REGISTRATION GREETERS - 8th Annual Surrey Top 25 Under 25 Awards Thursday, April 26, 2018 Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel (15269 104 Avenue) ...
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8th Annual Surrey Top 25 Under 25 Awards
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel
(15269 104 Avenue)
5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
REGISTRATION Rhona
Melissa - Winner’s Check In
GREETERS Anita
Indra
16:25 p.m. ANITA HUBERMAN
*AV – Cover Slide
Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention? We’re going to begin our
program shortly. I ask you to take your seats now. Please turn off your cell
phones to avoid interruptions in tonight’s program.
(might have to repeat more than once)
Just a reminder, if you do not want your photo or name on any media or
publication please let the Surrey Board of Trade staff know. The Surrey Board
of Trade is a public stakeholder - and at times media will be present and
photos are taken that may be utilized in internal and external publications.
****************************************************************
2Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Surrey Board of Trade’s
8th Annual Surrey’s Top 25 under 25 Awards evening. My name is Anita
Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade and an Honorary Captain of the
Royal Canadian Navy. Tonight’s event will illuminate and inspires us through
the leadership qualities demonstrated by Surrey’s youth!
The Surrey Board of Trade is where business happens! They support business
and attract business through economic opportunities, workforce
development, international trade, government advocacy and they are a
concierge of business connections. This event demonstrates to our youth that
you belong to Surrey’s business organization and you have support through
our Business and International Trade Centre at the Surrey Board of Trade.
These are our future members – in fact some of them already are student or
business members!
The Surrey Board of Trade’s leadership is making a difference to Surrey’s
economic development. Surrey is on the pathway to becoming the largest city
in British Columbia. Surrey’s business community must join together ensure
that the needed investments are in Surrey. Support the Surrey Board of Trade
by becoming a member!
3Before we begin, please stand and join me in a moment of silence for those
people in Toronto that lost their lives on Monday in such a tragic incident. Our
thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy.
(20 sec)
Thank you.
Before we begin our program, I would like to share some information with you
about the Surrey Board of Trade’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program.
Last year the Surrey Board of Trade released and continues to advocate for a
structured and collaborative Youth Entrepreneurship Policy to both the
provincial and federal government. The Surrey Board of Trade continues to
create entrepreneurship pathways. It isn’t only about building a career, it is
about creating innovative skill sets and building the jobs of tomorrow.
Given persistently high rates of youth unemployment in British
Columbia—at 13.6%, more than double the national average—preparing
youth to follow an entrepreneurial path is not only an acceptable choice,
but a strategic decision. There are many programs in BC and in Canada
that introduce youth to career pathways, but not enough are available
that support young people in developing practical entrepreneurial skills.
This policy is about enhancing the focus on youth entrepreneurship by
4supporting the current workforce as well as our future business owners.
Nurturing entrepreneurial skills in elementary students is a key part of
this strategy as it helps create sustainable and long-term impact.
Our recommendation to both the provincial and federal governments are to
1. Create a comprehensive youth entrepreneurship strategy, which entails:
Optimizing the Regulatory Environment, Enhancing Entrepreneurship
Education and Skills Development, Facilitating technology exchange &
innovation, Improving Access to Finance, Promoting Awareness and
Networking.
2. With regards to K-12 education, it is suggested that the Federal
Government help facilitate collaboration between the provinces and
territories regarding best practices in entrepreneurship education.
I encourage you to review our policy. It is on the youth section of our website
at businessinsurrey.com. The Surrey Board of Trade as Surrey’s business
organization has been focusing actively with our partner PowerPlay on
teaching Surrey’s children entrepreneurship to students as young as in Grade
4 and all the way through to being a young adult for the past 12 years.
****************************************************************
5Before I introduce your Master of Ceremonies, I want to ask a very special
guest to say a few words. I sit on SFU’s India Advisory Council and was so
inspired this morning by his words, his philosophy and his message. He is a
composer, music producer and conservationist. In 2015, he won a Grammy at
the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Winds of Samsara in the Best
New Age Album category.[1] The project made a debut at #1 on the
US Billboard New Age Albums Chart in August 2014,a first for a person of
Indian origin. His album Shanti Samsara - World Music for Environmental
Consciousness was launched on November 30, 2015 at the 2015 United
Nations Climate Change Conference by Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and then French President, Francois Hollande
Many of you know that we have advocated to our City of Surrey to make
Surrey a music city destination and to include it in their revised Parks,
recreation and culture plan – it is in there to be presented to Mayor and
Council in May.
For our Top 25 under 25 winners this evening, I encourage you to listen to his
inspirational message. Please help me welcome Ricky Kej!
6Thank you Ricky!
