver, the elder Liu had operated a large manufacturing company in Taiwan with 3,000 employees building solar panels, computer monitors and the family's main- stay: pesticides. He continued importing manufactured goods, mostly pesticides, after immigrating—under a new company called Milo Enterprises—but at a much smaller scale. When Anthony and Johnny took over Milo in 2011, they saw the opportunity that online shopping presented and created a separate e-commerce arm called Aspectek—sell- ing direct to Canadian consumers on websites such as eBay, Amazon and Alibaba, and expanding their product offering to include pet products and kitch- enware. "In Taiwan you fill in the blank," says Anthony Liu. "In Canada, the teacher gives you a piece of blank paper and you can create whatever you want." MARKERS OF SUCCESS: In 2015, Aspectek had revenues of $9.5 million, up from $250,000 in 2011, earning it a place on the PROFIT 500 as Vancouver's 17th fast- est-growing company. The company's head office in B.C. grew from three employees to 20 over the same period and is now supported by a software team of five in India and a fac- tory with 70 employees in China. –J.P. anthony and Johnny liu co-ceos, aspectek and milo enterprises ages: 25 and 22 60 BCBusiness april 2016 Who inspires you to succeed? ANTHONY: "Elon Musk. He started Paypal, Space X, Tesla, Solar City —all of which are cutting edge in di•erent ‹elds and are billion-dollar companies" JOHNNY: "Elon Musk. I like his work ethic, his inhuman ability to withstand pressure and the fact that he is very straightforward and daring" 30 under 30 Bay, working on its Olympic- branded clothing. Then, one night in late 2012, she ¤ipped by Oprah's channel and heard the self-improvement guru declar- ing, "You're not going to be happy unless you're being your authentic self." Renaud was struck. She thought about her own preference for menswear- inspired clothing and did some research. She found articles for women on how to tailor a man's shirt. "I thought, 'This is crazy,'" she says. "There is nothing in the market for girls like me." Renaud designed what she considered the perfect shirt– simple and streamlined–and Peau de Loup was born. She teamed up with a Portland retailer with a tomboy esthetic called Wildfang, and they worked the magic of attiring celebrities including andro±y- nous model Casey Legler in PDL shirts. Demand grew, and she moved production from a friend's garage to the mez- zanine in Eco Apparel. While PDL thrived, she took on other projects: designing and pro- ducing business suits for the Canadian women's soccer team (goaltender Erin McLeod is her business partner) and opening a retail store in the Village at Park Royal called Caposhie, aimed at baby boomers. MARKERS OF SUCCESS: In 2015 PDL raked in $500,000 in sales, largely online. Renaud is also committed to social and environmental sustainability: her shirts are made of surplus fabric from several factories in China, and she maintains a relationship with an all-girls school in Bangladesh, paying the mothers of the students to sew packaging bags for her shirts.—M.G. continued from page 59

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