Veterans who served Canada are now building businesses

Article content

Those who have served our country in the military understand risk in ways many others do not. But veterans who seek to start their own business can encounter different kinds of risks – those that entrepreneurs face.

Fortunately, military service builds many of the critical skills needed as an entrepreneur, according to Marc Tassé, a business mentor with Prince’s Trust Canada, an organization founded by then Prince Charles, now King Charles III, that helps youth and veterans find meaningful employment through training and mentorship.

“With skills like problem-solving, strategic thinking, teamwork and adaptability, veterans are uniquely positioned to become entrepreneurs,” says Tassé, who is an investigative and forensic accountant and lecturer at several North American universities.

“Veterans are trained in the military to always be thinking strategically, so they are very rational and incorporate strategic thinking into their day-to-day activities while they are in the military. As a veteran, when they get into entrepreneurship, … being strategic and answering challenges is a tremendous strength.”

Kristin Topping, Lower Sackville, N.S.

What was your role in the military?

“I was in the Air Force and my trade was Aerospace Engineering. … My focus [was] in chemistry (my actual BEng is in Chemical Engineering) and … I spent a lot of time at RMC doing my Masters, working on my PhD and, best of all, teaching RMC cadets. My specialty veered into Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence. I ended up working mostly with the Special Operating Forces and doing projects to support CBRN Defence.”

What brought you to leave the military, and how did you turn to being an entrepreneur?

“In 2016, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that completely flipped my world upside down. My executive functions really suffered, and it was a big jolt for my mental health. I tried to go back to work following my injury for almost two years, but when my recovery plateaued, I think everyone recognized that I wasn’t going to be able to continue in the military. By that time, I had to make the hard choice to quit my PhD.

So, in 2018, I moved over to the Transition Centre to start the process of releasing from the military. In the beginning, I panicked and started applying for jobs that were nearly identical to what I was doing in the military, government jobs, because I couldn’t imagine not having the security of a salaried nine-to-five job. It was a conversation with my sister, friend and (now ex-) husband that changed my mind.”

How did you make the transition to owning your own business?

“While I was in the Transition Centre, I had the opportunity to work with … the Prince’s Trust Canada. … They taught me everything I know about business and provided me with a mentor to help me develop my business to where it is today.

In 2021, I received the Aga Khan Foundation Prince’s Trust Group Award, got to travel to London and had the honour of meeting the (then) Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Charles (now King Charles).”

Tell us about your business and why you chose to establish this particular company.

“During my recovery, one of the tools that I actively employed to learn mindfulness and work on improving my problem-solving skills and decision making was Horticulture Therapy (HT). Although, at the time, I didn’t know that was what I was doing. A lot of my focused recovery took place during the pandemic when everyone was locked down. So, I didn’t work with a professional HT, rather I curated my houseplant collection, and taught myself to have patience, live in the moment and care for something else when I was struggling to care for myself. My plants gave me purpose. They gave me community through social media and my plants helped me recover to where I am today.

This newly found joy in houseplants created such a spark and change in my outlook for life that my family knew I shouldn’t be applying for government jobs. I needed to work with my plants. So, I started Sweetlife Flora, an e-commerce store for all things houseplants. I even went to school to become a Therapeutic Horticultural Practitioner (THP) and a Horticulturalist.

Now, in addition to running Sweetlife Flora, I also work with a company called Root in Nature that delivers Horticultural Therapy to communities around Ottawa.

This year, we’ve had the opportunity to expand to the East Coast.”

Mark Gasparotto, Ottawa

What was your role in the military?

“I joined the Canadian Armed Forces as an Army Military Engineer Officer in 1997 after graduating from the University of Waterloo in civil engineering.

After two years of intensive training, I was posted to 2 Combat Engineer Regiment in Petawawa, Ont., ultimately commanding the Regiment from 2014-16.

I ended up spending 10 of my 20-year career in an operational unit, deploying to Bosnia, Kabul, Kandahar, and Haiti. The rest of the time I was either training, serving as an instructor, or performing staff officer duties.

