Meet Senia Wang, the studentpreneur with a sustainable take on the pet industry

Founders

Monthly Archives: September 2021

Meet Senia Wang, the studentpreneur with a sustainable take on the pet industry

On Wednesdays, we startup.

To celebrate our women-identifying founders, we’ve put together ‘On Wednesdays, we startup’, a blog series dedicated to putting women founders centre stage to acknowledge their work, complexities and wins!

We hope to push women founder stories forward and share lessons learned and insights for other aspiring women entrepreneurs.

We recently sat down with Senia Wang, the Co-Founder and COO of Charmy Pet, to learn more about the company and their commitment to creating ethically and sustainably sourced pet products, as well as Senia’s experience as a woman studentpreneur.

Charmy Pet is a pet nutrition platform and monthly subscription service built to address the importance of individualized diets for pets.

“I think the work we are doing at Charmy Pet can really change the pet food industry. Not only are we providing pet owners with products free from added preservatives, we are fully transparent with where our products are sourced, empowering pet owners to make informed decisions.” Their technology evaluates each pet’s nutritional needs based on breed, age, activity level, and more. Providing personalized pet food, Charmy Pet allows pet owners to track exactly where their ingredients are being sourced, and track their orders in real time.

The need for real and sustainable products

“Research shows us that pets’ lives are shortened by about 20% today, compared to other centuries in history. This — in large part — is due to their diets.”

Senia explains that a lot of pet food today is extremely processed. A majority of manufacturers today use extrusion, a process that uses high heat to turn ingredients into kibble, which removes up to 40% of the ingredients nutrients.

“At Charmy Pet we want to provide nutritious and sustainably sourced ingredients for pet owners. We believe that long and healthy lives for pets begin with their diets.”

Supporting Canadian farmers, Charmy Pet sources a majority of its meat from across Alberta and Ontario and is an official partner of Ocean Wise Seafood, meaning its seafood is certified sustainably sourced.

Wanting to be as transparent with their customers as possible, Charmy Pet has incorporated a QR code onto the packaging of their products, allowing customers to quickly access a list of ingredients and details on how and where the protein was sourced.

“Our team consists of environmentalists, and we wanted to create products we could be proud of. The pet food industry has not stepped up when it comes to providing nutritious and ethical products pet owners can feel proud about giving to their furry friends — we knew it was important to adapt to the environmentally-conscious consumer.”

“The pet food industry has not stepped up when it comes to providing nutritious and ethical products pet owners can feel proud about giving to their furry friends — we knew it was important to adapt to the environmentally conscious consumer.”

The realities of being a woman founder

Senia highlights that women founders typically have more responsibilities to juggle and face various external pressures in comparison to their male counterparts.

“It’s easy to get distracted from others’ expectations of us. While we have seen some change, I do think women with ambitious career goals are still undervalued and are not taken as seriously as men.

Our performance as women is valued according to different parameters than males, across different areas of life, and it’s important for the ecosystem to eliminate these biases. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what stage of life you’re at, if you have a business idea that you think will serve a purpose, just do it. ”

She encourages all aspiring women innovators to dive right in.

“There is never going to be a perfect time to start a business, so just start however you can. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from doing what you want.”

Juggling school and a growing business

When not working on Charmy Pet, Senia is busy with her undergraduate degree. A 3rd year student at Toronto Metropolitan University, Senia is studying Hospitality and Tourism Management.

When it comes to balancing school life and Charmy Pet, Senia underscores the importance of organization and having a solid Co-Founder.

“I have a strong relationship with my Co-Founder, Zach Sheng. We are both supportive, and keep each other accountable when it comes to both school and Charmy Pet.

We’re strong in different areas. He takes on more of the business development, whereas I lead marketing and customer acquisition. Having a Co-Founder whose skills are complementary to yours is vital, and ensures our time is being used efficiently.”

Want to learn more about Charmy Pet’s products? Head over to their website here.

