Failure Sessions

Yacine Bara 

Yacine Bara was born and raised in Winnipeg. An Actuary by training, Yacine graduated top of his class from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Commerce, BCom, Actuarial Science. He established a strong career in leadership roles at recognizable enterprises such as Great West Life, People Corporation and Investors Group. In 2016, Yacine stepped out from the comforts of the corporate world in pursuit of a ?big idea? and founded ChangeWealth. As the Founder & CEO, Yacine aimed to partner with clients to make a positive impact by redirecting profits to support local social causes. His experience, combined with his acumen and energy, brought him to Skip the Dishes in 2018. Currently, Yacine is the Director of Operations Planning & Logistics at Skip the Dishes and leads teams across 5 countries on 3 continents. 

Vanesa Cotlar 
Vanesa is passionate about talent development and currently spends her days as the Workforce Development Leader at iQmetrix. Her past experiences include working for Monitor Deloitte Canada where she provided strategic guidance to some of the world's largest companies and building the Winnipeg talent ecosystem with Economic Development Winnipeg. Vanesa has worked in over 15 countries and has a unique understanding of how different talent markets operate and how people have seen success in them. 
 

Prior to returning to Winnipeg in 2019, she was the co-founder and CEO of Octagon Careers, a German-based HR-tech startup that focused on understanding the skills and aptitudes that indicated success in certain roles, and assessing and hiring based on those attributes. She made the shortlist for the Business Leader of the Year - Women in IT Awards for her work with her start-up and won several pitch competitions. 
 

In her spare time, Vanesa contributes to the Winnipeg Tech community as a leader of TechWPG, and by volunteering at North Forge Technology Exchange as their Pitch Coach for start-ups. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Youville, as their Vice Chair. 

Bryce North 
Bryce North a serial entrepreneur with years of experience building, scaling, and running startups. He has built a reputable track record within the city for his successes and has won awards for his achievements in entrepreneurship. His focus on startup growth, investor pitching, and startup strategy have granted him numerous advisory roles and speaking opportunities all around the world. From being featured on Canadas Dragons Den to building e-commerce brands and tech companies that have scaled and sold in over 40 countries, Bryce is sought after to share his experience and to work closely with most, if not all, of Manitoba's innovation hubs. 
 

Stephen Sim
Stephen Sim is an internationally renowned improvisation theatre performer, director and trainer who has been working in the industry for over two decades. He has headlined international festivals and leads improv master classes all over the world. He is the host of many events, including TEDxWinnipeg, where he also works with the speakers to create and hone their talks. Stephen has translated his years of improvisation theatre experience to focus on effective communication and group collaboration.

Sponsors

PRESENTING SPONSORS


AUDIOVISUAL SPONSOR 



STARTUP SPONSOR 



DRINK SPONSOR 

    

Sponsorship

Interested in sponsoring this unique event?

Contact Lori Wheeler, [email protected] or view our sponsorship package here.