
certain inection point in
Canada before they have
to leave because there is
not enough investment
dollars. To scale, tech
companies have to fol-
low the money. If Canada
wants to keep these won-
derful companies here, it
will take global investors to
support the initiative, and
this means, the industry
needs to foster Canadian
talent.
Canada and specically
BC has some amazing
University programs pro-
ducing talented people,
however, these students
leave the country because
there are too few jobs and
if they nd one, it doesn’t
pay enough to keep pace
with the cost of living.
Canada seems to think
not paying talent enough
money is a unique selling
proposition to attract for-
eign companies to oper-
ate here, which is one of
the reasons big corporate
companies don’t move
here. If BC’s tech industry
trains people but doesn’t
pay them a competitive
wage, they will leave and
go where they will be paid
better.
This is local business-
es’ fault because if they
can get away with paying
somebody $10 when they
should be paying them
$20, they will keep paying
them $10. It is a short-
term gain rather than a
long-term benet. It’s like
the chicken and the egg
because if we don’t have
global money coming here
to invest in Canada, we
can’t afford to pay com-
petitive wages. If we don’t
pay competitive wages,
our talent will leave, limit-
ing the industry’s ability to
grow.
Impressario’s vision
is to solve the lack of re-
sources by attracting for-
eign investment and cre-
ating a sizable investment
fund with the mandate
to invest in local projects
worth scaling. We need
$250 million Canadian to
start developing one of the
largest technology funds in
Canada focused on the In-
dustrial Internet of Things.
The fund will put smart
technology innovators
onto a platform where they
can be seen and heard by
global investors. Global
investors will be able to
nd interesting invesment
opportunities in smart Ca-
nadian tech companies.
The fund will have a
strong link to local aca-
demia and focus on West-
ern Canadian opportuni-
ties. It is a public/private
nance initiative run here
for here and has a mentor-
ship module to help peo-
ple scale their businesses
with smart money.
We have already creat-
ed a prospectus and built
a team of leaders who are
experts in technology and
nance to help develop it.
I believe this fund will
have a positive impact on
the Vancouver tech indus-
try and enable it to com-
pete on the global stage.
Nicholas Jeffery is a smart city
expert, a founding member
of Impressario Consulting a
media man, technologist, and
investment banker.
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