Speakers / Types: Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur Speakers
It’s not easy to build a business from the ground up. Our entrepreneurs share stories and insights from the frontlines on the road to success.
Hamza Khan
Multi-Award Winning Marketer & Entrepreneur | Empowerment Expert
Hamza Khan is a multi-award-winning marketer, bestselling author, and global keynote speaker whose TEDx talk “Stop Managing, Start Leading” has been viewed over a million times. He shares actionable insights on resilience, productivity, and leaders...
Sinead Bovell
Futurist | AI & Future of Work Expert
On a mission to bridge the gap between young entrepreneurs and the digital future, Sinead Bovell strives to create conversations that will lead towards a progressive, informed, and thriving new era. She is a futurist and the founder of WAYE, an organization th...
Amber Mac
Innovation Speaker | Co-host of Marketing Disrupted and The AI Effect
Considered by many to be the go-to expert on anything to do with technology, Amber Mac helps companies and audiences to stay ahead of the curve. She is an industry veteran, renowned as a journalist, moderator, entrepreneur, consultant, and bestselling author. ...
Seth Godin
Author, Entrepreneur and Most of All, A Teacher
Seth Godin is an internationally recognized speaker, popular blogger, and global thought leader in innovative business ideas and marketing strategy. Named one of the Top 21 Speakers For the 21st Century by Successful Meetings magazine, Godin draws on his bests...
Debbie Travis
International Television Icon | Entrepreneur | Bestselling Author
Known for her fantastic dry British wit, Debbie Travis is the centre of a small business empire that has made her a beloved household name and television icon around the world. Her popular TV shows have aired in more than 80 countries, her weekly syndicated ne...
Jana Webb
Entrepreneur | Founder and Creator, JOGA
A lifelong athlete, Jana Webb is on a mission to share her inimitable perspective of fitness and health with the world. She is the founder and CEO of Joga, a unique blend of yoga and sport that has revolutionized how people, including elite athletes, strengthe...
Lital Marom
Innovation Strategist and Visionary
A thought leader on agile business processes, digital transformation, and the future of work, Lital Marom is an expert at helping organizations unlock the potential of their business by leveraging emerging technologies and new economic models. In her practical...
Lane Merrifield
“Dragon” on CBC’s Dragons’ Den | Tech Entrepreneur
The newest “dragon” to join CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Lane Merrifield is one of Canada’s leading tech entrepreneurs. He is the founder of Club Penguin, the largest children’s online social network. At age 28, he sold it to Disney for $350 millio...
Mandy Gilbert
Entrepreneur, CEO & Innovator
Having successfully built two international businesses from the ground up, Mandy Gilbert has been recognized as a United Nations Global Accelerator and ranked as one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs on Canadian Business‘ Profit 500 list and Cha...
Swish Goswami
Startup Canada's Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Swish Goswami has built a multi-hyphenate career at just the age of 23. He is the CEO of Trufan, a social intelligence platform that helps brands of all sizes make smarter marketing decisions. His company, which acquired SocialRank in late 2019, works with cli...
Johnny Cupcakes
CEO, Johnny Cupcakes | Award Winning Entrepreneur & Brand Hysteria Expert
If you dream of inspiring cult-like brand loyalty—the kind that involves mile-long queues and even permanent tattoos— then Johnny “Cupcakes” Earle is for you. The founder of the world-renowned tee-shirt brand Johnny Cupcakes, Johnny’s kno...
Stuart Knight
Expert Communicator | Award-Winning Entrepreneur
Stuart Knight helps the world’s biggest companies reach new levels of success. An award-winning entrepreneur, communications expert, and critically acclaimed author, Stuart’s clients are the “who’s who” of business — from Nike and Telus, to Kra...
Kaihan Krippendorff
Strategy and Innovation Expert
Kaihan Krippendorff is one of the most in-demand business speakers in the world. A bestselling author, internationally recognized thought-leader, and a sought-after strategic advisor, Kaihan is known for his ability to turn difficult concepts into easy-to-und...
