Maggie: I read a little bit about your business, and I discovered that MonRoi executed the world's first International Women's Chess Grand Prix...

Brana: I really love that we provided the opportunity for women in chess to be heard. Before MonRoi, they didn't have their own Grand Prix, particularly not an international one. We provide an opportunity to put them in the spotlight.

Maggie: Who came up with the name MonRoi?

Brana: I basically came up with the name. I was inspired by Quebec City history and culture. In French MonRoi means 'my king.' The king represents the prize which a chess player wishes to win. Both for chess and checkmate, both came from 'Char,' the Persian word for 'king.' But why not MaReine? Because the only female chess piece is the Queen, and at the same time, the most powerful chess piece. She can move in all directions across the board. Only in the 8^th century did the queen appear on the chessboard when chess was brought to Europe from Asia. It was likely due to influence of female rulers in Europe.

Maggie: When did you start the business?

Brana: I started the business 6 years ago, and MonRoi Inc. exists for 3 years. It's a spin-off of a parent company that developed the wireless sensor technology. I started it by myself. I invested in it, then Investissement Quebec approved our tax credit, guaranteed to the bank, and legally secured product investments which allowed us to commercialize the product.

Maggie: May I ask what inspired you?

Brana: My grandparents were entrepreneurs, and my passion is for creating new products to serve people better. I also have a desire for freedom of expression. It was just a natural thing for me to establish a technology company with my degree in electrical engineering.

Maggie: Before this did you hold a regular 9 to 5 job in electronical engineering?

Brana: I used to have a 9 to 5 job and am grateful for the wonderful experience that I gained there in project management and in new product development.

Maggie: In contrast to what you were doing before, did you find many challenges when you created MonRoi?

Brana: Well, it's hard; there is a a large learning curve. You are trying to define what is the business opportunity, how useful those products will be to your clients, how it is possible to overcome some of the technological challenges...experiments, research...there are many many unknowns. An entrepreneur in this kind of environment either decides to take high risks or give up his or her dreams. When an entrepreneur decides to take their creation to the market, the road ahead is not quite defined. That's very much on the opposite side of the spectrum of the established bureaucratic companies. Things are more fluid and you need to be adjustable.

Maggie: Are the rewards what you expected?

Brana: Absolutely. Entrepreneurs' objectives are to learn to bring their products to the market, to have people use their products. That's a dream come true for every entrepreneur. You kind of forget about all the challenges when you see people using your product and how useful this is for them.

Maggie: Where do you see the company in five years? What is the ideal situation for you?

Brana: MonRoi is established now as a leader in live chess matches. The company may acquire other companies and go public. I would like, personally, to diversify wireless sensor technology in different fields and embark on my other inventions. Because when I started, as any entrepreneur/inventor, I had several inventions, and the challenge was to focus on which one I am to choose–because I like them equally. An early stage company needs to focus on one technology, one niche, and one business model. An entrepreneur can't split his energy or her energy on multiple things because focus establishes faster growth. That's what I needed to do at the beginning. Now that the company is built, it's operating, the products are being used in many countries, it might be time to diversify this technology.

Maggie: Do you think you'll take one of your other inventions and make it as successful?

Brana: I believe that the core technology on which MonRoi was built, the live sensor network technology, can be used in many other fields, for monitoring, for control within the meter market, or health care market. There are many other applications of this technology. We definitely want to bring this technology to other markets.

Maggie: Do you have any other offices?

Brana: We have an office here in Montreal, and we have consultants all over the world who are reporting into this head office. Our company is built on partnerships with manufacturers, suppliers, our clients, and resellers.

Maggie: Are there other companies that do the same thing as yours or is yours unique?

Brana: In the chess market, there is no other electronic chess which provides wireless game broadcasting capabilities. So we are unique in the sense that our technology is wireless and portable and is the only electronic notation for chess matches. It's sort of like iPod is for music. That's what MonRoi is for chess matches: for storing and replaying them and transferring them to the computer. There is no other company—and we've received a patent on it. There are other companies which make electronic chess boards, however, they still have capability and wireless issues, issues of recording of chess moves.

Maggie: I realize you had other inventions and you just chose this one, but what in your mind triggered, Ah, wireless!?

Brana: I have a big passion for wireless technology. I imagine that in a couple of years, all the things, even in our house, will be monitored wirelessly for us to receive real time information on things. One of the issues in this wireless world is battery life. That's what we succeeded to extend. We extended the battery life while keeping distances up to one kilometer. What triggered the application of this technology in the chess market is, because I'm a chess player, I feel very very comfortable in this market. I'm aware of what clients want in this market. And I personally played a Canadian open chess championship. It was here in Montreal, and I mixed up French and English notation. It took me along time to reconstruct my game, and I typed it in a computer to get my game electronically, and I was thinking, there must be a better way—not to spend so much time reconstructing papers.

