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Meet OUR 2019 MNP FUtURe LeADeRSThree Dynamic, Young Entrepreneurs Named as

This Year’s MNP Future Leadersby Laurie Wallace-Lynch photography by Valeria Mitsubata, supplied by MNP

above (L-R) Jim Molyneux, Regional Managing Partner, MNP; Arwina Mogul, CEO, Esports Tickets; Emilee Feely, CEO, Feely Music; Radwan Al-Nachawati, CEO, LinkMentalHealth Inc.

Three young entrepreneurs are one step closer to realizing their dreams, thanks to being named the 2019 MNP Future Leaders. This year’s recipients are Radwan Al-Nachawati, CEO of LinkMentalHealth, Emilee Feely, CEO of Feely Music and Arwina Mogul, CEO of Esports Tickets.

The MNP Future Leaders mentorship program is designed to inspire and guide the next

generation of business leaders in our community. Each future leader receives one year of monthly professional mentoring, guidance and advice from an MNP partner, year-long memberships at participating boards of trade/

chambers of commerce and recognition as an MNP Future Leader.

MNP, a leading national accounting, tax and business consulting firm in Canada, has partnered with key local stakeholders including Ryerson University, Sheridan College, University of Toronto Mississauga, City of Brampton, Town of

Oakville, Brampton Board of Trade, Mississauga Board of Trade, Oakville Chamber of Commerce and Star Metroland Media. One winner from each of the three partnering post-secondary institutions is selected from the applicants to be named as an MNP Future Leader.

“As an entrepreneurial firm built for Canadian entrepreneurs,

MNP is proud to support our local business communities and young business leaders with this program,” says Jim Molyneux, Regional Managing Partner for MNP in Peel Region. “We wanted to provide invaluable mentoring by top-notch professionals to support young entrepreneurs in their efforts to achieve business success and ultimately reach their end goals.”

Radwan Al-NachawatiFounder and CEO, LinkMentalHealth Inc.

The inspiration behind LinkMentalHealth Inc. came from Radwan Al-Nachawati’s personal experience and the frustration he felt while trying to get help from a professional mental health therapist. Told that it may take two to six months to get an appointment, Radwan realized there must be a better way.

“During my time at Ryerson University, I was going through a really difficult time and sought help through the counseling centre at school. After graduating when I was working full time, I wanted to continue to see a therapist and realized it might take several months to get help, finding it overwhelming to navigate my workplace’s private health coverage,” explains Radwan. “It’s quite paralyzing the way I was feeling and realizing that you can’t get the help you need when you need it most.”

In April 2018, Radwan founded LinkMentalHealth Inc., an online booking platform which connects people to their health insurance coverage and then matches them with mental health services that best fit their needs, with a focus on under-served communities.

“To me, innovation is taking an existing problem and creating a practical solution,” says Radwan. “The platform we’ve created does that. This is a free service for those seeking help. The online questionnaire helps determine the best match according to several factors, and then links to the booking calendars of professional therapists. Instead of taking months, it can take as little as a couple of days to schedule an

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For more information on the MNP Future Leaders mentorship program, visit MNP.ca/futureleaders.

MNP is also the proud National Presenting Partner of the Canada’s top 40 Under 40 award recognizing the exceptional achievements of 40 emerging leaders in Canadian business. Details about Canada’s top 40 Under 40 can be found at Canadastop40Under40.com.

MNP’s Peel Region offi ce is in the Sussex Centre at 50 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Suite 900 in Mississauga. Contact Jim Molyneux, Regional Managing Partner, Peel Region at jim.molyneux@mnp.ca or 416.626.6000.

appointment with a therapist.”Opportunity knocked when a

large corporation approached Radwan to provide his mental health navigation system to help the corporation’s employees better understand their coverage and gain access to mental help.

“What I hope to gain from the MNP Future Leaders program is a combination of mentorship and their proven experience as we delve into the employer side of this opportunity,” says Radwan. “Our goal is to scale our business across Canada within the next three to fi ve years and MNP has the proven expertise to help get us there.”

Asked what challenges he faces as a young entrepreneur, Radwan smiles and answers: “I am a positive person, so I view challenges as opportunities. My challenge is to juggle many aspects of the business as we take on diff erent sectors—stakeholders, government, therapists—and we need the resources to be able to scale our business.”

Radwan is excited about how his company may help pave the way for people to navigate the mental health system. “I don’t want anyone else to face struggles like I did dealing with mental illness,” he adds. “Finding help should be simple. LinkMentalHealth is about being able to LinkMe (and you) to mental health services.”

For more information, visit linkmentalhealth.com.

Emilee FeelyCEO, Feely Music

Emilee Feely, CEO of Feely Music can now cross one more item off her bucket list. “Each year I set goals for myself and this year’s goal was to win an award for entrepreneurship, and I have now accomplished this as a recipient of the 2019 MNP Future Leaders award,” says a proud Emilee. “I am excited to meet with my MNP mentors and am looking forward to benefi tting from their expertise on how to scale up, along with looking for advice on fi nancials, accounting, taxation and feeling like part of a team as my company grows.”

