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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10 BCBusiness ApRIL 2018 pORTRAIT: ADAm BLASBERg T he kids are all right, and they have a healthy measure of self-regard. At least, that's what one survey shows. In a 2016 global poll of some 4,000 entrepreneurs by HSBC Private Bank- ing, 23 percent of respondents in their 20s said they went into business to make a differ- ence in their community, versus just 13 per- cent for those over 50. Meanwhile, almost 40 percent of 20-somethings polled were more likely to work hard at confronting social and environmental issues within their company, compared to 25 percent for the over-50 set. Another finding: where only 17 percent of respondents 50 or older said they got into business to make a name for themselves, more than a quarter of those under 30 had that goal. Those two very different ambitions cropped up when we chose the winners of our fifth annual 30 Under 30 competition (p.26). On the one hand, there was no shortage of nominees whose businesses exist for a higher purpose than making a buck. On the other hand, many of the contenders are shrewd self- promoters—not shy about singing their own praises as they seek to establish a personal brand. I don't see a contradiction here. Although it's encouraging that young entrepreneurs are serious about improving the state of the world, I also know how much that world has changed. Standing out today takes work. You don't need to be a pushy egomaniac, but it does call for asser- tiveness. Congratulations to all of the 30 Under 30 winners. On page 49, you'll find another celebration of entrepreneurship. The Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur Of The Year awards for the Pacific Region turn 25 this year. To mark that mile- stone, contributor Jessica Werb asked several winners to share their thoughts on building a successful business and what it means to take home a coveted EOY prize. We're proud to have profiled them and hundreds of oth- ers over the past quarter-century in our annual awards package. Congrats to EY's Lui Petrollini, EOY Pacific Region program director, and his team. BCBusiness hopes to remain a sponsor of the awards for many years to come. And remember, the 25th edition of EOY is now accepting nominations. It never hurts to apply for an award. Who knows? You may be featured as an EOY winner in our October issue—or, if you make the cut-off, on our next 30 Under 30 list Nick Rockel, Editor-in-Chief bcb@canadawide.com / @bCbusiness editor's desk We take a look behind the scenes of Vancouver's growing bitcoin and blockchain industry IN MAY Everyone's a Winner C o n t R I B u t o R s peter Worden has been a CBC TV reporter in Iqaluit and has written for publications including Alberta Venture, the Globe and Mail and Vice. Now living in Revelstoke, Worden worked with a logging crew last summer and discovered that although cedar is valuable, its bark, or hog, is not. In "The Whole Hog" (p.18), he looks at the growing problem of what to do with wood waste and how the lumber industry is exploring solutions. This year, Lindsay siu was tasked with capturing all our 30 Under 30 winners (p.26) on camera. She was pleasantly surprised. "There were a bunch of future-thinking, socially aware people," says Siu, who came to Vancouver from Ottawa as a teenager. "It made me really hopeful for our society as a whole." Siu was recently featured in Lürzer's Archive's Top 200 issue, which celebrates the best ad photography from around the globe.

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