Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

Having just spent the past few weeks in the company of entrepreneurs, some at the beginning of their careers and most at the height of their success, I notice the one feature they have in common.  They have sought out a mentor.

Jacoline Loewen with Alumni of The Next 36

I was invited to The Next 36 reunion BBQ organized by Chenny Xia and caught up with the alumni who were mentored throughout their program. During our conversations, it struck me that as a result, these young women knew how to reach out for mentoring, they understood the high value of having a mentor and they knew it was not a waste of time but rather a way to catapult ahead. Kate Wallace talked about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial book "Lean Forward".  Sandberg's written advice was her way of mentoring on a large scale and she dedicated a full chapter to mentorship. She lists Larry Summers as her most important mentor.
No matter their paths to success, accomplished women can usually agree on one thing: That somewhere along the way, they found a mentor (or more) who boosted their career immeasurably. "It was serendipitous that I met my mentor. I was searching for employment and what came of it was one of the most influential people in my life," said Danielle Smith, graduate of The Next 36 and mentee of Claudia Hepburn, who helped to found The Next 36.
Many famous people had mentors: Self-made billionaire, Oprah Winfrey was mentored by celebrated author and poet, the late Maya Angelou. Alexander the Great was mentored by Aristotle, Warren Buffet was mentored by Benjamin Graham, and Warren went on to mentor Bill Gates.
Of course, the best fiction has stories of mentorship; some of my favourites are Luke Skywalker learning The Force with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mary Poppins showing Jane and Michael Banks how to break all the rules. Instead of staying safely inside, Poppins had them dancing on the rooftops with chimney sweeps. As a young girl, I took in this encouragement to "Lean Forward" - aka the Mary Poppins way.
How Will You Reach Out for a Mentor?
If you have an early stage company, you could try Futurepreneur. Futurpreneur Canada and Spin Master Corp. set up the Spin Master Innovation Fund created by Ronnen Harrary; to bring financing, mentoring to 10 entrepreneurs each year. Over the past six years, the Spin Master Innovation Fund has helped 42 businesses launch.
For women: The WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring Program matches high-performing female leaders with influential mentors.
If you are a business founder who has achieved the sale of your company, you can get mentored about how to invest your sudden wealth. Smart entrepreneurs get that concentrating all of their money back into Canadian-based investments may be only one choice to build long term financial wealth.
If you would like to find out more about how Canadian entrepreneurs are investing with UBS Bank (Canada) please get in touch. I can discuss with you the results for the entrepreneurs who choose to manage their wealth with us.


Jacoline Loewen is director of business development of UBS Bank (Canada) and can be reched at jacoline.loewen at ubs.com  She is also author of Money Magnet: How to Attract Investors to Your Business. You can follow her on Twitter @jacolineloewen

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

Having just spent the past few weeks in the company of entrepreneurs, some at the beginning of their careers and most at the height of their success, I notice the one feature they have in common.  They have sought out a mentor.

Jacoline Loewen with Alumni of The Next 36

I was invited to The Next 36 reunion BBQ organized by Chenny Xia and caught up with the alumni who were mentored throughout their program. During our conversations, it struck me that as a result, these young women knew how to reach out for mentoring, they understood the high value of having a mentor and they knew it was not a waste of time but rather a way to catapult ahead. Kate Wallace talked about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial book "Lean Forward".  Sandberg's written advice was her way of mentoring on a large scale and she dedicated a full chapter to mentorship. She lists Larry Summers as her most important mentor.
No matter their paths to success, accomplished women can usually agree on one thing: That somewhere along the way, they found a mentor (or more) who boosted their career immeasurably. "It was serendipitous that I met my mentor. I was searching for employment and what came of it was one of the most influential people in my life," said Danielle Smith, graduate of The Next 36 and mentee of Claudia Hepburn, who helped to found The Next 36.
Many famous people had mentors: Self-made billionaire, Oprah Winfrey was mentored by celebrated author and poet, the late Maya Angelou. Alexander the Great was mentored by Aristotle, Warren Buffet was mentored by Benjamin Graham, and Warren went on to mentor Bill Gates.
Of course, the best fiction has stories of mentorship; some of my favourites are Luke Skywalker learning The Force with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mary Poppins showing Jane and Michael Banks how to break all the rules. Instead of staying safely inside, Poppins had them dancing on the rooftops with chimney sweeps. As a young girl, I took in this encouragement to "Lean Forward" - aka the Mary Poppins way.
How Will You Reach Out for a Mentor?
If you have an early stage company, you could try Futurepreneur. Futurpreneur Canada and Spin Master Corp. set up the Spin Master Innovation Fund created by Ronnen Harrary; to bring financing, mentoring to 10 entrepreneurs each year. Over the past six years, the Spin Master Innovation Fund has helped 42 businesses launch.
For women: The WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring Program matches high-performing female leaders with influential mentors.
If you are a business founder who has achieved the sale of your company, you can get mentored about how to invest your sudden wealth. Smart entrepreneurs get that concentrating all of their money back into Canadian-based investments may be only one choice to build long term financial wealth.
If you would like to find out more about how Canadian entrepreneurs are investing with UBS Bank (Canada) please get in touch. I can discuss with you the results for the entrepreneurs who choose to manage their wealth with us.


