BCBusiness

April 2018 30 Under 30

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.

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ApRIL 2018 BCBusiness 39 BCBUSINESS.CA ApRIL 2018 BCBusiness 39 lIfE SToRY: making a new friend put student Naitik mehta on a path to social entrepreneurship. mehta, who grew up with a single mom in pune, India, arrived in Vancouver just two years ago for a BA in interaction design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. he met Kartik Sawhney during a 2015 internship at microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash- ington. Sawhney, blind since birth, had been denied the chance to take the Indian Institutes of Technol- ogy's entrance exam because of his disability—but attended Stanford University on a full scholarship. "We talked about how his story is not unique, because there's more than a billion people in the world with disabilities that face similar challenges," explains mehta, now in his final year of studies. In 2016, he and Sawhney launched NextBillion.org, a Vancouver-based web platform that matches students with disabilities to industry leaders for free guided mentorships. The startup also works as a recruiter, finding its mentees job opportunities in tech. THE boTToM lINE: After completing 85 mentorships, NextBillion.org has received 300 applica- tions for its next cohort of mentors and mentees. The company generates income from recruitment fees; by 2020, it aims to reach 2,000 mentorships and annual revenue of $2.2 million. –J.W. n A I t I k m e h tA Co-founder and CEO nextbillion.org age: 22 lIfE SToRY: "Looking back on it, I know my childhood was a bit different than most people's," says Brandon morrison, who grew up in halifax and graduated from St. mary's University with a BA in philosophy in 2011. From a young age, he and his older sister, Kaleena, helped out with their father's natural and organic ice cream company, Black Bear Ice Cream Emporium. They filled orders for hotels, weddings and their dad's three stores, and spent weekends at trade shows or markets giving away samples and taking orders. Learning how to formulate natural products came in handy later in life when they launched a plant-based, vegan-friendly natural skin care and hair care line, United & Free, in 2016. Now both living in Vancouver, the siblings do demos at natural product stores and summer farmers markets for their own business. THE boTToM lINE: United & Free's half- dozen products are sold in around 30 stores from Vancouver Island to New Brunswick, as well as online. The company plans to quadruple its national sales distribution and expand worldwide within five years. Sophie Uliano, author of New York Times bestseller Gorgeously Green, is a fan, and U.K.- based Pebble Magazine touted United & Free as one of the top 13 vegan skincare brands worldwide. –F.S. B R A n D o n m o R R I s o n Co-founder uniteD & Free skincare inc. age: 29

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