DRAGONS’ DEN
Joe Mimran
DRAGON |DRAGONS’ DEN
Joe is among Canada's leading fashion pioneers. Throughout his storied career he has founded and built
brands that helped define the industry landscape, including Joe Fresh, Club Monaco, Alfred Sung, Caban
and--with his wife, Kimberley Newport-Mimran--Pink Tartan. With an intuitive design vision and a keen
business sense, Joe has been at the forefront of fashion and retail for over thirty years.
Born in Morocco to a couturier mother, Joe grew up with the sound of a sewing machine. After moving
to Toronto at a young age, he developed the entrepreneurial spirit early. He ran several successful
businesses before completing two bachelor degrees and becoming a chartered accountant.
But it was the search for the perfect white t-shirt that inspired Joe's first major enterprise. Unable to
find one he decided to make his own. From that single t-shirt, Joe built an entire line of minimal, unisex
clothes which would become Club Monaco. By 1999, Club Monaco had 125 stores worldwide, and that
same year the company was purchased by the Ralph Lauren Corporation.
In 2003, Loblaw tapped Joe to design home products under its President's Choice brand, followed by all
general merchandise categories by 2009. But it was when he went on to conceive the Joe Fresh brand
for Loblaw in 2005 that he really became a household name. Joe Fresh Style was launched nationwide in
the spring of 2006, and now this line of stylish and affordable clothing boasts more than 340 Loblaw's
locations in Canada, a flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue, as well as 200 stores in JC Penney
locations across the U.S. Overseas, Joe Fresh has inked international partnership agreements for 23 new
markets, and since 2014, opened its first stores in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Egypt with local
partners. Joe recently stepped down as creative director of Joe Fresh, but continues to act as their brand
ambassador.
When Joe isn't expanding his fashion empire, he spends his time at home in Toronto with his wife and
four kids.
Manjit Minhas
DRAGON |DRAGONS’ DEN
34-year-old Manjit Minhas is the co-founder and co-owner of Minhas Breweries and Distillery. Though
trained as a petroleum engineer, she has become a specialist in brand development, marketing, sales
management and retail negotiations, having been recognized for several business industry awards such
as PROFIT magazine's "Top Growth Entrepreneur", Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs in Canada, Calgary's
Top 40 under 40, Chatelaine Magazine's "Top Entrepreneur Woman of The Year 2011" and The Sikh
Centennial Foundation Award 2014.
When Manjit Minhas was 19 years old, she and her brother Ravinder scraped together $10,000 to
launch their first beer in Alberta. In 2006, they purchased the second oldest brewery in the United
States and renamed it "Minhas Craft Brewery." At the time, this acquisition officially made the Minhas
siblings the youngest brewery owners in the world.
Their brewery in Monroe, Wisconsin is now the 10th largest in North America, and as a brand they
produce more than 90 beers, spirits, liqueurs and wines that ship all across Canada and the U.S., as well
as overseas to 15 different countries. Minhas Brewery makes all of the Kirkland brand beer for Costco
worldwide, as well as all the craft beers under Trader Joes' label in the US. Today they run a group of
companies that generated over $155-million in revenue last year.
Manjit lives in Calgary, where she was born and raised, with her husband and two young daughters.
Michele Romanow
DRAGON |DRAGONS’ DEN
Michele Romanow, 29, is the co-founder of Buytopia.ca - one of Canada's top daily deal sites, recently
ranked #3 on Canada's list of fastest growing companies. Featured on the list of 100 Most Powerful
Women in Canada, Forbes also chose Michele as the only Canadian to rank as one of the top 20 most
disruptive "Millennials on a Mission."
Michele has a diverse background, with four businesses, an engineering degree and an MBA already
under her belt. She launched her first business - Tea Room, a zero-consumer-waste coffee shop - on
campus in 2006 while studying at Queen's University. She then built Evandale Caviar, a vertically
integrated fishery that distributed high-end sturgeon caviar to luxury hotels and restaurants. Her current
passion lies in building tech businesses; after building up Buytopia, she created her latest venture,
Snapsaves, a mobile savings platform which was recently acquired by American couponing giant
Groupon.
The Calgary native currently lives in Chicago.
Michael Wekerle
DRAGON |DRAGONS’ DEN
Described as "Mick Jagger meets Warren Buffett," Michael Wekerle is a rock star in the world of
Canadian finance, having made many fortunes investing in tech and media companies. Most recently, he
founded and was appointed CEO of the merchant banking firm Difference Capital. Now Michael is using
his investing acumen in the Den to fund the best start-up businesses in Canada.
At 18 years old and fresh out of high school, Michael honed his talents on the Toronto Stock Exchange
trading room floor. He rapidly shot to the top of his first firm, First Marathon, where he ran the equity
markets desk. By the age of 30 he was a Bay Street pack leader, launching his own investment banking
business, GMP Securities. Michael and his partners were early believers and investors in Research in
Motion, eventually taking the Blackberry maker public in 1997.
Wekerle now oversees a vast investment portfolio that includes video games in the form of Virgin
Gaming, an innovation centre and tech incubator in Waterloo, Ontario, and even fast food -- he is a
backer of Mark Wahlberg's Boston burger joint, Wahlburgers, which recently opened its first Toronto
location.
Beware, there's no buttoned-down-businessman in Michael's DNA. He's a heavily tattooed single dad to
six children, loves fast cars and rock music and donates millions of dollars to a wide variety of
philanthropic interests, ranging from hospitals and educational funds, to arts companies such as Opera
Atelier. His entrepreneurial spirit, combined with his lavish lifestyle, celebrity friends and joie de vivre,
have placed him uniquely at the top of both the society pages and the list of Canada's top power
players.
Jim Treliving
DRAGON |DRAGONS’ DEN
Jim Treliving has been a successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor for over 40 years.
Hailing from the small town of Virden, Manitoba, Jim was a young RCMP officer in 1966 when he walked
into "Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House" in Edmonton and saw big dough in his future. Over 350
restaurant openings later, Jim is now the chairman and owner of Boston Pizza International Inc.,
Canada's number one casual dining brand with operations in three countries and almost $1 billion in
annual system-wide sales. With Jim and his partner George Melville at the helm, Boston Pizza has been
consistently recognized as one of Canada's "50 Best Managed Private Companies" and more recently as
one of Canada's "Top Ten Most Admired Corporate Cultures".
Beyond the restaurant business, Jim has made investments in many other successful business ventures
including real estate development, sports entertainment and the Canadian oil change retailer, Mr. Lube.
Jim always invests in people first and strongly believes that "behind every great business is a great
team". He is well known for his dynamic business vision, can-do attitude and drive for success.
Jim serves as chairman of both Global Entertainment Corporation and the Boston Pizza Foundation,
which has raised $10 million for various Canadian charities since 1990. He is also a director of the
Hockey Canada Foundation, dedicated to increasing funding for minor league hockey in Canada.
In spite of his often hectic schedule of business, social and philanthropic commitments, Jim shows no
interest in slowing down and is always on the lookout for that next great opportunity. When he does
have some time to relax he enjoys a good round of golf and spending time with friends and family at one
of his three residences in Dallas, Palm Springs or Vancouver, where his penthouse overlooks the city and
North Shore mountains.