Dave Wilkin
Founder of TenThousandCoffees.com | Social Entrepreneur | Mentoring Expert
Dave Wilkin turns all kinds of organizations into engagement engines. A celebrated social entrepreneur, he’s the founder of TenThousandCoffees.com, the world’s largest peer-to-peer mentoring service. With deep experience working with prominent brands, orga...
Graham Sherman
Owner, Tool Shed Brewing Company
Graham Sherman is a self-professed “high level geek” who has used his love of technology to help him master the craft of brewing artisan beer. Together with his partner, Graham launched the Tool Shed Brewery in 2013, and has never looked back. Speaking on ...
Matt Basile
Founder, Fidel Gastro’s
Matt Basile believes food should be fun, and that in the food business you have to do things differently to be memorable. The creator of the Toronto-based street food brand Fidel Gastro’s, Basile started his career in advertising as a copywriter, but when he...
David Segal
Founder of DAVIDsTEA and Mad Radish | Retail Visionary and Branding Expert
David Segal is an entrepreneur and retail thought-leader. He is best known for bringing radical innovation to a 5,000 year old product category with the launch of DAVIDsTEA, the company he co-founded in 2008. Segal takes audiences through the entrepreneurial j...
Michele Romanow
"Dragon", CBC's Dragons’ Den | Co-Founder and President, Clearbanc
Tech titan Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. A “Dragon” on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Romanow is the Co-founder and President of Clearbanc. Clearbanc has invested more than $1B into ...
Nicole Verkindt
Tech Entrepreneur | Founder, OMX
Nicole Verkindt is passionate about leveraging the talents of entrepreneurs and innovation. Named “Canada’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” by StartUp Canada in 2017, Verkindt has a knack for finding industry gaps and building innovative plat...
Molly Fletcher
CEO | Business Author | Former Sports Agent
Molly Fletcher is a trailblazer in every sense of the word — a rare talent of business wisdom, relationship brilliance, and unwavering optimism. As the former president of client representation for sports and entertainment agency CSE, she was hailed as the &...
Evan Hadfield
Digital Media Strategist
As head of Toronto digital creative agency launch*pad, Evan Hadfield has built a name for himself from the ground up. The mastermind behind Colonel Chris Hadfield’s “Space Oddity” YouTube sensation, as well as dozens of other videos by the fa...
Scott McGillivray
Celebrity Host, Income Property | Real Estate Investor
One part savvy real estate investor, one part skilled contractor, and one part accomplished entrepreneur, HGTV’s Income Property host Scott McGillivray is a triple threat. With a passion that lies in educating people to make smart renovation decisions ...
Michael Hyatt
Leadership | Change and Innovation Visionary
In our rapidly shifting business landscape, Michael Hyatt wants to inspire people to face change head-on, and give them the tools and insight needed to succeed. A self-made millionaire who built two highly successful tech firms, he ranks as one of Canada’s t...
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
NBA Legend | Hall of Famer | Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Earvin “Magic” Johnson has become the most powerful African-American businessman in the world. Having left the basketball court for the boardroom, Johnson has successfully parlayed his skills and tenacity on the court into the business world as Chairman an...
Mark Brand
Social Entrepreneur | Restaurateur
Mark Brand is one of North America’s foremost social entrepreneurs. With 11 businesses under his belt, he is an example of a new form of leadership that encompasses good in every step. Determined to breathe new life into our struggling and disjointed com...
John Warrillow
Award-Winning Entrepreneur and Advisor
John Warrillow is the founder of The Value Builder System, a simple software tool for building the value of a company used by thousands of businesses worldwide. Offered by a global network of independent advisors known as Certified Value Builders, The Value Bu...
Steve Wozniak
Co-founder, Apple Computer | Chief Scientist, Fusion-io
Before laptops fit into briefcases, before iPads fit into purses, and before iPhones fit into back pockets, computers were as big as vending machines, and certainly not portable. In 1977, Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple (with Steve Jobs) changed all tha...
Dennis Moseley-Williams
Experience Economy Specialist
What inspires companies, and what makes them inspiring? Dennis Moseley-Williams shows organizations how to create transformative experiences for clients, customers and employees. Captivating audiences with his passion, humour and vivid examples of staged, exce...
