My old friend Peter

This past winter, my old friend Peter Thomson, a proverbial lover of wine, women and song if ever there was one, died suddenly. I felt a grief that was shared by hundreds if not thousands of Vancouver businesspeople who had also been touched by him.

For 17 years, Peter was the Director of the BCIT Venture Development Centre (VDC), the oldest entrepreneur training operation in BC – and to my mind still the best. In that role he inspired, guided, and trained hundreds of would be entrepreneurs. more...

Up the capital ladder

The B.C. government has finally announced the launch of its BC Renaissance Capital Fund. The concept is that the government will seed—with $90 million over five years—a large slush fund to assist B.C. technology, clean-tech, life sciences and new media companies at critical points of their lives.

But the fund's structure is causing much confusion and some cynicism among people who apparently don't have a clue about how venture capital works. For instance, a sticking point among many is that the fund will provide money to six venture capital firms, most of who have little to do with B.C. more...

Man of the north

In 30 years, he's ascended to the uppermost stratum of world business.

As a youth, Tom Alban­ese fled a small industrial New Jersey town for Alaska. Albanese, now 50, is the first American CEO of the venerable London-based mining giant Rio Tinto PLC, which last year took over Alcan Inc. in a $38-billion deal. He went to university in Fairbanks, Alaska, for degrees in mineral economics and mining engineering. more...

Boom, bust and breathlessness

It was reported last week that Canada’s six-year housing boom – the biggest in more than 50 years – has officially ended. “Sales tumbled” in the first quarter of 2008 in markets across the country, with “listings surging” in the particularly hot Western Canadian market.

“Aside from a few choice prairie locales,” wrote Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, in a barnburner of a research note accompanying the Canadian Real Estate Association report, “sales are melting faster than this year’s snowpack.” more...

Back in the game

Mason, a stocky 60-year-old, earned both fame and infamy in B.C. in the ’90s when Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp., the hometown alt-beverage champion he founded and led, took shareholders for a few gut-wrenching falls in the market. more...

Port of call

In a floor-length skirt and quilted vest, Sarah Morgan-Silvester is the picture of West Coast casual. Her unlined face framed by a simple bob, the youthful 48-year-old greets a visitor to her spacious waterfront office with a relaxed smile.
Meet the new face of corporate Vancouver. more...

Long walk home

In Vancouver real estate is a sport. It’s what we talk about at dinner parties, the way Angelinos gossip about movies or Calgarians gush about oil. It’s our über-metaphor: the thing we talk about when we talk about ourselves. And it’s how we keep score; anyone who’s owned a home in Vancouver during the past decade has a one-that-got-away story. more...

Industrial revolution

As Vancouver’s unrelenting real-estate story continues to hog headlines, now is a good time to step back, take a breath and ask a few big questions. How exactly did we get into this prolonged hot market? Where is it taking us? What are the consequences for B.C.’s economy? more...

Backward business lesson

After spending three years and $18,000 on my bachelor of business administration degree at SFU, I’ve only discussed a green economy for a total of one hour. I’m appalled.
Canadian schools continue to teach that poisoned waters, fouled air, decimated forests and a warming climate are acceptable costs of doing business. more...

The one-foot wave

Service businesses are typically feast or famine, and that’s especially true among the more creative services. But that hasn’t stopped thousands of dreamy entrepreneurs from leaping into their own businesses based on a particular skill or expertise. more...