T he T r a n s i t ion I s s ue
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Financial Tips During a Crisis
THE SOCIAL
CTV’s Hit Daytime Talk Show hosted by Melissa Grelo, Cynthia Loyst, Marci Ien, Lainey Lui, Jess Allen
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Popular
Tech Trends
PINBALL CLEMONS CARLY FIORINA DAN AYKROYD KENNY ROGERS
Business Leaders
Who Jump to Politics The Future of
Education
COVID-19 IMPACT ON CANADA-US TRADE & RELATIONS
$7.99 $7 $7. 99
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OVERVIEW FALL/WINTER 2020
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EDITOR’S MESSAGE
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The Social
BUSINESS
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Expanding Into New Markets
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COVID-19 Impact on Canada-US Trade & Relations
Pinball Clemons
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Carly Fiorina
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Dan Aykroyd
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Kenny Rogers
the EDGE Fall | Winter 2019
NERS’ CIR C L E
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WIN
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COVER STORY
OVERVIEW
FALL/WINTER 2020
MONEY & FINANCE 7 Tips to Manage Financially During a Crisis
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9 Canadian Fintech Companies to Watch Out For!
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STARTUP Impact Investments Could Help Your Business
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Bloc Estate: Real Estate Reimagined
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TECHNOLOGY The Future of Education
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Popular Tech Trends to Improve Your Business
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Roger Gordon: Green Energy Entrepreneur
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LEADERSHIP When Business Leaders Make the Jump to Politics
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Expert Advice on Being a Great Leader
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Seth Mattison: The Luminary Entrepreneur
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cover story
Photo credit – Photos courtesy of CTV
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the EDGE Fall | Winter 2020
cover story
POWERING THEIR WAY WITH FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON NEWS, POP CULTURE AND LIFESTYLE by Jennifer M. Williams
Premiered in September of 2013, The Social is a popular Daytime Canadian Television Talk Show and socially interactive series, produced by Bell Media Studios and airs on CTV and CTV 2. The new season 8 which began on September 8, airs live every weekday at 1pm (2pm AT) . The show's primary focus is to provide daily up-to-the-minute topics that resonate most with their audiences. They also include lively conversations and feedback on various social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, etc. The show's success is due in part to the vast talent, leadership, and expertise that each host brings to the table. They took time from their hectic schedules to speak with The Edge, about their journeys as hosts, and entrepreneurs, and how they deal with transition and change.
Fall | Winter 2020 the EDGE
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the EDGE Fall | Winter 2020
info@canamasq.com canamasq.com
winners' circle
Photos courtesy of Carly Fiorina
CARLY FIORINA by Dave Gordon
B
eginning her career as a secretary at age 21, the now American businesswoman, multi-millionaire and political figure Carly Fiorina used her leadership and problem solving skills learnt in her earlier career to work up the ranks as the first female chief executive of a Fortune 50 company and a presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.
Within the span of about two decades her career spiraled from a secretary for a real estate company to become the first female chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, at age 44, in 1999, where Fortune magazine named her the most powerful woman in US business five years in a row, declaring "Carly Fiorina didn't just break the glass ceiling, she obliterated it". She had entered the technology sector in 1980 when she joined US giant AT&T as a management trainee. In 10 years, she was the firm's first female vice president, and by 1995, a senior director at AT&T, spinoff Lucent Technologies. Fiorina's success caught the attention of HP, looking for a reboot, after missing nine straight quarterly profit targets. She described the situation as “deteriorating profitability in every category, lagging in market share in every category but one.”
Under her leadership, revenue grew, innovation tripled, growth quadrupled, and HP became the 11th largest company in the US “It was a transformation of a great company. It happened because 80-plus thousand employees decided it needed to happen, and understood how to make it happen. So, we did,” she said. “Much of what we accomplished during that transformation was actually about rediscovering and preserving who we really were.” When the merger between HP and Compaq occurred in 2002, it was the biggest in the technology sector at the time, and created the world's largest seller of personal computers.
