Similarly, Makeway — a streetwear and sneaker boutique for women — was also born of need.
“The sneaker industry often features products designed by men for men, so it was difficult as a woman to find the size and style you wanted,” says Albino, Makeway’s co-founder.
North America’s first and only sneaker boutique for women, Makeway has a high-profile brick-and-mortar Toronto boutique and a flourishing e-commerce business with international customers.
Both Makeway and Zaleska Jewelry have created new markets by catering to previously overlooked consumers.
Like many Canadian small business owners, they share other common challenges, including dealing with economic uncertainty amid high inflation coming out of the pandemic.
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Designing an inclusive and sustainable small business landscape
Canadian entrepreneurs leverage technology to create niche products for underserved customers
Joel Schlesinger
Postmedia | Content Works
In the early days, I would thrift vintage brooches and create wire-wrapped rings out of them."
“I’ve always loved fashion, but I struggled finding rings that fit my fingers,” says Tennant, the Vancouver-based founder of Zaleska Jewelry, which makes size-inclusive jewelry.
“In the early days, I would thrift vintage brooches and create wire-wrapped rings out of them".
What began as a creative endeavour a decade ago is today a thriving business, supported by legions of devoted clients around the world seeking handmade, sustainable jewelry that fits
their needs.
ough times call for equally tough entrepreneurs. A whole lot of resilience, optimism and a knack for innovation doesn’t hurt either. Just ask Abby Albino and Sylvia Tennant — two Canadian small business owners carving out markets in Canada and beyond.
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A recent Statistics Canada survey found that despite recent challenges, entrepreneurs remain optimistic with nearly 69 per cent of small business owners with less than 20 employees believing this year will be better.
Yet the study also revealed many are working on tighter budgets hampering investment, including adopting affordable and secure technology.
“One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is realizing the full potential of new solutions, as only one-in-20 small and medium-sized businesses use digital technologies effectively,” says Mary Ann Yule, president and CEO of HP Canada. “By adopting easy-to-use and secure-by-design solutions from day one, small businesses can upscale their growth and protect not only their business but the communities they serve to reduce the risk of a cybersecurity attack in the long-term.”
Sponsored by HP Canada
SYLVIA TENNANT
Founder of Zaleska Jewelry
The sneaker industry often features products designed by men for men, so it was difficult as a woman to find the size and style you wanted.”
ABBY ALBINO
Co-founder Makeway Streetwear
By adopting easy-to-use and secure-by-design solutions from day one, small businesses can upscale their growth and protect not only their business but the communities they serve to reduce the risk of a cybersecurity attack in the long-term.”
— MARY ANN YULE,
President and CEO, HP Canada
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of HP Canada.
As Canada’s most sustainable technology company, HP provides smart, sustainable and scalable printing solutions designed for small businesses like Makeway and Zaleska Jewelry to increase efficiency and allow entrepreneurs leading small teams to dedicate their energy to growing their business.
HP Instant Ink saves small business owners valuable time by detecting when one of their printers is running low on ink or toner and automatically ordering more to the right location, all on one consolidated bill. Intuitive printing systems, like the HP LaserJet Pro Series, can also be managed via the HP+ Smart Admin Dashboard, a cloud-based platform that enables small teams to seamlessly connect to printers from any device, anywhere on any network.
And according to recent research conducted by HP, 53 per cent of Canadian entrepreneurs state these types of printer innovations have allowed for more time to focus on their business.
“I work mostly from my phone, so I really appreciate being able to print from anywhere,” says Albino. “Whether at home, the office or the shop, I can print off documents as needed quickly and securely.”
Albino isn’t just running Makeway; she also is a co-founder of the non-profit Rise Tribe, which offers career opportunities to Canadian Filipino youth.
To navigate an increasingly challenging economy, small business owners need new processes to keep up. Central to Albino’s workflow is printing documents that require her attention then filing them on her desk for review later to help keep pace with the needs of both of her teams at Makeway and Rise Tribe.
Simply put, she runs through a lot of toner.
"I don’t have time to run errands buying more cartridges, which is why having a smart printer that thinks ahead is a serious gamechanger,” she says.
Time is constantly in short supply, especially given Albino runs the business and the non-profit on top of working full-time as director of brand and partnerships at Canada Basketball.
On any given day, her to-do list is never-ending from planning charitable basketball games for the Filipino community to negotiating successful deals for Makeway with major sneaker manufacturers.
All the while she must grapple with challenges like the pandemic, which severely limited the store’s hours and forced Albino to explore new ways of working.
Tennant too spends a lot of time tackling checklists and staying creative. “It’s a challenge to keep up with creating content for a digital landscape. There is a constant tension between the administrative and the creative.”
Amid attending tradeshows, drawing up budgets and tracking inventory, she still needs time
to create.
“When designing a new collection, the first thing I do is print images that I find inspiring. I put them on a wall so I can easily reference them and keep the feelings they generate top of mind.”
It’s a paper and toner intensive process — of which Tennant is mindful.
“Sustainability is key to the business,” from using ethically sourced materials to ensuring that her Indonesian production team is fairly compensated.
“So when choosing our partners, it’s important they share our vision of sustainability.”
HP+ is not only smart for business but also smart for the planet, as it protects and restores forests for every page printed for the life of a printer. The Instant Ink program also makes returning ink and toner cartridges effortless with free return shipping and packaging as part of its closed-loop recycling program. This circular process plays a key role in HP Planet Partners, which has enabled customers to recycle more than 962 million ink and toner cartridges. These are just a couple examples of how HP is driving towards its ambitious goal to become the most sustainable and just technology company by 2030.
After all, adopting sustainable practices is the right thing to do and good for business, proven by HP’s commitment to Sustainable Impact which has generated more than $3.5 billion in new sales in 2021. By combining innovative solutions that integrate sustainability into every part of the experience, Canadian entrepreneurs like Tennant can boost productivity while having a positive impact on the communities they serve and channel their resources into what matters most to their business.
HP aims to become the most sustainable and just technology company by 2030.
@sylvia.tennant