As a recent graduate of the

University of Toronto Mississauga Music Program, Emilee has been sharing her love of music with others as a professional private music teacher. Instead of students coming to her, Emilee makes it easy on them and goes to their home. After four years of teaching, requests for her services were pouring in from across the GTA. It was then that Emilee realized she was going to have to either clone herself—not possible—or fi nd other professional music teachers to meet the demand.

In 2014, Emilee founded Feely Music; a music lesson company which trains and hires music teachers who drive to the homes of clients to teach lessons on their instruments. Emilee also created a unique self-booking platform to make it easy for clients to book lessons online.

“We use technology as a way to modernize music lessons,” adds Emilee.

Currently Feely Music operates in eight major cities in Ontario, providing piano lessons in over 150 homes. Th e company employs about 28 music teachers, three staff and has about a dozen co-op students.

And what if someone wants to take lessons but doesn’t own an instrument? Emilee has thought of that too.

“We are currently creating a piano rental service and also are looking to expand to have teachers who can bring their piano (portable keyboard) with them to a client’s home,” states Emilee. “One of the biggest surprises that is both rewarding and challenging is that we have developed over 70 jobs for music teachers and others. With so much growth, including new software and expansion to

HOW ARE THE WINNERS CHOSEN?

A selection committee comprised of program partners will review all eligible candidate applications and identify three finalists from each post-secondary institution.

Finalists will be invited to deliver a short business pitch to the committee, which will then choose one successful candidate from each of the three post-secondary institutions, for a total of three winners.

The selection committee will consider the following criteria when evaluating applications:

• Demonstrated commitment to fostering innovation (including diversity of thought)

• Promotion of exceptional business standards and ethics in business operations

• Dedication to business achievement and plan for future growth

MNP Future Leaders will be honoured at a local celebration event.

HOW DO I APPLY?Visit www.MNP.ca/futureleaders for program eligibility and to submit your application by March 25, 2019.

ABOUT MNPMNP is a leading national accounting, tax and business consulting firm in Canada. We proudly serve and respond to the needs of our clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Through partner-led engagements, we provide a collaborative, cost-effective approach to doing business and personalized strategies to help organizations succeed across the country and around the world.

For more information about the MNP Future Leaders mentorship program, contact Jim Molyneux, Regional Managing Partner, Peel Region, at 416.626.6000 or email MNPFutureLeaders@mnp.ca

Living, Learning and Working in Our Community

In partnership with:

BRAMPTONBOARD OF TRADE

Future Leaders

other cities, one of the things I am hoping to gain through the MNP Future Leaders mentorship program is advice on how to manage the workload and how to scale the business.”

Emilee hopes to scale Feely Music across Canada over the next fi ve years, and to add lessons for multiple instruments.

For more information, visit feelypianoschool.com.

Arwina MogulCEO, Esports Tickets

Arwina Mogul is the perfect example of someone who gave up her day job (civil servant) and is now successfully living her dream job. Arwina is the founder and CEO of Esports Tickets—the company building beam.gg, an online event platform for people to fi nd esports and gaming events in their city. Beam.gg augments

event discovery through gamifi ed profi les which matches gamers to events and other like-minded gamers.

How did she make the transition? “I was already involved in gaming projects with my day job and, when I was presented with a contract position in gaming in the Middle East the year I left the public sector, I realized I wanted to delve into it full time,” explains Arwina. “I was part of a team which put together business plans for gaming events and I realized there wasn’t a dedicated platform for esports where you could post events. I set out to change this by creating Esports Tickets.”

Arwina describes Esports as “watching other people play video games and competing online or in person, so it is gaming that doesn’t involve gambling.” She adds: “Our software allows you to fi nd gaming events in your own city. Our clients are gamers, organizers, parents, schools and corporations or brands who organize and attend esport events.”

As a young student, Arwina was already ahead of the curve when it came to technology.

“I have always been a techie and taught myself how to code when I was about nine!” states Arwina. “Th is is not your typical career path and I am challenging every statistic by being a female CEO in the gaming industry, without a business background.”

Arwina is looking to her MNP mentors for professional advice on how to overcome challenges and how to meet specifi c fi nancial and growth objectives.

“Right now, we are facing two challenges,” states Arwina. “We need guidance in pricing unique features that we have on beam.gg. Esports is similar to the Wild West! No one has fi gured out the user unit economic yet. Our second challenge is talent acquisition and retention. Th ere is a lot of competition to attract the most talented people in the tech industry and people are often off ered salaries around 200K a year to go to the big companies. Our company is a start up and more about being a pioneer in the industry and we can’t aff ord to pay these salaries.”

Arwina shares her vision of what she hopes her company will look like fi ve years from now: “Our mission is to become the event and ticketing partner for gaming events worldwide. Just like you think of Ticketmaster for concerts and events, we want people to think of beam.gg by Esports Tickets as their ticketing choice for esports and gaming events. We believe that we can change the way people engage with events as well as change the event and ticketing industry with our technology.”

For more information on Esports Tickets, visit esportstickets.gg and to attend esports and gaming events in your city, visit beam.gg.