Maggie: Was there a turning point where you said, “We've made it now”?

Brana: I was sure we were going to make it. It could be very confident to think this way, but I was sure we were going to make it regardless of challenges. That's a drive, perhaps, that entrepreneurs might have...to persist, to overcome the obstacles. And I'm very proud when I see my clients advancing by using this technology.

When we see that we've helped children and seniors with disabilities who felt inferior because they had no capability of writing their chess moves with pen and paper. I am very proud when I read thank you letters from our clients afterwards about their progress which is possible due to MonRoi. I read every single note that clients send us. That really gives us motivation continue innovating and developing new things for the chess market.

Maggie: What image would you like to come to mind when people hear MonRoi?

Brana: The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of MonRoi is: innovation, communication, and entertainment... Communication because we enable people to follow matches of their family and friends when they travel abroad and to follow their works of art--because every chess match is a work of art; and entertainment because it's entertaining for people to watch who is going to win, who is going to lose. We also provide news and a blog on the chess market; and we know that chess helps children with their education. It improves overall grades by 17%. So, it helps children become better and more successful people.

Maggie: What is your definition of success?

Brana: There's a difference between personal and company success. If we are to define a company's success..it would be profit and clients. But for me it comes down to more fundamental things: The technology company is successful if it inspires its employees and clients to advance every day. Personal success is to be able to learn new things and to be able to share innovations with the world...to deeply understand the environment and accept that each one is unique. We exist because we have certain needs that we can fulfill.

Maggie: What is the best advice you could give to someone just starting out?

Brana: To show their passion to everyone around, to build trust...and to be nice to people.

Man and woman, both surgeons, want to become husband and wife. After a long day handling the intricacies of the human body, they have neither will nor inclination to delve into anything else. What do they do? They find entrepreneur and owner, Madeleine Kojakian.


It all began in 2000 when Kojakian worked with a venture capital company—she was responsible for planning events for the media division. There she got the experience of collaborating with different designers, planning events and launch parties. She was delegated the responsibility of hiring, selling and promoting. “We did campaigns with different brands. And that’s how I got to know the fashion and lifestyle industry in Montreal. Then, I was getting married in 2003, and with my research in weddings, the CEO of the company I was working with said, 'Try to keep a journal of your wedding and what you’re doing.’”

Inspired, Kojakian suggested doing a wedding issue. “And that’s how I got into the wedding business,” she says. “While we were doing the wedding issue, I got to know a lot of the wedding vendors. I got to know the industry locally as well as nationally and internationally because we had to do a lot of research, try to benchmark ourselves with other existing magazines. And, at the same time, I was planning my wedding. “I remember asking one of the girls that was writing articles to do a profile story on a wedding planner.” In two weeks, they were unable to find a single local wedding planner. After doing extensive research online, Kojakian decided, just for fun, to launch the wedding planning site. “Next thing you know, it grew, and people started calling me, and one thing led to the other. They liked the fact that I had experience in the fashion industry...and because I had experience with events, the wedding planning came very easily.” Now she is the official wedding planner for both the Hotel Nelligan and the Hotel Places D’Armes in Old Montreal.

Maddy K, Kojakian’s registered trademark and company, organizes weddings for foreigners, in particular, Americans. “Montreal, especially Old Montreal, is one of the top destination locations for weddings...it gives you a touch of Europe without having to spend the Euros and without having to fly across the Atlantic,” says Kojakian. Seventy-five percent of her clientele, she estimates, is from the U.S., 15% from Canada, 5% from Europe, and the rest, from just about everywhere.

“A lot of our focus is downtown, and it’s for couples who are looking for something different. For example, the science center, is a very big loft space. We’ve done weddings there, which is very nice, because you’re able to transform the space the way you want it. We did a very nice Indian wedding there...the girl was Indian, and he was American, and we tried to merge the West with the East, and we kind of gave it a more modern twist. Another one was two doctors from New York. One was Canadian from Quebec, and another one was Indian...and they both were extremely busy surgeons, and they wanted to incorporate some elements of their background. So, again, we merged both aspects of their ethnicity.”

OBJECTIVES

“Now that the brand is established, and it’s pretty known in the wedding industry, we’re looking at merchandising,” says Kojakian. Negotiations are underway to launch their product line in outlets throughout North America. “This way, it’s not just our couples who get our products...it will still have the design elements of Maddy K, only it’s cheaper and you don’t have to necessarily hire Maddy K to design it for you.”

