I believe life is about passion and purpose. You have to wake up every morning with the belief that you have important work to do and dedicate yourself to that work. For me that progressively became lost in the corporate environment. I no longer sought a career but a path to my purpose through entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is certainly a journey and not for the faint of heart. It can be a lonely, unrewarding journey with long grueling hours. My initial personal challenge was structure and isolation. Working 10-14hr/ days on average, 7 days a week and suffering from pretty bad insomnia, I required a schedule that would have me efficient and effective. I had tremendous help here from a life coach (yes, they do work).

The best advice I ever received came in the form of a personal experience. I got laid off on my first job out of university as a result of mass redundancy and that taught me to take control of my career. Not HR, not my manager, not the company I work for, but me taking control of my career, my development, where I want to go, as well as putting strong trust and reliance in God and myself.

No human being can live and thrive without others. Therefore, I see networking as something natural and very enriching, from personal and business perspectives. Networking enables me to meet, interact, learn about and share ideas with people from very diverse geographic, cultural, social, educational, professional and religious backgrounds...

Creating partnerships with stakeholders makes me want to wake up every day to go to work.

I think if I had a piece of advice it would be to be consistent in your efforts and perseverant. My field, as is the case for many others, is competitive. In my view, it is important to persevere through the ups and downs even when you are not yet seeing the fruits of your efforts.

I really enjoy the work as it is intellectually stimulating. An added bonus is that my work focuses on the US and Caribbean markets these days. I get to work on leading edge projects. It’s very satisfying to know that our work helps ease and speed credit decisions with prudence for the benefit of the clients and the bank.

I really enjoy the work as it is intellectually stimulating. An added bonus is that my work focuses on the US and Caribbean markets these days. I get to work on leading edge projects. It’s very satisfying to know that our work helps ease and speed credit decisions with prudence for the benefit of the clients and the bank.

As a Chartered Accountant licensed with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, I provide professional accounting and advisory services focused on small businesses – startups, established businesses, self-employed professionals, charities and Not-For-Profit organizations. Services I provide include tax planning; audit and assurance; bookkeeping and business advisory services.  At our firm, a big part of our practice is tax planning as we help our clients structure their affairs in a tax efficient manner to ensure that they are paying no more than they need to pay in taxes.

I work within the Immigration Group of Pace Law Firm and my occupation consist of analyzing cases of high-net-worth individuals who desire to immigrate to Canada through the diverse Immigrant Investor Programs. I work with them from the early stages of gathering all of the necessary supporting documentation and proof pertaining to their assets, to analyzing and comparing the information provided against government rules and qualifying criteria, to meeting them wherever the final interview takes place.

When I was a child I attended several different schools because my parents travelled a lot. I quickly noticed that the schools in which I was the happiest were the ones in which I succeeded the most. The education I got from these schools was different from the type of education you get from the ‘mass education system’. We had motivated and experienced teachers, interesting courses, an abundance of materials, and a varied student body. Unfortunately, these types of schools come with a cost....

I am 1/3 of Eloli, a fashion brand that I run with my sisters Dibo and Fese. Eloli means it is beautiful. When my sisters and I decided to start Eloli last year we wanted a name that represented how we would like our girl or guy to feel in an Eloli piece – beautiful and special.
Eloli is about a vibrant modernity that draws heavily from markers of everyday African life. As designers the most important thing is creating pieces which are authentic to our point of view and which ultimately add a little beauty and smile to those who wear our pieces. We are also committed to growing our business in an accountable and ethical way.

Victor Beausoleil is one of the co-founders of Redemption Reintegration Services (RRS). He has been working with equity-seeking organizations for the past 10 years, and, through his work, identified a gap in programs and services dedicated to youth offenders. We will be speaking about RRS’ impact in our community at the Manyatta Cares Event.