Save 30% on your first order and get free shipping with code CharmyFirstBox.

Make sure to follow the DMZ on Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram to follow our ‘On Wednesdays we startup’ women founder series.

To learn more about the Women Founders Programs, visit dmz.to/womenfounders

These young innovators are redefining what it means to be studentpreneurs

Meet DMZ’s Basecamp winners

From student to startup founder, the DMZ’s student incubation program, Basecamp, helps young entrepreneurs create tech solutions to growing social and economic gaps in society.

Over the course of the summer, 22 student-led startups had the opportunity to develop and market their business idea, receive one-on-one industry mentoring, and attend expert-led workshops to gain a better understanding of the Canadian tech ecosystem.

Bringing their innovative business ideas to life, it was another successful summer for the books!

From edtech, artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency solutions, participating companies were anything but juvenile.

Today’s students are digital natives. With more resources and tools available than ever before, there is a new wave of studentpreneurs who are punching well above their weight and developing unique solutions to a handful of society’s biggest challenges.

Wrapping up the 8-week program, participating teams had the opportunity to pitch their startup ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to take home one of five grants — designed to help startups launch into the next phase of their growth — of up to $5,000 CAD.

So, who were the top winning teams of the DMZ’s Basecamp, and how are they redefining what it means to be studentpreneurs?

After learning that only 8% of people who set goals actually achieve them, Dev, Urvush and Adisha knew there had to be a better way for people to stay accountable and accomplish their goals.

Mindful Minutes is a personal development platform that helps individuals achieve their short and long-term goals by leveraging community and group accountability.

“The Basecamp program provided us with a lot more goodies than we had expected! Over the course of just 2 months, we were able to gain valuable startup knowledge, incredible mentors and a community of like-minded motivated entrepreneurs!

The program has definitely enhanced the way we run our business, and connected us with important people and necessary resources needed to succeed.” The team plans to use their winnings for marketing, referral programs, incorporating their business, and research and development.

As leaders of a personal development startup, the team at Mindful Minutes truly understands the importance of a balanced lifestyle.

“While taking care of your business, remember to take care of yourself. While there may be certain weeks that you need to put in the extra hours and effort to make something happen, always remember that burnout is real and can happen to anyone. Learn how to pace yourself!”

While running your own startup has a lot of perks — like being able to work at your own pace, and being your own boss — Mindful Minutes highlights that working for a startup requires a lot of commitment and grit.

“Contrary to what some people may think, founding your own startup can easily require more from an individual than a 9-5 grind. Nonetheless, it is definitely a rewarding experience to witness the growth of Mindful Minutes.”

Mindful Minutes plans to establish a referral program to help them scale, and are developing their platform. They hope to reach a couple hundred members by year end to start making an impact on their users’ personal development.

Keep up with Mindful Minutes on Instagram!

“While taking care of your business, remember to take care of yourself. While there may be certain weeks that you need to put in the extra hours and effort to make something happen, always remember that burnout is real and can happen to anyone. Learn how to pace yourself!”

SiteScope provides AI and computer vision applications for safety and automation in the construction industry. They offer two solutions: hardhat detection and traffic control automation.

“As first-time entrepreneurs, our team has grown significantly throughout the Basecamp program.

We really enjoyed the legal, incorporation and leadership workshops. Our Basecamp mentor throughout the program was perfect — she answered all our questions, and played a critical role in SiteScope’s pitch deck development. We couldn’t have done it without Ingrid Polini and the entire DMZ team!”

SiteScope plans to use their winnings to develop a hardware prototype.

While the Basecamp program wraps up with a demo day, SiteScope encourages all future participants not to treat the program like a competition.

“As students, we can get pretty competitive, but networking and sharing advice with the entire cohort made the experience so much more rewarding. Take the opportunity to learn and share your knowledge with others.”

While many believe studentpreneurs live and breathe for ‘grind culture’, SiteScope emphasized that their fellow founders genuinely cared about their product and embraced work-life balance.