And now, your Master of Ceremonies for this evening, an award-winning
journalist, currently working as a reporter and anchor for CBC British
Columbia, broadcasting province-wide for both radio and television news.
Please help me welcome, Ms. Tanya Fletcher!
(Anita leads applause)
76:30 p.m. TANYA FLETCHER
Good evening everyone and thank you so much for attending tonight’s 8th
Annual Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 Awards!
We begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the
traditional and unceded territory of Coast Salish peoples, specifically the
Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, and Tsawwassen First Nations.
I’m so excited to be here tonight to celebrate the incredible initiatives,
community and entrepreneurial spirit that Surrey’s youth have showcased
through their nominations tonight. The Surrey Board of Trade was impressed
to learn how Surrey’s youth are working towards the success of our city’s
future. You’ll hear more about them later in tonight’s program.
Please tweet, facebook, instagram, Linkedin about this event tonight!! Use
@SBofT and (hashtag) #25U25.
8And now Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome our government
officials in the audience:
1. Councillor Mike Starchuck
2. Jessica Lar-son and Preet Sangha on behalf of the Honourable Jinny Sims,
Minister of Citizens' Services Surrey-Panorama
3. Ramesh Ranjan on behalf of the Honourable Bruce Ralston,
Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology
Also joining us are the Surrey Board of Trade Directors:
4. Board Chair, Dr. Gregory Thomas, of G3Consulting
5. Curtis Christopherson, of Innovative Fitness
6. Baljit Dhaliwal, of Focus College
7. Stephen Dooley, of Simon Fraser University
8. Doug Tennant, of Semiahmoo House Society
9. __________________________________
Thank you all for attending and celebrating with us.
9And of course, this event wouldn’t be possible without the support of our
amazing sponsors:
1. Co-Presenting Sponsors Kwantlen Polytechnic University and SFU Beedie
School of Business
2. Supporting Sponsor, the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel
3. Community Sponsor, WorkSafeBC
4. and Media Sponsors, 107.7 PulseFM Radio and the Surrey NOW-Leader
newspaper
5. The Surrey Board of Trade would also like to thank their Business Centre
sponsors: the law firm of McQuarrie Hunter LLP, the accounting firm of
PwC, the City of Surrey, and The Chambers of Commerce Group
Insurance Plan by Schmidt & Funk. Thank you.
At this time, I ask Dr. Jane Fee, Vice Provost Students
at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, to come forward for her remarks.
(Tanya leads applause, waits at podium, shakes speaker’s hand and steps to
the side of the stage)
106:32 p.m. DR. JANE FEE
(3-5 minutes)
116:37 p.m. TANYA FLETCHER
Thank you, Dr. Fee!
Now, on behalf of SFU’s Beedie School of Business, please help me welcome
Mr. Stephen Dooley, Executive Director for Simon Fraser University, Surrey
Campus.
(Tanya leads applause, waits at podium, shakes speaker’s hand and steps to
the side of the stage)
126:38 p.m. STEPHEN DOOLEY
(3-5 minutes)
136:43 p.m. TANYA FLETCHER
Thank you, Steve!
I now ask Mr. John Kearns of the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel to come
up and say a few words.
(Tanya leads applause, waits at podium, shakes speaker’s hand and steps to
the side of the stage)
146:44 p.m. JOHN KEARNS
(3 mins)
156:47 p.m. TANYA FLETCHER
Thank you, Mr. Kearns!
It is now my pleasure to introduce your Spotlight speaker this evening.
Sara Hodson is Founder and President of LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic. She is a
tenacious entrepreneur who maximizes clients’ health, in spite of their health
issues, and has fun while doing it!
In 2011, after 10 years with the Fraser Health Authority, working in their
Cardiac Rehab program, and with a passion for exercise in healthcare, Sara
decided to take a leap of faith from her stable job and became an
entrepreneur. She recognized a gap between cardiac rehab and traditional
gyms, producing an innovative exercise clinic. Physicians have referred more
than 3,000 patients to her three pioneering clinics since 2011.
Sara was named one of the 10 Rising Stars to watch for in PROFIT/Chatelaine
magazine’s annual ranking of Top Female Entrepreneurs and was also a finalist
in the national She-EO 2015 competition for female entrepreneurs. In 2016
she won the Entrepreneur Award in the Surrey Women in Business Awards
program and in 2017 Sara was named Surrey’s Business Person of the Year!
Ladies and Gentlemen: please help me welcome, Sara Hodson!
(Tanya leads applause, waits at podium, shakes speaker’s hand and steps to
the side of the stage)
166:48 SARA HODSON
(10 - 15 MINUTES)
*AV – Keynote Slide
**AV – Video when queued
***AV – Back to Cover Slide
177:00 TANYA FLETCHER
Thank you so much, Sara! Wow! What an amazing entrepreneurial journey.