Victor Beausoleil was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Victor is a husband and father of four brilliant children. Victor is a community organizer, facilitator and lecturer on youth engagement, educational attainment and community development and has worked and volunteered in the broader equity seeking communities across Ontario for the past ten years.

I work in clinical drug trials for a major global pharmaceutical company. As you all probably know, several years of intensive clinical research is conducted to get that medication you just picked up at your local pharmacy.

We believe that receiving knowledge, advices and guidance from others is the key to grow as a person and as business person and the goal is sharing with others our experience to empower them.

Our career in finance is very exiting since we are living in a time where people are questioning the way that banks and big financial companies handle our Money and take advantage of our lack of knowledge.

Pepeyee Communications is a mobile VoIP (Voice over IP) integrated telecom service provider. We arean African and Caribbean own telecom company and understand the importance of having cost-efficient and quality long distance calling services across the diasporas. Our long distance rates are the lowest in Canada compared with many other telecom service providers. We have various options such as online, mobile applications and calling cards. We also have free calling between Pepeyee users on our mobile applications.

What I like most about my job is the satisfaction on my client’s face when we finally find the perfect place for them to call home for years to come. I like being self employed and setting my own hours and the challenges and rewards it brings.

AWA’s expectations of MCares Event are to celebrate our successes in our 3 short years of existence and receive all the love and support from the Manyatta family as we live our mandate of tackling African issues and propelling African Culture and African Art from the perspective of African women in Canada and beyond.  Critical to the continuation of these successes is funding.  As such, AWA expects commitments from Manyatta’s network of sponsors and partners to move forward the work of empowering African Culture and Arts through African Women artistes and artists with an African expression.

Victor Beausoleil is one of the co-founders of Redemption Reintegration Services (RRS). He has been working with equity-seeking organizations for the past 10 years, and, through his work, identified a gap in programs and services dedicated to youth offenders. We will be speaking about RRS’ impact in our community at the Manyatta Cares Event.

My name is Imanzi Kayitare and I’m Rwandan/Canadian; born and raised in Toronto, with a deep connection and appreciation for my two homelands. Professionally, I work as an Economic Advisor for the Government of Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada); while socially I’m involved in local and regional community building initiatives that advance the socio-economic potential and advancement of Rwandan/East African diaspora youth in Toronto.

At HF Accounting & Taxes we understand the needs of your business. Our mission is to help you make wise decisions concerning accounting, restructuring, acquisitions and other financial matters. As a full service firm, our clients count on us to meet their needs and help manage their operations. Whether assistance is required to facilitate incorporation, find the right bookkeeper or, choose the right accounting software, HF Accounting & Taxes provides our clients with the services they expect to ensure their continued growth and success.

My full name is Komi-Oluwa, which means “teach me o lord” in Yoruba. I was born in Kaduna, Nigeria to very creative parents who steeped my siblings and I in art and culture from a young age. I went to a boarding school in Nigeria for my secondary education where I remember sneaking out of class to go and stare at a drawing one of the other students had hanging by his locker. I had never seen such a beautiful drawing before, and always hoped that one day I will be able to produce art that will be able to spark an emotion in the viewer.

My name is Moses Mutabaruka. I was born in Rwanda but grew up in Nairobi Kenya before immigrating to Canada. I’m the Founder and Managing Director of The African Perspective Magazine. TAP’s mission is to correctly portray & communicate the African story; uncensored, unbiased and from a balanced perspective. A platform that has received over 1.6 million views over the past three years. In general, I love life and Africa and I’m passionate about social entrepreneurship and the youth.

I am an old school photographer, meaning I shoot with my heart. As an immigrant in Canada I realize that very few of the Canadian photographers, understand the dynamics of the African culture, thus I began the full journey to capture and memorize our culture in images . Creating memories that are timeless and yet reflect your story as seen through my lens, but captured in my heart.  Oh yes, I shoot from my heart rather than just using all the photography techniques, I am always looking for that sometimes tiny living and loving moment which no one sees. 