Frank O’Dea
Innovative Entrepreneur | Humanitarian
Frank O’Dea’s story of triumph over adversity in business and in his personal life inspires audiences around the world. Against all odds, O’Dea went from being a homeless panhandler to a successful entrepreneur and a founder of The Second Cup chain of co...
Josh Linkner
Award-Winning Entrepreneur | Creativity Expert
Josh Linkner personifies innovation, entrepreneurship, and breakthrough disruption. Beginning his career as a jazz guitarist, Josh has now been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of more than $200 million. Through his i...
Cameron Herold
Author of Double Double | Former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Cameron Herold is known around the world as “The Business Growth Guru.” He is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth, helping to guide organizations to double their profit and double their revenue in just three years o...
Donald Cooper
Business Management, Marketing, and Customer Service Expert
Drawing from his unique experience as both a world-class manufacturer and award-winning retailer, Donald Cooper delivers the “straight goods” on how to sell more, manage smarter, grow your bottom line…and have a life. With wisdom, humour, and...
Ben Casnocha
Entrepreneur | Co-Author of The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age
Ben Casnocha is an award-winning entrepreneur and author from Silicon Valley. BusinessWeek named him”one of America’s top young entrepreneurs,” while PoliticsOnline called him one of the “25 most influential people in the world of inter...
Zahra Al-Harazi
Award-Winning Entrepreneur | Purpose-Driven Leadership Expert
The road to real leadership is rarely a straight one. Among Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs, few have faced more obstacles than Zahra Al-Harazi. With a no-holds-barred attitude, Al-Harazi helps people and organizations realize their potential for succ...
W. Brett Wilson
CBC TV “Dragon Emeritus” | Celebrated Entrepreneur | Philanthropist
Brett Wilson is a celebrated Canadian entrepreneur, respected philanthropist, and the all-time leading deal maker on CBC’s hit TV show, Dragons’ Den. Within a penchant for investing in people rather than projects, Wilson is proof that it’s possible t...
Barb Stegemann
CEO and Founder, The 7 Virtues | Social Entrepreneur
Barb Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was key to building stability for its people, Stegemann launched The 7 V...
Peter Sheahan
International Expert on Leveraging Business Trends and New Market Opportunities
Peter Sheahan is internationally known for his innovative business thinking and thought leadership. A highly successful entrepreneur, he is the founder and CEO of Karrikins Group, a multi-million-dollar consulting practice which attracts clients such as Apple,...
David Rocco
Celebrity Chef | Hit Television Host | Bestselling Author
A trailblazer who breaks down barriers to bring people together, international celebrity chef David Rocco brings his passion for food, travel, and adventure to millions of homes through his worldwide hit television programs David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, Dolce I...
Bruce Croxon
Former "Dragon" | Host, The Disruptors | Partner, Round13 Capital
Bruce Croxon wants to invest in the next Canadian wave. The co-founder of the wildly successful dating site Lavalife, and a former “Dragon” on CBC TV’s Dragons’ Den, Bruce shares informed insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s demanding en...
Leonard Brody
Business and Technology Visionary
Recently named one of the top 30 up and coming management thinkers in the world, Leonard Brody is known as “a leader of the new world order”. He is an award-winning entrepreneur, venture capitalist, bestselling author, and a two-time Emmy-nominated media v...
Arlene Dickinson
Arlene Dickinson "Dragon", CBC's Dragons’ Den & Founder and General Partner, District Ventures Capital
“The purpose of marketing is to deliver business results,” says Arlene Dickinson, renowned CBC “Dragon” and one of Canada’s most successful communications entrepreneurs. Whether explaining how to leverage marketing in even the tou...
David Chilton
Former “Dragon” on CBC TV’s Dragons’ Den | Bestselling Author of The Wealthy Barber
Whether it’s helping millions of Canadians achieve personal financial success or investing in low-fat cookbooks, David Chilton has always had a knack for recognizing great ventures, a skill he leveraged as a “dragon” on CBC television’s #1 hit show, Dr...