Jacoline Loewen is director of business development of UBS Bank (Canada) and can be reched at jacoline.loewen at ubs.com  She is also author of Money Magnet: How to Attract Investors to Your Business. You can follow her on Twitter @jacolineloewen

An evening with the Ballet Masters of Mad Hot Ballet

“Art gives you a chance to live in the life of another,”   said Lindsay Fischer, National Ballet Master and Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada. Lindsey told me during the Mad Hot Ballet evening, June 2016, how art has the power to take you to another world, another life. He spoke about how private lives can be shared through dance and  by using different senses, we can gain better understanding and can feel the emotions of others.

Mad Hot Ballet 2016

My mind was still back in my world of banking and ballet was far away from my thoughts, even though I loved dancing well into my teens.  Lindsey's words did get my attention and remind me that enjoying art is such a good human experience. The Mad Hot Ballet Fund Raiser had taken a drab hall and transformed it into a party place with views of Lake Ontario. If you look at the photos from the evening, yes, there were the big fashions but most of us were in business dress - plain black suit for me - so don't let that keep you away next year. 

I was fortunate enough to sit next to the two dance instructors who had organized the evening performances. Their story was remarkable. It began the the Royal Ballet School in London, England and one of the main ballerinas, Mandy-Jane Richardson, was too tall for the other male dancers. The company imported a suitable dancer from Amsterdam, an American called Lindsay Fischer .

It was love at first sight.

I asked them about the passion they must have felt during their performances as a  duet couple over the following year. My comment got peals of laughter and nods from Mandy-Jane, and a quiet, meaningful look from Lindsay. They are now married with children and obviously enjoying each other.

One of the performances that evening was to Bolero and what an incredible visual performance that stirred the senses. My two companions at the table were responsible for this piece and I could not help feel they had shared such a deeply private part of their obviously mutual respectful and loving relationship with all of us. 

I felt very lucky and, yes, art does give us the chance to feel parts of the lives of others. 

35 ReasonsToronto Tech is Booming

 Invitation to UBS Bank (Canada), Wealth Management, Technology Invitation

WHY 35 REASONS?

In a stunning year for Canadians in the technology industry, 2015 brought many success stories.  

We thought we would add more spark to the tech industry this year by bringing together a room of 35 like-minded tech entrepreneurs and investors as guests of UBS Bank (Canada). 

Sure enough, the energy flowed.

OUR PARTNERS: 

We were delighted to partner on the Technology Networking Evening withPwC Technology and The Entrepreneurship Society, as well as Blake, Cassels and Graydon.

OUR GUEST SPEAKER:

A special thank you to Randall Howard, Verdexus portfolio investments, who stepped in as guest speaker when Drew Green, Indochino, was unable to attend. Randall  is a senior serial technology executive committed to building the leading technology firms in Canada. Randall shared several critical take-way point for the evening:

1. Focus: When Randall and the founding group of his succesful tech buddies donated a large sum of cash to get Communitech off the ground, they did not have any idea how big it would get. Randall said, "It took a group of committed individuals to make the technology industry thrive in Canada." 
2. Important Partners on the Journey: By coincidence, in the room was the investment banker who figured out a new financial structure to raise the capital for Randall's first tech company. The banker was a Waterloo engineering graduate too. There were many Waterloo graduates in the room. They certainly have figured out the secret sauce for producing winners. Randall emphasized how the profesionalism of the banker made the big difference in his career.
3. Giving back: Having reached the heights of success in his business life, Randall is now focussed on giving. He has won Angel Investor of the Year which really underlines how seriousy he takes helping the emerging Canadian entrepreneurs. Randall is particularly interested in social impact investing and along with his corporate and university board responsiblities, he sits on boards of arts and drama groups too. 

The Fourth Revolution: The theme of the evening was the next stage of techology. Julien Favre, UBS, shared with our guests the white paper on the theme of this year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20-23. The white paper is entitled Extreme automation and connectivity: The global, regional, and investment implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It outlines:

• A brief history of the four industrial revolutions that have taken place since the late 18th century.
• It also explores the potential economic and investment consequences and likely regional winners and losers.
• If you also want to read the white paper - You can read the UBS White Paper HERE...

A special thank you to Sean Stanleigh, Julien Favre, Phaby Utomo, Matthias Kluser, Stephanie Baldouf, Quinn Lawson, Bill Hennessy, Ted Graham, Burzin Contractor and Andre Perey.

Can you afford to sell your business?

7 Question Series: insights into investors and how they judge who gets their capital

“Knowledge is Power,” said Sir Francis Bacon, the scientist, writer, statesman. His observation rings true. Flakey App companies get millions of dollars of investment capital effortlessly, or so it seems. In comparison, meaningful companies with far greater value to add to the world – IT, health care, time-saving products, manufacturers -  get left cash-starved.  

