FY20-Annual Report -Mar23 - Flipbook - Page 26
Natasha Dhayagude
Co-founder & CEO,
Chinova Bioworks
CELEBRATING THE
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Through the Weston Family Foundation’s valuable
support, each year NEXT awards a program participant with the W. Galen Weston Top Entrepreneur
Award. The award honours NEXT’s Founding Patron
W. Galen Weston, and celebrates the entrepreneurial
spirit of young Canadian innovators.
This year, the recipient of the award was Jesse
Abrams (pictured below, left), CEO and Founder
of Homewise, a mortgage technology focused on
providing home buyers and owners with the easiest
way to get their mortgage. Jesse was also voted by
his peers as “Most Likely to Succeed” upon graduating.
John Stackhouse
SVP, RBC; Host,
RBC Disruptors
Maya Arshad
Co-founder & CEO,
ALT TEX
Zach McMahon
Co-founder & CEO,
LUCID
Joe Canavan, NEXT Canada CEO remarked that
“Jesse has identified a clear need, and developed
a creative approach to not just filling that need, but
changing the very way a given industry operates in
the process.”
Learn more about Jesse’s journey building his
venture, Homewise on LaunchPod
is a proud supporter
of NEXT Canada
AMPLIFYING STORIES OF
ENTREPRENEURIAL DISRUPTION
This year, three cohort participants were invited to
participate in an RBC Disruptors podcast centred
around “How the next generation of entrepreneurs
could kickstart a wave of change”. Myra Arshad
(CEO & Founder, ALT-TEX; Next 36, 2020), Zach
McMahon (CEO & Co-founder, LUCID; Next AI, 2020)
and Natasha Dhayagude (CEO & Co-founder, Chinova Bioworks; Next Founders, 2020) joined John
Stackhouse (SVP in the Office of the CEO, RBC) to
discuss how the next generation of entrepreneurs
can lead Canada through the post-COVID recovery.
also provided a sense of optimism for the future. Entrepreneurs like Myra, Zach and Natasha are helping
to solve big issues relating to climate change, mental health and food waste, demonstrating that they
want social as well as economic impact.
Through RBC’s support, NEXT is helping to fuel the
next generation of entrepreneurs who in turn are
tackling big global challenges.
Listen to the full RBC Disruptors episode here
The podcast not only shone a light on the talented
entrepreneurs that featured in NEXT programs, but
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