Women are powerful, invincible, and resilient. Without millions of chants encouraging the existence of women every day, a special day like International Women’s Day is indeed a necessity to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments in every walks of life.
Whether teachers, economists, homemakers, economists, or business tycoons, women have made this world a better place to live with their infinite power, faith, and determination. With enough ability to break the shackles of patriarchy, women rise above societal roadblocks every day, making them a robust force to be reckoned with in today’s world.
On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate and rejoice in the economic, cultural, political, and social accomplishments of women worldwide.
Arlene Dickinson – A Business Tycoon in Its Truest Sense Share on XSince 8th March is officially regarded as International Women’s Day, this particular day also marks a call to accelerate gender parity and break all traditional norms. So, the theme of International Women’s Day 2022 is #BreakTheBias to smash the age-old notion of stereotypical bias generally associated with women.
So this year, the aim is to create a gender-equitable society. It’s about celebrating a woman’s accomplishments and raising awareness against prejudice. Therefore, we should all choose to challenge ourselves to bring change. So, let’s identity, celebrate and make women’s achievements more visible.
Canada has a notable history of women renowned for their achievements that have made a positive difference at home and abroad. However, there’s one woman who, in many ways, has made her accomplishments even better than expected. Not only did she make people stop and applaud, but she also showed a generation of young girls that dreams can be achieved if they act to make that dreams of theirs come true. That woman is none other than the CEO of Venturepark, Arlene Dickinson.
A Brief about Arlene Dickinson
Arlene Dickinson is Canada’s most adored dragon and one of the country’s best-known business icons, as well as an immigrant. This South-African-born lady’s story of her subsequent success and struggle is legendary.
A motivating force for aspiring entrepreneurs who always take a leaf out of her personal and professional life, this 65-year venture capitalist and grandmother of seven arrived in Canada as a young kid. They landed in the Great White North on a freezing February day.
At the age of 31, when Arlene got divorced after being married at 19, she had four young kids and a high school diploma. Armed only with a 12th-grade education and the need to support her family being a single parent, there was nothing to suggest that she would one day turn out to be an out-and-out business tycoon.
Arlene’s divorce was the turning point that inspired her to prove she could freely support her kids. A year later, Arlene became a partner at Venture Communications, then a small agency based out of Calgary. After ten years, she became the CEO and completely revolutionized the company into one of Canada’s biggest standalone marketing firms.
Arlene used her core values of honesty, reciprocity, and authenticity as the base of her business relationships, a methodology that has served her good. Currently, Arlene has expanded her love for rising Canadian entrepreneurs by launching the country’s first accelerator for food, beverage and healthcare companies and erecting a venture capital fund fully focused on investing in creative entrepreneurs.
Apart from that, she’s also the CEO of YouInc.com, a company that Arlene founded in 2012 in order to invest in and serve entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial lifestyle.
Being a kind philanthropist, she dedicated her life to enhancing the lives of people. She is generous with her support of philanthropic causes such as the Breakfast Clubs of Canada. In addition, she is a regular speaker at events held across Canada to reach out to the country and motivate immigrants, entrepreneurs and everyone else with her message of success and determination.
Arlene Dickinson is recognized with the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100, as well as Chatelaine’s and PROFIT’s Top 100 women business owners. In addition, Arlene is an Honorary Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy and a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Arlene is also an author and has penned three books to date, including bestsellers “Persuasion” (her autobiography) published in 2011 and “All In: You, Your Business, Your Life”, published in 2013. Her third book, “Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future” was released in 2019.
How Did Arlene Get Her Start with Venture?
In Arlene’s early 30s, she was asked to join Venture Communications as a partner. At that time, it was a very young startup, which meant that she had to work for free. She has previously worked in media sales, so she had some marketing experience and found that she loves marketing.
Arlene ran and managed the company with a couple of partners for several years, then bought them out and continued from there. She began figuring out how she wanted to build the entire business and invested a little as the company grew and things were going well.
An employee asked her for an investment, which led to understanding how assets worked. Arlene Dickinson has worked with many companies in her marketing career and has been offered opportunities. Then, she joined Dragon’s Den.
How Has the Idea of Leadership Evolved for Arlene?
Arlene Dickinson believes finding passion as a leader is essential. Purpose-driven entrepreneurship and leadership are essential. She feels that leaders need to know what they want to achieve and why they want to achieve it. It has to be a social impact, opportunity, and economically viable.
About the Things Keeping Arlene Excited at Present
The COVID-19 pandemic has truly been an awakening for Arlene Dickinson, as it was for most people. She stopped and thought about what was important, what she wanted to leave as a legacy, and what she wanted society to be. She has had a lot of time contemplating how to navigate this period and what she wants when people emerge from this.
Arlene reinvented Venturepark, a business growth ecosystem that focuses on assisting and marketing consumer goods companies in the space sectors of food, health, and personal care. Of course, all of this was there before the pandemic. Still, the idea of bringing everything together under one ecosystem and harnessing each other’s different abilities, all steered by the same objective, was something she implemented during the pandemic.
She has a venture capital fund, a commercial kitchen, an accelerator, a media platform, and two marketing companies. Arlene is in the process of raising her second fund, which she is presently excited about. She has invested in companies across Canada and it has been extremely rewarding for her to see how this ecosystem has developed.
Arlene Dickinson’s Pieces of Advice to Young Entrepreneurs
Arlene believes that people are taught to be low risk in Canada, as individuals and as a country. But according to her, this low risk doesn’t come with a high reward. Instead, people must strive to use their intelligence, innovation, and skills and uplift bold leaders.
People should ensure their values contribute to changing the world purposefully. They should dream big and not tell anyone what not to do. People have what it takes to accomplish, but they need to work harder and push their limits to make Canada what it can be.
For more information regarding Arlene Dickinson, and her company, Venturepark, you can scroll through these hyperlinks and learn more.