Before we begin our awards ceremony, on behalf of Mayor Linda Hepner, I ask
Councillor Mike Starchuk to address this evening’s winners.
(Tanya leads applause, waits at podium, shakes speaker’s hand and steps to
the side of the stage)
187:01 p.m. COUNCILLOR MIKE STARCHUK
(1-2mins)
197:04 p.m. TANYA FLETCHER
Thank you, Councillor Starchuk!
(Tanya leads applause)
This year the Surrey Board of Trade received a record number of nominations!
Nearly 100 nominations were reviewed and marked by the Surrey Board of
Trade Youth Entrepreneurship Team, to determine our winners here tonight.
Please help me thank those team members for the many volunteer hours they
gave to help us recognize these amazing young people. The Surrey Board of
Trade’s Youth Entrepreneurship Team is chaired by SFU’s Stephen Dooley. The
winners were assessed based upon their: business or community
achievements, leadership ability, community involvement, professional
achievements and uniqueness of their business or community projects.
(Tanya leads applause)
We will now begin the awards ceremony for the Top 25 under 25 Awards. As
you can see, all the winners, having been notified prior to this evening, are
seated to my left. I will call our winners forward one by one to receive their
awards. You’ll receive your award and have your photo taken with the
receiving line. The full description of each of the winners is in your program.
20I ask the following representatives to make their way to the stage to form a
receiving line:
1. Dr. Greg Thomas, Chair of the Surrey Board of Trade
2. Dr. Jane Fee, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
3. Mr. Stephen Dooley, SFU Beedie School of Business
4. Mr. John Kearns, Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel
5. Councillor Starchuk, City of Surrey
6. Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade
When you’ve received your award, I ask that you return to your seat and
remain there for a group photo when our program concludes.
21And now, let’s begin! Our first winner is:
Beenu Bajwa – Age 21
Beenu is a full-time science student at UBC and the co-founder of a non-profit
organization called Unified 4 Change, which is aimed at tackling homelessness
within Surrey.
The Unified 4 Change initiative includes organizing activities for the residents
of local homeless shelters to help them with computer literacy, interview
skills, resume development and mental health wellness. Within just a few
years, Unified 4 Change has attracted over 450 members from elementary
schools, high schools, and post-secondary institutes all across Canada.
Beenu also serves as the President for UBC’s Young Women in Science and
Engineering Club for the second year in a row. This club of women are
dedicated to inspiring women to further pursue their desired career goals.
Beenu also took part in the Miss BC 2017 pageant. She won the title of Miss
Greater Vancouver BC 2017-2018, leading her to claim the title of Miss Canada
2018 First Runner up.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Beenu Bajwa!
22Harjot Bal – Age 15
Harjot currently serves as the Director of Internal Operations with
One Blood For Life Foundation and is a Youth Program Leader with
Project Blue Hands Society.
One Blood For Life Foundation is a well-known non-profit organization in the
Lower Mainland founded in 2016. Their goal is to spread awareness about the
value of blood donations and the international stem cell registry. As of today,
they have over 380 volunteers, have collected over 1400 blood donations and
added 700 new registrants to the international stem cell registry. They
oversee various programs which include running mobile blood donor clinics
and leading stem cell events to increase ethnic diversity of the stem cell
registry.
Project Blue Hands is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help out those
who are less fortunate by providing them with basic needs such as warm
meals, clothing and hygienic products. They have made momentous strides
toward their goal. Both Project Blue Hands and One Blood For Life Foundation
have had a tremendous response with hundreds of volunteers, which is
thanks mostly to Harjot’s great efforts.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Harjot Bal!
23Tyler Carmont – Age 24
Tyler is the co-founder of ‘In-Need No-More’, which is a social enterprise
started by three entrepreneurial students after discovering BC's child poverty
rate is a 1-in-5 ratio for the past 20 years.
Through research and development, school supply packages purchased
through the sponsorship of local businesses, help support students in need
while bridging the gap for businesses that want to be involved in the
community. Through this venture, ‘In-Need No-More’ was able to support
approximately 500 students in the Lower Mainland with packages in the Fall
of 2017.
A partnership with Staples was secured and relationships were developed
with many members of the community. Though this program, Tyler has been
able to match businesses with schools based on proximity and recognize the
efforts of those involved through social media leading to over 20,000-page
views.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Tyler Carmont!
