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Serial entrepreneur highlights the power of “ignoring no”

October 17, 2018: Canadian entrepreneur, venture capital “Dragon” and tech writer Nicole Verkindt will share her insights into disruptive thinking, technology, innovation and creating successful startups at Innovation 360, Canada’s largest gathering of micro-nano innovators in Canada.

Learning to ignore “no” is key to success, says Ms. Verkindt, who was named Canada’s 2017 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by Startup Canada. She founded OMX, the world’s first online procurement platform linking government contractors with local economies, in 2012 at the age of 27. Prior to this she launched Tiburon, an offshore manufacturing business in the Dominican Republic and during this time also established a not-for-profit aid organization, in response to the 2008 Haiti earthquake.

She later integrated Tiburon into GMA, her family’s Ontario-based business, where she became CEO and General Manager. In 2011 she led the sale of these companies to a private equity firm. Currently she sits on the board of the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Crown corporation and sister entity to the BDC and EDC, and on the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs MGA Program Board. She is also a technology columnist for Vanguard, a defence, security and technology magazine with over one million readers.

Ms Verkindt is also an active member of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA), the Canadian Aerospace, Defence, Security Industry Association (CADSI), the Aerospace Industries Association Canada (AIAC) and Global Offset and Countertrade Association (GOCA). She appears as a Dragon on CBC’s Next Gen Den, the online spinoff of its popular TV show Dragon’s Den. She is a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Her talk, “Innovation, Technology, and Disruption,” takes place Tuesday, Oct. 23, 7:30 pm, at the Innovation 360 awards banquet. www.innovation360.ca

About CMC Microsystems and Canada’s National Design Network:
CMC Microsystems works with researchers and industry across Canada’s National Design Network, providing access to world-class tools, technologies, expertise and industrial capabilities for designing, prototyping and manufacturing innovations in microsystems and nanotechnologies. CMC reduces barriers to technology adoption by creating and sharing platform technologies.
www.cmc.ca

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