Becoming a soldier was a childhood dream, following in the footsteps of both my grandfathers who served, albeit on opposite sides, in World War Two. I loved my time in the Army because we did hard things and did them well. We accomplished tough missions in crazy situations that ordinary teams were not capable of even contemplating.

The experience, especially in combat, was life changing. It took several brushes with death (I lost six of my nine lives in Kandahar) to learn how to truly live – live a life of purpose, a life of gratitude, a life without fear of the unknown for whatever threats may be lurking in the dark.”

What brought you to leave the military, and how did you turn to being an entrepreneur?

“A life of service comes with many sacrifices and to do it well, at least for me, meant that work-life balance was unachievable. As a result, I was not the father or husband I wanted to be.

I was also deeply unimpressed with the government’s seriousness for most matters of national security and I thought that I could have a greater influence out of uniform engaging in the debate.

For all those reasons I retired in 2017 to become an entrepreneur and leadership development business owner. Entrepreneurial spirit is one of Gasparotto Group’s core values. The way we approach business is the same way we (as many of my current work colleagues are also former combat engineers) approached solving complex problems on the battlefield.”

How did you make the transition to owning your own business

“The Canadian Armed Forces paid for and enabled me to acquire two master’s degrees. The first, in Defence Studies, was at staff college. As a military officer, I was passionate about leadership and, while the Army was very good at teaching you about the what and how of leadership, it didn’t get as deeply as I wanted into the why.

That led me to enroll in a Master of Leadership program at Royal Roads University. That gave me the academic foundation to start a leadership development company when I finally transitioned out of uniform.

Annually, the Army invites business and community leaders to a base and provides a soldier-for-a-day experience. Part of that experience involves a demonstration of what leadership looks like inside an operational unit. Those events and what I learned at Royal Roads gave me the initial idea to fuse the art, science, theory and practice of leadership together into a program for corporate teams.

Leveraging some training funds through Veterans Affairs Canada, business advice attending a Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur workshop, and the network provided by [not-for-profit ex-military networking group] Treble Victor, I launched the Gasparotto Group, coincidentally incorporating the business on my 46th birthday.

I loved my two decades in uniform and I left at a time of my choosing, when it was right for me. Because when it is time to go, you need to go, lingering is not good for the soul.”

Tell us about your business and why you chose to establish this particular company.

“I founded the Gasparotto Group because I, along with my veteran colleagues, have a duty to share our hard-won experience in the service of building stronger communities. Our mission is to empower people and teams to unlock their full potential through leadership development.

We are a full-service leadership development firm (consulting, coaching, leadership development programs, and keynotes) that specializes in experiential learning events.

Our flagship program is called Outside the Wire. ‘Outside the Wire’ is an expression where we leave the safety of the camp, which is surrounded by barbed wire, and venture out into dangerous territory. We use that as a metaphor for taking people and teams out of their comfort zone, into a military inspired indoor and outdoor classroom, all the while providing a psychologically safe space to learn.

We do this because the best growth occurs when we are uncomfortable and safe. The program has been attended by many companies from diverse industries, such as digital marketing, restaurants, construction, natural resources, IT, and defence. The comprehensive program is a blend of onsite workshops, individual and team psychometric assessments, online learning modules, virtual coaching, and a three day, three night field exercise. This field exercise involves armoured vehicles, live fire shooting, rappelling, obstacle courses, team building problem solving activities, professional development sessions, reflection periods, and culminates in an intensive collective challenge.

The vision is to become well-established in the Canadian market and start to soon branch out into North America.”

Cole Rosentreter, Edmonton

What was your role in the military?

“I was honored to serve 15 years with the Canadian Army in a parachute infantry unit. … [Deployments included] three tours in Afghanistan, eastern Europe, South America and elsewhere. The military not only provided an opportunity to grow and mature but also develop critical attributes like drive, resiliency, humility, and find innovative solutions to challenges.”

What brought you to leave the military, and how did you turn to being an entrepreneur?

