Esha Abrol | Esha Abrol's Blog

It’s 1:00am, while reciting positive self-talk as I try to fall asleep… Eureka! I’ve come-up with the most amazing business idea that will, without a doubt, change the world. I translate the images in my mind into words, as I type what I’m thinking into my iPhone notepad.

Excellent, now I’ll get some sleep and tomorrow, change the world.

It’s 6:00 a.m. the next morning, before the morning jog, I review the notes I took a few hours ago and question my sanity. “How am I going to implement this?”. Unfortunately, “reality” kicks in.

My name is Esha and I’m an entrepreneur and 1/3 of the Avacano team. As we countdown until the launch of our latest start-up, Avacano, I wanted to take some time to share progress. The soft launch will be held on Monday, June 27th, at 7:00pm. Do register to celebrate entrepreneurship with Avacano: http://avacano.eventbrite.com/

The Team: Behzad Malek, Dominque Noisette, and me. We’re from Ottawa, Canada.

We’ve been working quite diligently on our business, Avacano, not only do we want to promote our business, but we also want to promote entrepreneurship in Ottawa because Ottawa’s got talent, and as Desiderius Erasmus once said, “no one respects a talent that is concealed.”

Today, let’s talk about the unfortunate ”reality” I mentioned earlier. Ottawa has been described as the next “Silicon Valley”. I feel very fortunate to live in a city with many entrepreneurial minds. A lot of ideas. Unfortunately, commercialization, not so much.

What is this “reality” that comes in the way of ideas crystallizing? Is it lack of funding? Is it risk-averse attitudes? Perhaps lack of networking opportunities or lack of confidence? Hard to say. However, I do think perceptions and mindset has a lot to do with it.

My Speaking Opportunity at Operation Come Home

Last week I was invited to speak to a group of young people, from ages 17-19, about entrepreneurship. I think it’s unfortunate that often young people feel that starting a business is something that is too out-of-reach. Because “starting a business” sounds hard, doesn’t it? How about “doing what you love”? Now, that actually sounds fun. I feel this resonated with the bright group of students I had the chance to chat with. The feedback I got was “It was cool to learn that it is doable at a young age”.

At Avacano, we get to do what we love everyday. We want to encourage you to do the same. Avacano is about customer-focus, confidence in our value proposition, hard-work, and contributing to the development of future advancements. We think challenges are fun. A few months ago, we were able to identify a problem in a specific market, brainstormed ideas, and just did it. We developed a unique, yet simple communications solutions, offering organizations with an efficient and effective option to build relationships with customers.

While growing this, it is not unlikely that we will come-up with other cool ideas at 1:00am while counting sheep or reciting positive self-talk. The next day, we will implement. Because the reality is, we can, and you can too.

“Attitude determines the altitude of life.” – Edwin Louis Cole.

Cheers, Esha

Last week I was invited to attend the 14th Annual FITT Conference and Awards Ceremony to receive my Certified International Trade Professional (CITP) designation among members of the Canadian trade community.

The Forum for International Trade Training (www.FITT.ca) is a non-profit organization that helps build international business capacity by providing the highest level of excellence to assist individuals develop skills and knowledge in the challenging space of international business.

I want to congratulate the folks I had the chance to share the stage with – I had the opportunity to chat with most of the other CITP recipients in attendance and was blown-away by the passion and appreciation they shared for global business. No words for the ambience and energy in the room. Honored to be a part of this group.

Also in attendance were, Canadian exporters from all industries, and industry experts, including Stephen Poloz, CITP and President of Export Development Canada and Peter McGovern, Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner from DFAIT, who was given an Honorary CITP in recognition for his contributions to the Canadian trade economy.

For those considering the CITP Designation, I have written about the FITT program in the past, I would recommend it. Like any post-secondary educational program, it is demanding, but a worthy investment.
Upon completion of the program, I was equipped with a thorough understanding of how international business “works” and the success factors when considering foreign expansion. The program takes a hands-on approach, yet very comprehensive. If you’re considering taking the program and have questions, drop me a line.

I also want to take a moment to formally thank everyone for the nice messages of congratulations – it made the achievement that much more special.

: From left to right: Bruno Morin – Chairperson, FITT Board of Directors; Caroline Topkins, President, FITT; Esha Abrol; Peter McGovern, Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner, DFAIT