24Larissa Chen – Age 22
Larissa is the co-founder of Böues (BOO-EYS), a personal care brand that
promotes healthy aging and environmental sustainability. By upcycling
leftover beeswax and raw honey from a Surrey-based bee farm,
Böues (BOO-EYS), creates all-natural and local products sold at BCB Honey
Farm, SFU Bookstores and farmers markets in Surrey and Vancouver.
This initiative raises awareness of health-conscious hygiene practices and the
importance of BC bees in our ecosystem, replacing body care products that
contain unnecessary chemicals, single-purpose usage and excessive packaging.
Larissa is also the Purchasing & Inventory Manager at Virogin Biotech, an
oncolytic cancer research facility. She has introduced new sustainable
practices that have successfully reduced biomedical and packaging waste.
In conjunction with the UBC, Virogin Biotech has met success in eradicating
cancerous tumors in the animal testing phase and is now advancing towards
the clinical trial phase. In her spare time, she works in the community
developing communications and digital marketing plans for local businesses
and organizations.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Larissa Chen!
25Cody de Leijer (DE LIE-JER) – Age 20
Cody has successfully managed to find a consistent balance between business,
community involvement and his school work. He is the current President of
Enactus SFU, leading over 145 SFU students in using business to create a
positive impact on the world. For his work with Enactus, Cody was selected as
one of three students from across the world to speak to the Enactus
Worldwide Board of Directors in London, England at the Enactus World Cup in
October of 2017.
Cody also works for SFU Innovates, Radius SFU and Coast Capital Savings
Venture Connection where he advocates for change making and
entrepreneurship opportunities across the campus.
In his spare time, he officiates hockey games where he has been recognized
with numerous awards. He also volunteers his time with the Youth
Entrepreneurship Learning Launchpad (YELL) program where he mentors a
team of high school students in the development of their business. Cody has
managed to stay involved in his community while maintaining a 3.68 CGPA
across his three years of studies at Simon Fraser University.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Cody de Leijer! (DE LIE-JER)
26Annie Deng – Age 18
Social Diversity for Children Foundation also known as SDC, is a predominantly
youth-run charity that works to empower children with disabilities through
therapy programs and raising awareness about disability justice. SDC was
founded in 2010 by a group of high school students in Richmond and has now
expanded as an international organization in the USA, China, Dubai, and
Canada, with over 1000 volunteers.
Annie serves as the CEO of the executive team in Canada, managing
Headquarter members from nine different schools to run the majority of SDC
Canada’s operations—including high school programs, Youth Training
Workshops, and annual events. SDC’s core programs are its art and music
therapy programs for children with disabilities (Education Through Creativity
and Building Bridges with Music). In these programs, high school volunteers
are paired one-on-one with participants as “buddies” and help them through
professionally run therapy programs. The participants then build social skills
and friendships with their peers, and high school students learn about
disability justice firsthand.
Annie’s goal when she was first hired as CEO was to expand the programs to
her home city of Surrey. Over her two years, she and her team have raised
over $12,000 to start six new programs, in Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver,
and Surrey. Ladies and Gentlemen: Annie Deng!
27Rabiah Dhaliwal – Age 18
Rabiah Dhaliwal serves as the Vice President of the One Blood for Life
Foundation. The organization, in partnership with Canadian Blood Services,
tackles the need for the high demand of blood and stem cells through a
plethora of humanitarian mediums such as donor recruiting, hosting clinics,
and raising awareness through educational events.
Since her early involvement, she has helped to transform it into an effective
community-based platform for the avocation of blood and stem cell
donations, tirelessly recruiting over 350 volunteers and numerous donors.
Rabiah has played a pivotal role in planning and leading projects such as the
organization’s largest stem cell and blood donor recruitment event that took
place over the Summer during the
Miri Piri Nagar Kirtan (MIREE PEERIE NA-GAR KAR-TAN), increasing the cultural
diversity and awareness of the national stem cell registry.
One Blood for Life Foundation raises awareness of the dire need for blood
donors over the past two holiday seasons through the “It’s Time to Give”
campaign. During the campaign, Rabiah was interviewed by CBC TV on her
leadership and commitment to raise donor numbers and promote local clinics.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Rabiah Dhaliwal!
28Gurneet Dhatt – Age 22
Gurneet is Founder and CEO of Fast Lane Traffic Management, a company
specializing in providing traffic control services (flagging), traffic management
plans, traffic equipment rentals and traffic control training. After seeing an
unfulfilled need for traffic services in the construction and paving industries,
Gurneet began Fast Lane in March 2017 to address the shortage.
Since its inception, Fast Lane has been able to work with the Abbotsford
Entertainment and Sports Centre, private paving and construction companies
in Surrey and across the Lower Mainland, plus several municipalities including
Coquitlam, Delta, and Burnaby. The company has also been working with the
Federal Government of Canada on projects in Mission and Agassiz.