“Following a near-fatal parachuting accident, I faced a crossroads in my life and chose to find my next mission through entrepreneurship. I spent the next several years undergoing medical operations and began crafting my next mission: build and grow the technology necessary to transform how the world deals, incredibly unsuccessfully at this time, with major disasters like wildfire.

I drew on the dichotomy between how Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) from unmanned aircraft exponentially changed the level of safety, situational awareness and success of military operations, but here at home responding to disasters, not only is this force multiplier not available, but the current emergency management systems in place have failed to evolve, even as the scale of climate-driven disasters like wildfires continue to increase in frequency and severity.”

How did you make the transition to owning your own business?

“I medically retired from the military in June, 2018, and a few months later had attended the Prince’s Trust entrepreneur bootcamp program, and shortly afterward landed in Silicon Valley, attending a leading pre-accelerator program at [private entrepreneurship program] Draper University [in California].

What I gained most from that experience was early confirmation that so many of the attributes and soft skills learned in the infantry are almost a superpower in the private sector. Since then, it’s been five crazy years of building the team and technology with solving wildfire as the company’s mission, our north star.”

Tell us about your business and why you chose to establish this particular company.

“Pegasus was founded with the full-term vision of solving today’s biggest challenges through intelligence-driven solutions. From a First Principles perspective, the effectiveness of any operation, whether a wildfire or a pipeline leak response, is dependent on the actionable information decision makers receive.

Pegasus is developing the technology necessary to radically transform access to real-time data to transform disasters into intelligence-driven responses, and ultimately, re-establish an equilibrium between humanity and our environment.”

Scott Harrigan, Halifax

What was your role in the military?

“I attended the Royal Military College from 1992-1997. I began in St. Jean, Queb., and later graduated from the campus in Kingston, Ont. I then joined the Royal Canadian Navy and amassed over 1450 days at sea (actually out on the water).

I was what used to be called a MARS (Maritime Surface) Officer. The trade is now called NWO (Naval Warfare Officer).

From experiencing some of the worst seas imaginable, to boarding ships in the Gulf of Oman, to walking through Afghanistan, to humanitarian and election work in Haiti, it made for an incredibly fulfilling career while building character and giving me unique insights into many of the issues taking place around the world.”

What brought you to leave the military, and how did you turn to being an entrepreneur?

“I took my medical release in 2018 after several hip surgeries in 2016 did not go as planned. I was a new father, the timing aligned with my 25 years of service and I was already working with Glorope, so the overall timing was more or less perfect.

I had been growing my company as a secondary income through a website, but also had plans for the development of several products borne of ideas from my time at sea. Glow-in-the-dark life rings (which we will have approved by Transport Canada this month) came from the many man-overboard exercises that I’ve participated in at night.

Glow-in-the-dark firefighting gear (helmets and bunker gear) stemmed from the incessant fire training we do while at sea, as well.”

How did you make the transition to owning your own business?

“Luckily, my transition was well underway during my final years in the Forces. I already owned Glorope and was growing it as a [direct-to-consumer] business through our website. We have since begun growing our [business-to-business] networks. The transition to civilianhood was therefore quite seamless for me.

After 25 years in the military, I was only 43 years old when I retired. I knew I had another entire career that I could give.

I had very unique products and a goal to save lives by creating them. It was very motivating and allowed me to move on to the next chapter with a very specific goal in mind. That is to have one person, a swimmer or a firefighter say that they are alive because I took the hard road of entrepreneurship.”

Tell us about your business and why you chose to establish this particular company.

“Glorope is an extension of several of the ideas I had during my countless hours at sea.

I don’t think I would succeed at just any business. The daily routine of learning about the processes we use (rotational moulding, extrusion, injection moulding, powder coating) is akin to the term we use on ship of “being fed with a firehose.” When you join a ship, you have a limited amount of time to essentially learn every valve on the ship. It’s very much like liaising with industry professionals with regards to developing these products.