I’m a Social Worker by day, holding a Masters in Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto in Psychology. Everything that I invest my time in has to do with hope, change and transformation. From my counselling practice – Freedom Counselling & Psychotherapy Services in Pickering Ontario; to raising money for Sickle Cell Disease through the Ujima Sickle Cell Patient Emergency Fund.
I also do consultant work with Psychological companies as well as community organizations. By night, I love to write- I feature inspirational people and stories on my blog JemJackson.com.

Javon is currently a Product Manager in the Aeroplan Credit Card Group at TD Bank. Javon began his career with TD Canada Trust, six years ago as a part-time Teller and after gaining exposure to financial services, he made a personal commitment to advance within the organization and serve as a role model for those around him. Javon has worked in a variety of roles in the bank including, Financial Advisor, Project Analyst (Project Management), Management Associate and Manager, Social Media.In addition to his full time pursuits at the bank, Javon has an entrepreneurial spirit and launched his own company, The Daring Collective ( www.daringcollective.com)  in November 2014. The Daring Collective is a clothing company that specializes in men’s accessories for the modern day gentleman providing a robust collection of lapel flowers, pocket squares, ties and more.

Mohamed Shuriye is a passionate community activist and city builder. In his day job, Mohamed works at the City of Toronto, leading employee engagement with the United Way and staff charitable giving as the United Way Campaign Manager. He has led a fundraising campaign raising over $2.8 million to support the work of United Way’s 200 community agencies. In his volunteer time, he has helped to establish TTCRiders, a transit advocacy group lobbying for better public transit and currently serves on the board of Positive Change, a Somali-Canadian advocacy group working to eliminate youth violence. In his spare time, Mohamed enjoys escaping Toronto on hikes, cheering on the Raptors, and spending time with his family and friends over shaax & sheeko (tea & conversation).

If there is one thing that has remained a constant in my life, it has been my unwillingness to accept the status quo. Growing up, I watched as my family opened one of the first Ethiopian Restaurants in Windsor. In a time when African food had not hit the western scene, they had the drive and foresight to create a new opportunity. This fostered not only my interest in entrepreneurship and desire to challenge the status quo but also my love of food!

Finance was always the biggest struggle in my home growing up. I had a single mother raising two boys trying to accomplish things that seems bigger than her. I grew up in Jamaica with not much knowledge about finance and it became one of our biggest nightmares. It appeared money was truly essential to sustain life and we didn’t have enough of it.

At my most basic level I’m still a rural Jamaican country boy chasing my dreams. I’m a romantic in the sense that I still do believe in ideals like true deep heart felt love, life happiness and that dreams can and still do materialize, what we dream can become reality. However I’m not naive enough not to realize that in this life you will have to fight for your dreams and sometimes in the pursuit of love and happiness you heart will be broken. My faith in God keeps me going, and my point of view of this world is such that whatever happens to me “good” or “bad”, I still win – there will be something good I can learn or take away from the experience. That’s who I am as person.

As an exploratory and creative Project Management Professional, I have over 14 years of experience working with youth, artists and social entrepreneurs.  Specializing in the design, implementation and execution of projects with a social agenda, I believe in nurturing the well being of the communities we serve, whether that is in a non-profit, public or private sector role.

The Olive Branch for Children began as an organization helping orphans in Tanzania, Africa who suffer from HIV or AIDS, and those whose parents have died or suffer from these diseases.

In 2005, Deborah McCracken made the life altering decision to stay on in Mbeya, Tanzania after a volunteer expedition. Her time now is spent managing and introducing many successful programs to the Mbeya rural communities. Deborah also acts as the head of the Zion Home where she and her husband live with 30 orphaned children. The Peace Home is the second home for vulnerable children that houses 15 children, and is run by their Home Base Care Coordinator Edina Chungu. Today, the organization continues to support those children, and has begun other development projects including: financing and opening a permanent medical clinic in 2008;