Since its establishment last year, Fast Lane has made over 1 million in sales
and has 25 employees. The company is currently preparing for the grand
opening of its new offices, where Gurneet and her team hope to double sales
and grow Fast Lane to over 50 employees by year’s end.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Gurneet Dhatt! And yes she is only 22 years old!
29Prabh Dhillon – Age 22
Prabh is the Founder and President of Students for Humanity; a non-profit
student organization/club based at Simon Fraser University. The
humanitarian organization was founded in January 2017 with the intention of
creating an inclusive and discrimination-free environment that allows people
and students of all backgrounds to connect, build a bond, and to work
together towards a common goal of helping others.
The organization addresses numerous social and health issues within the
community through fundraising programs, activism, health promotion, and
raising awareness for a variety of issues. The organization has focused on
initiatives such as assisting those living with HIV/AIDS in partnership with
AIDS Vancouver, promoting the need for blood donations in partnership with
Canadian Blood Services, and is currently working on holding a fundraiser for
Parkinson’s Society British Columbia.
Prabh is also a volunteer at Surrey Memorial Hospital’s emergency
department where he provides support to patients, visitors, and staff.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Prabh Dhillon!
30Stefanie Huffman – Age 21
As the Program Manager of Axis Consulting this year, Stefanie has led over 25
students to volunteer over 8,000 volunteer hours while consulting for
14 non-profits, having an impact on over 9,600 individuals across BC.
Axis Consulting is a student-run organization that provides pro-bono services
for non-profit organizations. The goal is to help businesses grow so they can
increase their environmental, social, and economic impact in the community.
In the last three years, Stefanie has also played a prominent leadership role in
two other projects at Enactus SFU. Through Hunger Actions, Stefanie led
weekly workshops to help 40 mothers gain financial literacy through nutritious
meal planning, empowering them to collectively save over $40,000. Seeing
these results motivated her to create a new social enterprise called Refresh,
where she developed a line of fruit jams made entirely from blemished fruits
that would otherwise be thrown away. Stefanie’s initial product line is still
being sold by Refresh today, diverting food waste from landfills and employing
at-risk individuals in the community.
Unfortunately, Stefanie couldn’t be with us tonight as she is on exchange in
Denmark, but her sister, Nicole Huffman will accept the award on her behalf.
31Harleen Jagpal – Age 24
Harleen is the founder of Cambridge Doors Ltd. – a new brand based off of the
generational transition of a 25-year-old family company. She utilized her
entrepreneurial skills and business mind-set to create a strong brand that
focuses on quality, professionalism and service.
The company serves reputable builders and the construction industry
throughout the Lower Mainland. At 24 years of age she leads a workforce of
15+ employees and is involved in daily operations, from office to warehouse,
and has contributed to the steady growth of the business. In addition to
running Cambridge Doors Ltd., Harleen organizes fundraising events for the
Cancer Society of BC and is currently working with Fraser Health to help set up
a Clinical Prevention Program for South Asians in Surrey. Harleen is also a
member of the Surrey Women in Business Team for the Surrey Board of
Trade. Harleen earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, from
the Beedie School of Business in 2016 and is currently enrolled in the Diploma
in Accounting and Diploma in Urban Land Economics at the University of
British Columbia.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Harleen Jagpal!
32Tony Jure Vukasovic – Age 23
Tony is a co-founder of Smart Parks Canada also known as SPC, a cloud-based
analytics platform that allows municipalities to monitor facility and park usage
through proprietary and off-the-shelf sensors.
City managers who need transparency in how Parks and Recreation facilities
are being used can gain key decision-making insights needed to optimize
operations, be more efficient with their budget, and meet energy efficiency
goals. SPC’s long lasting sensors allow for independence from a facility’s
power grid which enables easier and faster installations. SPC is trialing their
technology with the City of Surrey and is currently entering a second stage of
prototyping. Tony has also appeared on panels for SFU’s Technology
Entrepreneurship program where he shared his experience with aspiring
youth entrepreneurs. He recently mentored two teams for the 2018 Startup
Hacks hackathon hosted by SFU Innovates, Hackhub, and VentureLabs. Those
two teams are now finalists in that competition. Tony is in his final year at
SFU’s Beedie School of Business.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Tony Jure Vukasovic!
33Ramanjot Kingra – Age 22
Ramanjot Kingra is the Director of External Affairs with SOAR Philanthropic
Society, where she oversees all communication and support for community
groups and partners of the organization. She sits on the Board of Directors,
strategizing the organization’s long-term plans and analyzes how to support
local youth with scholarship funds.