“As students, we can get pretty competitive, but networking and sharing advice with the entire cohort made the experience so much more rewarding. Take the opportunity to learn and share your knowledge with others.”

Skilly is an ed-tech company that makes learning and teaching more accessible for people around the world. Their app allows individuals to trade skills for skills they want to learn — all for free.

Luke Galati

“Our Basecamp experience was amazing!

The DMZ’s Basecamp helped us foster an understanding of the business principles within the tech world, and we’ll be able to apply these learnings in our future!

We were surrounded by talented students who were hungry to grow their businesses, and learn from the DMZ team and the Entrepreneurs in Residence. Our mentor, Ayodele Pompey, was such a positive influence, and inspired us to be the best professionals that we can be.”

Skilly plans to use their winnings to develop their MVP. With their user experience and user interface designs for their app underway, their next step is to build the product and then launch.

Ayesha Azad

Skilly encourages other inspiring studentpreneurs to start their ventures as soon as they can.

“Find people who can support your vision, and build with like-minded people who want to achieve the same goal. Keep progressing, however you can. As long as you keep moving forward, you’ll reach your goal.”

While juggling school and a startup can be challenging, Skilly believes that studentpreneurs don’t need to choose between their education and business.

“We believe that it’s possible to be ambitious and change the world, while still fulfilling the goal of getting your degree and graduating with your peers.”

Skilly is looking to hire a Chief Technology Officer to help bring their product to life. They also look forward to continuing their growth as a company with the DMZ Basecamp Fellowship.

“Find people who can support your vision, and build with like-minded people who want to achieve the same goal. Keep progressing, however you can. As long as you keep moving forward, you’ll reach your goal.”

Designed exclusively for fashion professionals, RESERVE is a B2B marketplace that features retailers and independent designers for commercial designer rentals. A stylist’s best friend, RESERVE saves time, money, and stress by providing an online directory of designer items available for rent and delivering apparel directly to fashion shoots.

“As a solo founder with a non-technical retail background, Basecamp was an integral part of my journey.

From learning about fundraising cycles to understanding the mechanics of how a startup is run, Basecamp has allowed me to progress myself and my confidence as an entrepreneur.”

RESERVE plans to use the winnings to secure their website domain and social media handles. Omar also hopes to use the funding for their launch campaign’s digital marketing, which includes partnerships with micro-influencers, retailers and independent designers.

Omar highlights there are only so many hours in a day to get work done, and encourages other studentpreneurs to readjust their priorities if the hustle comes at the cost of mental and physical health. “Treat the process like a marathon, not a sprint.”

Although studentpreneurs may sometimes look like they have everything figured out, Omar underscores the importance of resilience and how every day is an opportunity to learn something new and overcome challenges. While some days will be better than others, a startup’s ability to learn and overcome adversity is far more telling than its solution alone.

“Being in a startup is like being in the middle of a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert — it’s total chaos. However, that is also the beauty of it, as an entrepreneur you have to learn to trust the process.”

RESERVE looks forward to completing their MVP, and their beta launch to onboard their first batch of rentees and renters. By late November, RESERVE plans to have a soft launch exclusively for Toronto.

Keep up with RESERVE on Instagram!

“Being in a startup is like being in the middle of a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert — it’s total chaos. However, that is also the beauty of it, as an entrepreneur you have to learn to trust the process.”

Are you an inspiring studentpreneur looking for support to help build your business idea? Follow the DMZ on Instagram and X to stay up to date with all of our student programming!

Get to know the winners of our inaugural Black Innovation Summit

Investing in the growth of rising Black-led tech startups

11 Black-led Pre-Incubator companies, 1 day of pitching, and $49,000 CAD of total funding awarded!

This summer, the DMZ hosted its inaugural Black Innovation Summit, bringing together the next generation of rising tech startups led by Black founders!

Equitable access to funding has been a longstanding issue in the innovation ecosystem. The Black Innovation Summit was designed to put capital directly into the hands of Black founders to help them take their startups to the next level.

