Wes Hall
"Dragon", CBC's Dragons’ Den | Entrepreneur | Philanthropist
The newest “Dragon” on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Wes Hall is one of the most influential businesspeople in Canada. As the founder of Kingsdale Advisors and Black North Initiative, Hall has orchestrated multi-billion-dollar deals for Canada’s corporate elite while working to breakdown barriers for the next generation of Black leaders. Hall channels his drive, passion, and commitment to offer audiences inspiring and actionable business strategies while empowering them to enact real change.
Named one of Maclean’s magazine’s 2021 “50 most powerful people in Canada”, Hall grew up in a tin shack in rural Jamaica with his 13 siblings. He was raised by his grandmother who showed him the value of hard work, perseverance, and dreaming big. Hall moved to Canada as a teenager where he worked a string of jobs to put himself through university and find his way to Bay Street.
At age 34, Hall founded Kingsdale Advisors, which is now one of the leading shareholder advisory firms in North America. His clients have included Air Canada, Barrick, BHP Billiton, Citigroup, and Suncor. In June 2020, Hall founded BlackNorth Initiative to challenge businesses to put an end to anti-black systemic barriers. More than 300 CEOs have signed the initiative’s pledge to create opportunities within their companies for Black people and adopt measurable targets to track their progress.
Hall’s success and reputation led him to join CBC’s Dragons’ Den as the newest “Dragon”, where he aims to create more opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs. He will be sharing his remarkable business journey in his upcoming memoir, No Bootstraps When You’re Barefoot, which will be available in October 2022.
In addition, Hall serves as the Founder and Chairman of The Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism. In 2021, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce for his exceptional leadership in business, and in 2022 he received the Canadian Business Leader of the Year Award from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.