SOAR has given over $50,000 in scholarship funds to low socioeconomic local
youth that plan on pursuing post-secondary education. She has led multiple
projects with SOAR as well, including the SOAR Summit, which became a large
successful leadership conference that is now in partnership with Simon Fraser
University. Hundreds of local students attend to meet and be inspired by local
entrepreneurs, professionals, and community leaders. She has led many other
projects as well with SOAR Philanthropic Society, a key organization in the
local community for providing scholarships.
Unfortunately, Ramanjot couldn’t be with us tonight as he is out of town,
but his sister, Manveer Kingra will accept the award on his behalf.
34Vivesh Kochher – Age 21
Vivesh is the CEO/Founder of PVR Drywall Recycling, a drywall recycling plant
that ensures drywall is disposed of correctly. Indicated to be the second
largest drywall recycling company in all of Canada and the first one in Surrey,
the goal of PVR Drywall Recycling is to provide the Lower Mainland with a
better way to recycle drywall so that it is not left in the environment.
In the future, Vivesh plans to recycle the paper obtained from the drywall to
cardboard manufacturers, increasing the awareness and importance of proper
recycling in the construction industry. Vivesh has been in the building industry
for the past 3 years, currently managing a residential and commercial
electrical and low voltage company (Boss Electrics), a development company
focused on residential development projects around Metro Vancouver
(Cranex Development Ltd.), and an international import and export company
for stones, tiles, pavers, and other building supplies (All Star Stones and
Building Materials). Vivesh’s most recent professional achievement has been
getting Surrey’s first drywall recycling plant approved from Metro Vancouver.
PVR Drywall Recycling will be located on Surrey’s port with 14,000 square feet
of Industrial space.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Vivesh Kochher! And yes he is only 21 years old!
35Brady Lumsden – Age 17
In 2016, Brady and his cousins realized a mutual friend was hungry. This friend
was part of the breakfast and lunch program at his school but faced bare
cupboards every weekend. The cousins wanted to do something and tried to
find a program to help. When they realized none existed, they created
Weekend Fuelbag. This charity, of which Brady is now CEO, provides large
bags of food for middle and high school students-in-need to take home every
weekend. The bags contain two breakfasts, two lunches, fruit, bread and
snacks.
To begin this program, the cousins canvassed grocery stores for donations and
each bag had a cost of $5. To date, Brady has raised over $60,000 and feeds
80 students across the Langley School District every weekend. Due to Brady’s
ability to network with the business community, he is now able to spend over
$10 per bag, providing healthy and nutritious food. Brady’s goal is to expand
his program into Surrey and has already started with Fleetwood Park
Secondary.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Brady Lumsden!
36Shilpa Narayan – Age 22
Shilpa has developed herself into a passionate and driven student leader
through her participation in Enactus, a global student organization that utilizes
social entrepreneurship to tackle prominent issues in the community. In her
first year, she was in Refresh, a social enterprise aimed to tackle the problem
of visually imperfect fruit discarded by local grocers.
Shilpa continued her involvement with Enactus through Coast Cards, a social
enterprise that sells greeting cards made by upcycling used coasters and scrap
paper, while providing transitional employment to marginalized individuals.
Coast Cards collects used coasters from local restaurants. The coasters are
blended with scrap paper to create beautiful handmade greeting cards sold to
businesses and community members. The simple card-making process
enabled Coast Cards to partner with ‘Together We Can Addiction Recovery
Rehabilitation Centre’. The cards are made by individuals going through the
recovery process at this Centre, giving them the opportunity to build tangible
skills in a creative setting.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Shilpa Narayan!
37Dorothy Ng – Age 22
Dorothy is a driven and passionate student leader who has paired her student
involvement with professional experience. She was awarded the Shrum Major
Entrance Scholarship valued at $24,000. Her dedication to her school work
and extracurricular activities saw her receive an 8-month product
management internship at Blackberry where she oversaw feature definition,
development, and delivery for three mobile applications across four operating
systems.
She has also accepted a role as an Amplify Business Analyst at the Royal Bank
of Canada which is a highly competitive, intensive summer innovation
program. Dorothy also competed at the McKinsey Challenge. She was
recruited from a pool of top students in Lower Mainland to compete in a
2-day case competition where she developed a two-prong strategy for an
accounting firm to minimize their churn rate.
She is currently the Project Manager at Axis Consulting, a subsidiary of
Enactus SFU, which is a student-run consulting program that provides
pro-bono (free) consulting services for non-profit organizations and social
enterprises that positively impact the local community socially, economically,
and or environmentally.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Dorothy Ng!
38John Nguyen – Age 23
John is a Co-founder and President of Technovus at SFU. Technovus is a
student run initiative that fosters the development and learning of young
creators. They do this through hands on technical projects, workshops, and
competitions.