Not only did the Black Innovation Summit award DMZ Pre-Incubator companies funding, it also put a spotlight on the importance of supporting the Black entrepreneurial community, and investing in the growth of an inclusive tech ecosystem.

So, how did the Black Innovation Summit work?

The DMZ brought together select Black alumni founders from the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator to deliver startup pitches to a panel of esteemed judges. With a grand first place prize of $20,000 CAD at stake, founders laid it all out on the line to wow the panel with their innovative solutions.

Who came out on top?

Our founders did not make it easy for the judges, as all the startups delivered compelling pitches. From edtech, femtech, real estate, HR, fintech and more, we saw an array of innovative solutions and products that have the potential to make a real impact in their respective industry. Congratulations to all of the participants and winners!

1st place: Tunde Omotoye, Co-Founder of HumanSquad won $20,000 CAD in funding.

2nd place: Eyra Abraham, Founder of Lisnen won $10,000 CAD in funding.

3rd place: Michael Collins, Founder and CEO of Periculum won $5,000 CAD in funding.

We connected with the top 3 winning founders to learn more about their startup, how the funding will help them, and their experience with the Black Innovation Programs at the DMZ!

HumanSquad – Tunde Omotoye

Tell us about HumanSquad.

HumanSquad helps people navigate their immigration journey and career path by connecting immigrants to licensed immigration consultants in Canada. The current Canadian immigration landscape for prospective immigrants includes traditional players, and complex and overwhelming processes which are expensive.

At HumanSquad, we digitize the immigration process, making it simple and affordable.

Could you shed some light on your entrepreneurial journey? What brought you to where you are today?

Our CEO and Co-Founder Tunde Omotoye provides informal immigration and human resource advisory support to over a quarter of a million followers seeking to move, settle, and grow their career in Canada.

Tunde’s requests to have one-on-one advisory sessions concerning Canadian immigration evolved into HumanSquad. The reputation Tunde has garnered over the years has lent reliability and credibility to the HumanSquad model.

What was going through your mind when you found out you won first place at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit?

A lot, actually. It was unbelievable! We had practiced multiple times before the D-Day, so we were glad that our efforts weren’t wasted.

What impact did the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory?

Coming into the DMZ’s Pre-Incubator, we had launched our prototype and were already seeing traction. So our expectations for the program, beyond validating our solution, were to upskill the team and redefine our go-to market strategy across sales, marketing, and tech to optimize our reach.

Before joining the Black Innovation Pre-Incubator, we didn’t understand concepts like ‘user journey’ or ‘OKRs’. Now, we understand customer profiling and engagement, and key client-related key performance indicators to look out for that can impact our bottom line and boost our topline.

Do you have plans on how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup?

Our current tech infrastructure needs to be upgraded, so a significant portion of the grant is going to that. We are currently expanding our distributed tech team to work both on the front-end and back-end of our portal.

We’re also looking to invest in our marketing efforts, as we haven’t launched any aggressive paid marketing initiatives since we launched over a year ago. We are planning to test run some initiatives in our playbook to grow our customer engagement.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies?

It’s important to connect with people already in the entrepreneurship space to understand their journey. We need to debunk the myth that entrepreneurship is a solitary journey. Entrepreneurs offer different services and sell different products, and there’s nothing wrong with learning from one another’s insights.

Of course – products differ, but entrepreneurship is by and large quite agnostic and there is so much a founder can learn from other founders. Following closely on the heels of that, I’d say to own your journey, take every entrepreneurial adventure as a learning experience, and allow yourself to evolve and learn through it all.

Lisnen – Eyra Abraham

Tell us a little bit about Lisnen.

Lisnen focuses on everyday safety and convenience challenges for the Deaf and hard of hearing. Fire alarms, sirens, yells, cries, door knocks, and bells are sounds that expect attention.