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Real Estate Reimagined
by Veruschka Mungroo
W
ith digital and financial technology revolutionizing at a rapid rate, there is no surprise that Fintech companies are taking over the world with ingenious ideas, changing industries, businesses and how we transact daily.
Blockchains is the new kid on the block that has got everyone talking in recent years. Bloc Estate, with its subsidiary, Bloc Pay, is one such company that is at the helm of its industry. The company’s cloud service delivers sophisticated solutions
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focused on the efficient, secure, and compliant conduct of financial and real estate operations at an enterprise level. The Edge spoke with CEO Michael Clement Duenas Cambare, who claims that the aim of their company is to “revolutionize the alternative real estate and financial markets.” Since its inception in 2018, the company, based in Downtown Markham has grown rapidly, launching three specialised branches namely - Bloc Pay – an online financial service; Bloc Estate – specialising in real estate and Bloc Shopping – a rewards program that incentivises users to pay off their credit cards.
“Imagine buying a house or condo in just under an hour. We leverage the sophistication of our software products and our expertise in the fields of financial technologies, compliance, machine learning, and blockchain, to generate solutions that are seamlessly integrated into the client’s needs,” said Cambare. Every year millions of Canadians send billions of dollars internationally to family and friends or to buy international assets, but the process is tedious with exorbitant fees.
family and friends abroad. Historically, foreign transactions and acquiring international real estate is complicated due to international policies, anti-money laundering, regulatory compliance, inaccessibility and the general lack of knowledge to conduct such undertakings. The processes are performed by consultants who charge exorbitant fees. “We cut out the middleman, so we are able to offer the same services without the high consultancy fees,” said Cambare.
“At Bloc Pay we eliminate the unnecessary, creating a streamline process to send money overseas efficiently with the lowest possible costs. We’ve made our system more transparent and a one-stop shop. Our design unclutters – so you can keep focused on the things that really matter and we deal in all major currencies,” he said.
He added that the real estate arm of the company - Bloc Estate – eliminates real estate agents, lawyers, etc. saving clients thousands of dollars in a far quicker turnaround period.
The former army personnel turned computer specialist said that the idea of an online financial and real estate solution was born from his passion for machine learning.
“We are currently working with high stake banking partners; well known international real estate agents and banking information. Therefore, we have invested greatly in having the best cyber security in the industry, which also gives us a competitive edge.”
“As a computer science graduate, I always had an interest in machine learning and wanted to create an innovative system that makes life easier, especially for those immigrants that have
The company prides itself with a state-of-the-art online security encryption system to ensure that all information on their site is safe.
He added that the future goal of Bloc Estate is to make buying real estate as easy as buying off Amazon.
Buy and sell properties totally online. Search for a home smarter with machine learning and predictive search. Generate and enforce contracts with blockchain. Do all of this, with Bloc Estate.
For more information on the company
www.blocestate.ca
email mail@blocestate.ca or call +1 (647) 258-6352
www.blocpay.ca
email mail@blocpay.ca or call +1 (888) 302-5639 - Advertisement -
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ACURA
DOWNTOWN
Acura Downtown offers an impressive assortment of new Acuras and fully inspected pre-owned vehicles, including an exclusive choice of certified pre-owned Acura vehicles. All the latest Acura sedan and SUV models can be displayed in our showroom.
2021 RDX A-Spec Shown
2021 ILX Tech A-Spec Shown
2021 RDX A-Spec Shown 380 Front St. East, Toronto, ON
www.acuradowntown.ca
Sales Inquiries:
(647) 496-3381 bdc@acuradowntown.ca
Service:
(647) 800-6939 bdcservice@acuradowntown.ca
Downtown Bodyshop:
(416) 363-1688 info@downtownbodyshop.ca
@Toronto.DowntownAcura
@acuradowntownto