Over the past year, Technovus has grown from 5 members to 40 active
members working on 6 different technical projects. Technovus has hosted
over 15 events ranging from robotics workshops for the community, socials,
and technical competitions. Their flagship event is its annual Mechathon - a
competition in which over 100 innovators, designers, and entrepreneurs came
together to solve real health challenges in the community in the span of 24
hours. The event brings together students, mentors, and industry
professionals giving students the chance to challenge themselves and
innovate while, at the same time, learn about health challenges in their
community.
Ladies and Gentlemen: John Nguyen!
39Chirag Patel – Age 23
Chirag Patel currently serves as the Director of Finance for a registered non-
profit organization that started in Surrey, SOAR Philanthropic Society. After he
realized many students are in need of financial assistance he joined SOAR to
provide scholarships to graduating high school students and raise awareness
on the importance of education. He oversees all managers and specialists in
every region of the Lower Mainland. His organization has been providing
thousands of dollars to Surrey high school students to pursue post-secondary
education.
In addition, Chirag is also running his own janitorial services business, Lower
Mainland Building Maintenance, which operates across the Lower Mainland.
Chirag Patel was admitted to the Beedie School of Business in 2013. For his
achievements the business faculty at SFU honoured him with the $20,000
Lloyd-Carr Harris Foundation entrance scholarship. Chirag just recently
completed his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Beedie
School of Business in 2017 and is now employed by the accounting firm of
PwC as he pursues his CPA.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Chirag Patel!
40Rochelle Prasad – Age 19
Rochelle Prasad has been volunteering and taking action for a better world
since a young age. She was recently recognized for her global voluntarism
efforts in Ecuador and Kenya, with the 2017 Soroptimist International
Women’s award, and the 2018 Canada 150 awards in Leadership.
Rochelle has co-founded two organizations: the Surrey Youth Safety Council,
and Surrey Team for Youth Leadership and Engagement.
She has also founded ‘Camp We Empower’, a leadership camp to empower
the next generation by giving students in grades eight to twelve the tools they
need to thrive while making a positive difference. During this three-day, two-
night camp, students participate in life-skill building workshops, hear from
community guest speakers, and are partnered with a mentor. ‘Camp We
Empower’ believes that change does truly start with us, and we need to
inspire ourselves to empower the next generation. This camp has been
running for four years and has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of
teenagers.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Rochelle Prasad!
41Jasanjeet Rai – Age 23
After endless hours of dedication to the community, Jasanjeet was appointed
on the Board of Directors for KidsPlay to oversee over 400 members and
volunteers. Kids Play is an organization focused on providing opportunities for
youth to steer them away from gangs and drugs and towards sports and
community projects.
Members from local law enforcement agencies and leaders from the local
community have started to support Jessy’s efforts. He held three major events
this year which attracted over 2,000 participants in total, with over 1,000
participants predicted to attend his next major event mid-May.
Jessy is also a private in the Canadian Armed Forces where he serves as an
armoured crewman. He says that the military has presented him with the
most difficult and exciting challenges in his life. In the long term, Jessy aspires
to work with the municipal government of the City of Surrey as an elected
councillor or mayor one day.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Jasanjeet Rai!
42Talvir Sahota – Age 22
At 21 years of age, Talvir became a police officer with the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. His endless love for his community led him to become one of
the youngest recruits for the RCMP.
While attending high school, Talvir began volunteering his time and in 2015 he
became the lead volunteer for the nonprofit organization, Kids Play Youth
Foundation. His dedication and commitment has helped the organization
serve over 40 000 youth in the Lower Mainland. Talvir has run over 40
programs benefiting more than 40,000 kids in the Lower Mainland and has
become a role model for youth in the community.
He is a strong believer that utilizing sports and education is a great way to
combat gang violence and drug use. Talvir commits his time to mentoring
youth into having a healthy balance of sports and recreation in their lives.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Talvir Sahota!
43Georgiy Sekretaryuk (SECK-RA-TARR-UCK) – Age 19
For the past year and a half, Georgiy has been working on building a company
called Cering, which is a smart jewellery emergency alert platform for public
safety. The company creates smart rings, bracelets and pendants with the
capability of notifying local authorities should the person wearing the jewelry
be in danger. It is designed in such a way that if the person wearing the
jewelry taps three times on it, it would alert local authorities and emergency
contacts for help. Georgiy’s mission is to empower his community by creating
a safer world for people to live in through smart jewelry. He believes that
smart jewelry can be elegant and discreet, and can blend in, but still be there
to help should people find themselves in unsafe situations.