THE CHALLENGES

The challenge, says Kojakian, is not the weddings themselves. Those usually run better than expected. It is human resources that baffles the mind and consumes the time. “The challenge has been finding good people to work for you because you train the juniors, and then they realize, ’hey, you know what, we can create our own wedding agency.’ And then they move on, and they do it, and they kind of duplicate things that you’ve already taught them. That’s been the biggest challenge for me; to always innovate myself...”

THE ENTREPRENEUR

“When you’re an entrepreneur, you have that fire in you, and that flame is there from the moment you are born. You either have it or you don’t. But if you have it, the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is, they get overwhelmed, because there’s so many things they want to do, and they want to be everything. So, my advice is try not to diversify yourself. Find a niche. Don’t try to be everything, and focus on that niche and grow that niche. Because if you put all your energy into one thing—guaranteed you’re going to succeed.” BN

—Maggie Pagratis

The Board of Trade, founded 200 years ago as a voice to represent the business community, then almost entirely comprised of men and created for men, is now headed by president and CEO, Ms. Isabelle Hudon, who shares her wisdom with members of the business community.

Though she has held several influential positions in her career, this is the first time she is at the very top. “My first reaction, after a few weeks of sitting in that chair four years ago was, I understood, very well, the meaning of feeling alone at the top. But, since, I’ve learned how to surround myself with very good people. Ultimately, it is not true that you’re always alone at the top, but it is true that it’s quite different. When you are number one, the puck stops at your desk and you have to call the final decision.”

Hudon sees leadership as inspiring people to want to follow you. She does think you can change the world on your own. In fact, when she was appointed president and CEO, she accepted and applied much of the advice of her mentors: Make sure that you’re surrounded by very, very strong people.

“It is tougher, daily, to manage strong people, but success will be much more sustainable and better. I strongly believe that leadership is not about one person but a bunch of people performing all together.” Being a woman, says Hudon, only enhances and adds to the experience of being a leader.

More and more, the presence of women in leadership positions redefines the interaction in the workplace. “Women try to share the passion, share the idea, making sure that their own idea becomes a collective one.” When a woman leader sees that people are buying into her ideas, then she launches her plan or action. “Whereby,” she says, “men are way more authoritative. One is not better than the other one, but the mix is very good. I do believe that the richness of a team is the complementing of people and expertise. We have to have great expertise and a good combination of men and women.”

Hudon’s leadership style is not conventional or hierarchical. Rather, the predominant and recurring ingredient for her success as a leader is passion. The meaning of success for her has always remained the same: Success is simply happiness. “Success can be very different for different people. We have to have goals and we have to reach those goals and make them even better. But one thing is for sure, we have to celebrate success.”

Both Hudon’s personal and professional goals center around communication and the spreading of inspiration and joy. Her professional goal is simply to inspire people around her to work in a common direction, towards a common goal. Her personal goal has remained the same her entire life: She wishes to continue to be happy. Even in situations where Hudon does not win, she looks for the positive side of things and accepts the occasional pitfalls. Winners, says Hudon, are both born and created. It’s more about choice for her; the choice to behave with respect and integrity. When you know how to cherish those values and you have ambition and you’re happy...then everything is possible. “Dreaming is a right,” she says, “and not a privilege.”

The dream to rise, to believe in inspiration and passion—to be a woman and a leader —is a right Ms. Isabelle Hudon has earned.

As business owner, dancer, teacher and choreographer at Ethereal Tribal, Andrea Fryett juggles her many roles with the sway of a performance. The company, established recently in Montreal, has grown steadily and boasts appearances at the McGill Theater, La Compagnie de Medievale, Tribalement Votre, Theatre St. Denis, and St. Basile Le Grand.

Ethereal Tribal is a professional dance group and incorporates many styles of dance. It represents a fusion of cultures, ages and life approaches, allowing room for change and redefinition. The possibilities with this form of belly dancing are infinite as it adapts while growing.

Andrea Fryett is well-respected among the dancing community and has had the pleasure of working with famous dancers like Ansuya, Zoe Jakes, Kami Liddle, Moria Chapel, and Bozenka. In August, she performed with Sharon Kihara and Mardi Love from the superstars as well as Ariella Aflalo. But the thing that makes Fryett light up when she speaks is the most recent addition to her repertoire of unique collaborators: a male belly dancer!

Tribal Fusion’s audience often turns loyal, attending most of the shows. Recently, one male spectator caught their attention by the enthusiasm he displayed at every one of their performances— and he was picked out of the crowd and asked to dance with them! Fryett says that they needed a black male dancer for the part and he, with his vibrant energy, was exactly what they were looking for. His moves
are not feminine, says Fryett, even though belly dancing is thought to be a sport of women. Rather, men take the basic belly dancing moves and redefine them; they lend to them male energy and strength. Whether male or female, this redefined kind of belly dancing might be just the thing for you.

—Maggie Pagratis