Yet, for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, not knowing can be a risk. Lisnen is solving the lack of access and inequalities of using only sound to communicate critical information for people with hearing loss.

What brought you to where you are today?

I started Lisnen to address a personal pain point that I was experiencing as someone with hearing loss. I had slept through a fire alarm in my condo after taking off my hearing aids to sleep. I hadn’t realized what had happened until a couple of days later when a notice in my inbox notified tenants of the situation.

It was a wake-up call – people living with disabilities do not have equal access to the same safety standards in establishments and residential areas. After buying and trying different products, I was waiting for someone to create a solution that worked. Finally, it dawned on me that maybe I should be the one.

What was going through your mind when you found out you won second place at DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit?

After hearing so many great pitches and founders with amazing businesses, I was very surprised, yet incredibly grateful.

I hadn’t pitched in a while, and I wanted to deliver my pitch to improve on it and practise. I was ready to congratulate the winners and head back to work!

When I won, I realized that we are blessed to be in the company of so many Black founders who are pushing forward to make changes for our community.

What impact did DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory?

The Black Innovation Pre-Incubator allowed me to see the successes and the possibilities within the entrepreneurial community. This was empowering, and gave me an extra bit of confidence with my work.

Also, the support network of founders has been impactful. There is a lot of diverse expertise that I can tap into to assist my business.

Do you have plans for how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup?

The funding will support our app development as we continue to build our machine learning algorithm to support people with hearing loss and our corporate partners.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies?

Nothing in our past can prepare us to reach our next level of success. So persevere and stay patient. Continue to grow and learn, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable as you reach new heights!

Lisnen is engaging with people in the hearing loss community and welcomes anyone with hearing loss to join their community of app testers. Head over to their website to sign up and co-create their community!

Periculum – Michael Collins

Tell us a little bit about Periculum.

Periculum is a top provider of data analytics and credit assessment services specifically targeted to underserved markets. We work with financial institutions and lenders to digitize their solutions, including credit scoring and loan underwriting. Additionally, we provide data analytic solutions to give them an edge in the crowded marketplace.

Could you shed some light on your entrepreneurial journey? What brought you to where you are today?

I was born and raised in Nigeria, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I came to Canada on my 19th birthday to go to school at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, British Columbia. I ended up transferring to Thompson University in Kamloops.

After school, I worked for BMO and CIBC, where I was first made aware of the problem Periculum is working on now – ‘thin files’. ‘Thin files’ refer to individuals and businesses that do not have access to loans or other financial services because they have little or no credit history.

About 1 in 15 people in North America are underserved by the financial services industry, but in the African market it’s 1 in 3 people. This led me to start Periculum to help people and businesses in Africa access financial and lending services.

What was going through your mind when you found out you won third place at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit?

At first, I didn’t really register the announcement because I was not expecting it!

There were some fantastic founders building great companies, so I did not expect to make it in the top three. When they announced Periculum as third, I was shocked, excited, and honoured!

What impact did the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory?

Boy, where do I start…the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator is one of the best programs I have ever attended…period!

The lessons I learned from the great program mentors literally took Periculum to the next level. We didn’t have a very clear business strategy when we started, but the program helped us define our strategy and execute on it. I cannot say enough about this program!

Do you have plans on how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup?

The money will help us acquire more server space, which will allow us to onboard more customers and grow our revenue.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies?

Starting a company under normal circumstances is very hard, but doing it as a Black founder is even harder. Programs like the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator makes the black entrepreneurship journey easier.

I am very proud and honoured to be a part of the inaugural Black Innovation Summit, and I hope other institutions follow the DMZ’s lead in establishing programs like this because the more we get our Black community involved in entrepreneurship, the better our communities and world will be. The future is bright!

Periculum just launched a $500K pre-seed round, and have already raised over half of it! The round will help them expand their reach and offerings in the Nigerian and West African markets.

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Meet Senia Wang, the studentpreneur with a sustainable take on the pet industry

Monthly Archives: September 2021