Cering started from a cohort of the Young Entrepreneur Leadership
Launchpad (YELL) in 2016 where they placed first at the YELL Venture
Challenge. After the program, they moved to working out of SFU Surrey’s co-
working space to create their first jewelry designs in partnership with local
jewelry designers and have had their smart gem technology developed out in
China.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Georgiy Sekretaryuk!
44Arman Turna – Age 16
Arman is the founder and CEO of Global Cure Foundation, a registered non-
profit organization dedicated to raising money for healthcare. His charity
provides proper healthcare for everyone without discrimination and combats
the varying disparities within the medical system. Global Cure Foundation is
also teaching youth volunteers, staff and directors transferable skills for their
future.
Arman has employed a team of three executive directors, eight directors and
thirty staff members whose work has branched out to various schools in the
Lower Mainland, including North Surrey Secondary, Fraser Heights and LA
Matheson. Arman gives each of these school’s complete freedom to establish
their own executives, create fundraisers and manage meetings. The only
requirement is for the President of each school club to report their work on a
monthly basis to Arman, so he can ensure every school club is functioning
well. Within 6 months, Global Cure Foundation has held approximately 20
fundraisers both in-school and in the community. They have raised thousands
of dollars for BC Children’s Hospital and an international hospital that they will
choose based on financial need.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Arman Turna!
45Marco Zenone – Age 22
Marco serves as a Co-Lead on the Student Health Advisory Committee, co-led
large projects within the Faculty of Health Sciences to enhance mental health
at Simon Fraser University. Marco has contributed to various community
campaigns. In 2017 Marco was recognized as a Canadian National Cooperative
Champion for his work on youth engagement within the Bridge for Health
Cooperative. He was invited to Ottawa to share his story at a national meeting
of cooperative in Canada.
In addition, Marco has received several internal awards at Simon Fraser
University including the Outstanding Service to the Faculty of Health Sciences
Award, the Vicky Bach Memorial Book Prize, and a Vice President of Research
Grant Award. Marco has presented his research and work at numerous
conferences, including the 6th Global Forum on Health Promotion and has an
upcoming presentation at Public Health 2018. Marco has additionally been
recognized as a leader within the Faculty of Health Sciences and has been
profiled through various advertisements on behalf of the Faculty.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Marco Zenone!
467:30 PM TANYA FLETCHER
We will now present the Honorary Health & Safety in the Workplace Award.
For this award, we posed the question:
Recognizing the role technology plays in young peoples’ lives, how would you
use it to improve young worker occupational health and safety?
The winner of this award, Harleen Jagpal’s response was very practical. In her
answer, she stated the following:
“In my business, I am involved in the Occupational Health and Safety of the
employees in our warehouse, including myself. As a “young person” our
phones are always in-hand and available. It would be great to have an app
that communicates regulations and requirements for certain work
procedures. Online availability exists but do require some digging. Information
sessions are not as effective as attendees can be easily distracted. A fun,
interactive app that includes a range of information could help educate
workers on safety procedures. For example, if using a forklift machine, this
could be selected on the app and all related requirements would be listed to
help inform the worker on how to avoid injury. Having easy access to the
handbook would also benefit warehouse supervisors and individuals
immensely.” Ladies and Gentlemen: the winner of the Health & Safety in the
Workplace Award is Harleen Jagpal! Harleen, please come forward and
accept your award.
477:35 PM TANYA FLETCHER
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in congratulating Surrey’s Top 25 Under
25 Award Recipients, and the winner of the Health & Safety in the Workplace
Award for 2018!
(Tanya leads round of applause)
On behalf of all of us here, thank you for your community involvement and
entrepreneurial spirit. I want to point out that the brief descriptions that
were read only provide a snapshot of the accomplishments of our 25 winners
tonight. For full bios of each of the winners, visit businessinsurrey.com on the
Surrey Board of Trade’s website, where you can also get more information
about the Surrey Board of Trade Business and International Centre sponsors:
the City of Surrey, the Law firm of McQuarrie Hunter LLP, the accounting firm
of PwC, and the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan Schmidt &
Funk Financial.
48I sincerely thank the following sponsors for supporting Surrey’s Top 25 under
25 Awards!
1. Co-Presenting Sponsors Kwantlen Polytechnic University and
SFU Beedie School of Business
2. Our Supporting Sponsor, the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel
3. Our Community Sponsor, WorkSafe BC
4. and our Media Sponsors, 107.7 PulseFM Radio and the Surrey NOW-Leader
Newspaper.
(Tanya leads applause)
Please continue to network, meet our winners and enjoy the delicious snacks.
I ask all winners to stay seated for a group photo. Sponsors please join us for
the photo.
Remember that Surrey is where business happens – even for our youth!
Make it a great business night!
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