58 BCBusiness october 2016
h E a LT h C a r E S E r V I C E S
58 BCBusiness october 2016
H
ollywood producers
have yet to make a
teen romance about
startup entrepre-
neurs—but if they did, they
could build a script around
Karina and Zeeshan Hayat.
Karina was 15 and Zeeshan
was 16 when they met.
They fell in love, founded
a company, got married,
grew successful and started
a family. The couple self-
funded and launched Prizm
Media Inc.—a company
that generates leads for
the health and nutrition
industry, focusing on the
diabetes market—in 2001,
as a way to earn a little
extra cash while studying at
Douglas College. When the
2008 nancial crisis hit and
changes to email-marketing
regulations wiped out some
of Prizm's competitors,
the company leapt at the
opportunity. Prizm began
calling every patient that
opted into its marketing,
making sure the patients
had the right diagnosis,
proper insurance and cor-
rect contact information.
Prizm's clients saw their
conversion rates soar, and
its own business took ož.
Between 2009 and 2014,
revenues grew 1,229 per
cent. —D.H.
Zeeshan + Karina Hayat
CEO + President, Prizm media Inc.
r u nn e r - u p
r u nn e r - u p
C
ameron Fleming and robert boscacci
share the easy rapport of close,
longtime friends. it's a bond that
supported the former eY colleagues
as they jumped out of stable careers into
an industry neither knew anything about.
Fleming and boscacci were healthy men
in their mid-20s buying a company that
provided medical equipment mostly to
seniors; it had been around since 1996, but
sales were flat. "the learning curve was
vertical," Fleming recalls of their first year.
the pair spent days on the road work-
ing with clients and nights in the office
managing the business. However, they had
passion and an outsiders' perspective their
competitors lacked. they built a multicul-
tural team that could better understand
and relate to the diverse Lower Mainland
clientele. they introduced technology
to allow clients to easily order and track
delivery of equipment. in four years,
HMe
has grown from eight to 40 employees,
and revenues have grown 30 to 35 per cent
each year. – d.h.
Cameron Fleming +
Robert Boscacci
Directors, hmE mobility and
accessibility
WINNER
