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
TOp: DARREN hULL; FROm LEFT: 1-800-gOT-JUNK?; JIm pATTISON gROUp; REBECCA ChALmERS ApRIL 2018 BCBusiness 51 2000 Dennis (Chip) Wilson opens his first Lululemon Athletica inc. store in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood. In 2007, Wilson raises almost US$330 million by taking the athleisure-wear retailer public. Winner of a pacific EOY Innovation and marketing award in 2004, he later courts controversy with ill-advised remarks. Wilson leaves Lululemon completely in 2015, a year after helping his wife and son launch clothier Kit and Ace. management and half a year of industry consulting. Today, her Kelowna-based Troika Management Corp. group of companies is on track to break $100 million in annual revenue. Wasylyk has made power lists including the Women's Executive Network's Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2017, the BDO Top 40 Under 40 in the Okanagan in 2015 and the Canadian Home Builders' Association's Top 20 Most Influential People in Real Estate in 2012. Here, the Troika partner and CEO reflects on what it was like to join the old boys' club—and why we need more women around the boardroom. When you launched your company, how was the business climate for women entrepreneurs? Initially, the work I did as a consultant wasn't too surprising for a female: I was mostly doing public presentations and neighbourhood consulting. What was out of the box was when I decided that I could do land development. I started building a business plan, and I inter- viewed huge developers that didn't see me as a threat. One developer I worked for on a consulting basis told me I would never be as good a developer as he was, because I'm a woman. That turned out to be the greatest blessing, because when I'm told there's something I can't do, I just do it. I returned his blessing by saying that I was going to be a better developer than he was. He said, "How could you say that?" I said, "Because I actually use the kitchens that I'm about to design." What challenges did you face as you built your business? I was one of the first female developers on the Urban Development Institute's Pacific board, and that was WINNING Ways New colleagues are a direct result of the exposure from receiving an EOY award, says Wasylyk 1997 Brian scudamore, founder and then-CEO of 1-800-Got-Junk?, ignores the advice of mentors and plows ahead with a franchise in Seattle. Three coun- tries and 200 franchises later, Scudamore is hauling more cash than junk. his O2e Brands has gone on to launch or purchase three more businesses in the home services space, and total revenue tops US$200 million annually. 2000 The undisputed king of B.C. business, billionaire Jim Pattison, receives the pacific EOY Lifetime Achievement Award. Almost two decades on, the nonagenarian shows no signs of retiring. he remains chair and CEO of Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group, which counts grocery store chains, auto dealers, advertising and forest products among its 27 divisions.