These 4 Canadian entrepreneurs are making their mark in the business world

Canada is often seen as a smaller player compared to our southern neighbours when it comes to business, but we do have our own heavy hitters. In addition to Elemental AI that’s equipping businesses with artificial intelligence capabilities, and travel deal-finder app Hopper, which has more than 20 million downloads, we’re also host to entrepreneurs making their own sizeable footprints.

Here’s a brief round-up of a noticeable few:

Stephen Lake

 (Courtesy of Thalmic Labs)

This entrepreneur is the CEO and co-founder of Thalmic Labs, a company dedicated to wearable technology. Lake’s startup is best known for Myo, a muscle-sensing armband that measures movements and lets the device-wearer control electronics with simple actions done touch-free. The product has made more than $10 million in sales and his company has raised more than US$140 million through venture capital investments.

Claim to fame: Lake actively gives back to the entrepreneur community through board director roles for tech and entrepreneur companies. He was also on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and named as one of Canada’s Next 36 Entrepreneurial Leaders.

Michele Romanow

 (Courtesy of Janick Laurent)

A venture capitalist with a familiar face as an investor on Dragons’ Den, Romanow is a powerful force in Canada’s entrepreneur world. As the founder of several innovative and heavily trafficked discount companies, Romanow helped pave the way for online couponing. She is the brainchild behind Buytopia and Snapsaves, which was acquired by Groupon and renamed Snap, and has reached across multiple markets with her financial firm Clearbanc, which offers capital for entrepreneurs.

Claim to fame: Romanow was named as one of Forbes magazine’s Top 20 most disruptive millennials on a mission in 2013.

Victoria Lennox

 (Courtesy of Startup Canada)

As the founder and CEO of Startup Canada, Lennox has dedicated her career to entrepreneurship. In addition, she’s an adviser to numerous youth organizations and enhances student entrepreneurship at colleges and universities, roles which earned her the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. She’s also recognized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and EU as a leader in the entrepreneurship community, having represented Canada at the UNDP Innovation Meeting in Geneva and the Innovation Tour held across India with an audience of more than 100,000 budding entrepreneurs.

Claim to fame: Lennox has been featured in Canada’s Profit Magazine’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs and the U.K.’s Real Business magazine’s Top 30 under 30.

Sarah Prevette

 (Courtesy of Sarah Bea Photo)

This entrepreneur is the founder of the Future Design School, a company that supports schools working to enhance learning opportunities for students through professional development and strategic support to build long-term progress. Previously, Prevette founded start-up Sprouter.com, the first online community to create an ideas exchange between start-ups and business leaders, later acquired by Postmedia. She has also been heavily involved in predicting tech trends, such as with the launch of her online publication BetaKit and co-founding BrandProject.

Claim to fame: Prevette was named one of the Top 20 Power Elite by Canadian Business and as one of the Top 30 Under 30 by Inc Magazine.