Why do some businesses get equity investors of the top calibre while other equally worthy companies starve from lack of investment capital? And how can an entrepreneur improve their odds of being chosen as a compelling investment by a high calibre investor? In this interview series you’ll get some of these answers! Venture capitalists from the United States, Canada and Britain reveal the body of ideas and questions required to be addressed by the entrepreneur before seeking out an investor, such as how to leverage data to know what is happening in their business, how to scale up the operations by having dash boards to manage incoming data, what needs to be built in place early in the foundation-building timing of the business life cycle.

In this invaluable 7 Question Series, business leaders will get insights into understanding investors and how they judge entrepreneurs worthy of receiving their precious capital, entrepreneurs will discover that attracting investors is an achievable goal. Investors are also sifting through haystacks to find the needle. Entrepreneurs need to ensure that the investor’s metal detector rings loudly.

With the interviews in The 7 Questions Interview Series: Data and Venture Capital, entrepreneurs will gain invaluable knowledge rapidly. It will transform their ability to connect with investors and demonstrate their readiness to have capital partners. It is a jam-packed tour through the leading venture capitalist brains and how they make their decision to select one company, but discard another similar business. Some of the points seem over the top, such as why you need data to know your whole industry and to predict where to grow the business. 

Why would that be important? 

Entrepreneurs will learn that raising capital for their business is about the right mathematical fit, knowing the right fit of people to help you, and having the best questions to ask that will signal instant rapport with the best investors. So enjoy the journey!

Here is the link: 

The need for Canadians to have a globally diversified portfolio is increasing

Jacoline Loewen and team Ottawa

The economy has been choppy, to say the least, and we asked our portfolio strategist to share the economic forecast for Canadian investors concerned about their portfolios.
Our Economics Forecast Luncheon in Ottawa had healthy debate and discussion.
My biggest take-away is that Europe has room for growth as they have had austerity and the governents are investing into their country infrastructure again.
Also, America is a resilient economy. Their job growth is strong, although service jobs do not have the same wage potential.
Thank you to Stephen Beckta, Beckta Restaurant, who hosted our private event.

If you would like to receive more inforation, please contact Jacoline Loewen - contact information on the side bar.

Ottawa economic luncheon

The four most expensive words in the English language are "this time it's different."  

Yes, it has been a turbulent few months, Our portfolio strategist, Pierre Ouiemet, will be visiting Ottawa on the 12th and will be discussing the ten investment themes that UBS Bank (Canada) is pursuing and will explore why these themes are critical. He will also disuss the interest rates - are they going up? If so, when.

We will be in Ottawa, Thurday 12th and hosting a private luncheon for select business owners to discuss why investing outside of Canada makes good financial sense.

Do contact us if you wish to join.

Jacoline Loewen, Director, UBS Bank

Business Transitions Forum, Vancouver, Tackles How to Value Your Company

Business Transitions Forum focuses on planning and transactional strategies guaranteed to smooth the transition of business ownership, while demystifying the process required to successfully sell your business. You will leave with the tools to create your own roadmap while understanding best practices and the roles played by expert advisors so that you can build your own team, if necessary. BTF’s large scale allows for anonymity if you prefer to blend into the crowd.

Jacoline B. Loewen, Featured Speaker and leader of BTF panel

I will be leading a panel of experts to discuss who are the experts that an entrepreneur needs to begin the process of transition. Questions that will be addressed include:

• Where do I start and who can assist me?
• What dictates how much my company is worth?
• Who is buying businesses now and what are they looking for?
• What tactics will maximize the value of my company while minimizing taxes?
• How can I avoid compromising my marketplace while I look for buyers?
• What will I do with the proceeds (and my identity) after the sale?
• How can I assess the risks of succession within my family?
• Why do so many business transitions fail?

Thinking about the future ownership of your business and don’t know where to start? Join us!

CBDC founder Pamela Jeffery names the Diversity 50 for Board Director positions

A leading voice in the fight to get more women and minorities on corporate boards in Canada has published its latest list of what it describes as highly qualified candidates.

Jacoline Loewen listed on the Diversity 50 for corporate boards

The Canadian Board Diversity Councilsays its so-called 2015 Diversity 50 Cohort includes eight men and 42 women, six of whom currently serve on FP500 or Fortune 500 corporate boards.

The diversity council says the group includes six aboriginal candidates, up from five in 2014, as well as 11 visible minorities. All were vetted under a process endorsed by participating CEOs from 11 large Canadian companies.

According to the council, the Diversity 50 initiative has resulted in 22 board appointments to FP500 or Fortune 500 companies since its inception in 2012.

Meanwhile, it says recent regulatory changes have highlighted the ongoing need to increase the number of female directors in Canada.

So-called "comply or explain" disclosure requirements adopted by securities regulators in most provinces and territories now require core TSX-listed issuers to disclose both their approach and progress in achieving greater gender diversity on their boards of directors.

"More women than ever before are sitting on Canada's corporate boards, but we need to do more," said CBDC founder Pamela Jeffery.

Jacoline Loewen

Director