In that vein, having remained active with the Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur since attending the inaugural course in 2012, I’ve learned that nearly every skill that the Canadian Forces instills in its people translates directly to starting and running a business: self-starter mentality, leadership skills, working with teams, division or platoon [human resources] issues, budgetary constraints.

Another aspect of entrepreneurship is how addictive it becomes.

When one of my employees brought me a sample of candied jalapenos that he’d made I was blown away.

It looked like a huge hole in the condiment market that just presented itself. We ran our first batch and they instantly took off. Within 18 months, we are now asking questions about how to take our product national with little to no knowledge of how the highly competitive food industry works. It’s always as exhilarating as it is frustrating and challenging.

Building a business can help retiring veterans forge a new identity, as well. Oftentimes (especially with infantry regiments), the badge on your arm becomes who you are, your identity. Suddenly being told you can no longer be a part of the team can be devastating to some military members, like their identity has been snatched from them. In my case, I had to face a contentious divorce and retirement from the only family I’d known for decades within a year of each other.

I can attest that diving into my business was one of the main factors that prevented me from taking some of the more self-destructive methods of coping that other veterans choose, be it alcohol, drugs or self-harm. The ability to either challenge yourself as the military challenged you, or to reinvent yourself through a business you love can literally render entrepreneurship as a salvation to some.”

Frédéric Verville, Montreal

What was your role in the military?

“In my 11 years with the Canadian Forces, I had the unique opportunity to serve in two distinct roles that contributed significantly to my professional development.

Initially, I served as a Boatswain in the Royal Canadian Navy for five years. This role was a crash course in discipline, technical skills, and the importance of teamwork in high-stakes situations. Navigating the challenges of life at sea taught me the value of resilience and adaptability, qualities that have been indispensable in my entrepreneurial journey.

After my time in the Navy, I transitioned into a role as a Supply Technician for the next six years. This experience allowed me to delve deep into supply chain management and data analysis.

The analytical skills and logistical expertise I gained were not just pivotal for my military career but became the bedrock upon which I would later build Floèm.”

What brought you to leave the military, and how did you turn to being an entrepreneur?

“I chose to scale back my commitments by being part-time in the Air Force Reserve, a move driven by my growing entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to have a more flexible schedule. The Reserve allows me to continue serving in a capacity that’s meaningful to me while also giving me the time and freedom to pursue my business endeavors. It’s the best of both worlds, allowing me to maintain my connection to the Forces while fully engaging in my entrepreneurial journey.”

How did you make the transition to owning your own business?

“The decision to step back from full-time service and focus on Floèm was fueled by my passion for the boreal flora of Canada and the wish to create something meaningful and sustainable.

Being in the Reserve keeps me grounded and connected to my past, while my work with Floèm allows me to explore my creativity and make a positive impact in a different way. It’s a harmonious blend of my military experience and entrepreneurial drive.”

Tell us about your business and why you chose to establish this particular company.

“Floèm is more than just a business; it’s a tribute to the incredible richness of Canada’s boreal flora. We offer unique infusions made from Labrador leaves, handpicked to ensure the highest quality and to celebrate the natural treasures our territory has to offer.

Our focus on technological efficiency, manifested through a customized ERP management system, sets us apart in the manufacturing field. This tech-savvy approach, combined with a deep-rooted respect for nature, has been pivotal in the company’s success.

The decision to establish Floèm was driven by a desire to share the wonders of our local environment. My wife and I co-founded the company with a mission to introduce people to the awe-inspiring elements of the boreal flora. It was the perfect avenue to blend my military-honed skills in supply chain management and data analysis with my passion for nature.

It’s not just about building a successful business, but about contributing to a larger narrative that celebrates the natural richness of our homeland.”

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

More from Canadian Family Offices

• Next gen on how 7 kids, 14 grandkids plus dad work together
• That eureka moment when business owners realize value of their real estate
• ‘Soul-baring experience’ needed for proper onboarding of clients
• The risks of tying up wealth in one area

Please visit here to see information about our standards of journalistic excellence.