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/950283
BCBUSINESS.CA ApRIL 2018 BCBusiness 35 lIfE SToRY: Arnaud petitvallet grew up in La Rochelle, France, where his mother was a sales representative for the medical industry and his father was a customs officer. Seeking global experience, he earned a bachelor in international management in his hometown, working in Israel and the Congo during his studies. In 2012, petitvallet enrolled in an mSc in international business at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux, where he became friends with a fellow student from Vancouver named max Rivest. Seeking a project for a global business plan competition, the pair saw an opportunity in coffee leaf tea, which is rich in antioxidants and made from a part of the plant that is typically discarded. "We realized that not only could we do something that was healthy, we could also change the entire eco- nomics of coffee farming," says petitvallet, whose major in wine marketing has helped along the way. Launching Wize monkey in 2013, he and CEO Rivest set up shop in Vancouver after graduation that year and spent three months in Nicaragua building relationships with coffee farmers and developing their product. It was a departure for petitvallet, who says French business school prepares students to work in management at a company or for the govern- ment. "You're not very risk-attracted," he explains. "In France, you're kind of afraid of failure." So far, Wize monkey has created about 100 jobs for Nicaraguan coffee growers. In 2018 the company will boost those workers' total hours from 10,000 to 40,000, petivallet reckons, by extending the off- season during which they harvest leaves. THE boTToM lINE: Some 600 grocery stores in North America, including the Whole Foods market Inc. chain, carry Wize monkey's five flavours. This year the business expects to top $1 million in revenue from in-store and online sales, bulk exports to Asia and deals with industrial clients such as tea companies and nutraceutical manufacturers. Wize monkey, which employs 15 part-time staff and has won several international awards, plans to make new varieties such as green tea as well as bottled drinks. –N.R. L e s L e Y A n n e B R o W n CEO whisky wiseMen society age: 29 A R n A u D P e t I t v A L L e t Co-founder and COO wize Monkey inc. age: 27 lIfE SToRY: For proof that the Whisky Wisemen Society isn't a boys' club, look no further than Lesley Anne Brown. The Vancouver-founded society is a global non-profit that brings young professionals together over whisky in support of local charities, Brown explains. "We are our own community, and then we are a community that raises money for the communities we operate in." Brown was raised in Oakville, Ontario; her mom and dad, immigrants from Jamaica and Antigua, respectively, are a workplace diversity consultant and a mechanic. In 2013, while a global studies undergrad at Ryerson University, she joined the g(irls)20 global Summit, which seeks to boost female participation in the labour force, as logistics and communications manager. The next year Brown moved to Vancouver, where she worked in opera- tions and investor relations for a private equity firm and began attending the Whisky Wisemen's monthly events. In 2015, after she created private member- ship group Club Wise, the founders asked her to join the board. When Brown took over as CEO in early 2017, she launched a golf tournament, a speaker series and a whisky festival. THE boTToM lINE: Under Brown's leader- ship, the Whisky Wisemen has grown its revenue by more than 85 percent and opened new chapters in Toronto and miami. So far, it has raised about $60,000 for charity. The society, which had five active chapters as of February, plans to grow to 20 chapters and $250,000 in donations within five years. –N.R.