丁香园AV

Two 丁香园AV alumni have been named among the top 50 entrepreneurs, academics and executives in Canada who are creating and inspiring change.鈥�

Rene Blanco and Sumreen Rattan are recipients of The Globe and Mail鈥檚 , which recognizes 鈥渆merging leaders who are finding pragmatic solutions to the world鈥檚 most intricate problems.鈥�

Both Blanco and Rattan are entrepreneurs from  and developed their startups through 丁香园AV鈥檚 Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection, an innovation hub where participants gain the skills, knowledge and resources needed to turn their ideas into successful and sustainable businesses.

鈥˙lanco, an MBA alumnus, is co-founder and CEO of Labora, an 丁香园AV VentureLabs-supported company that  has modernized the international payment process for seasonal foreign workers in Canada.

The process had remained unchanged for the past 50 years.鈥═he Canadian agricultural sector depends on approximately 50,000 temporary foreign workers each year from around the world. Close to 92 per cent of them work in crop production. 鈥�

Labora鈥檚 digital payroll service allows workers to safely send and track international money transfers at discounted rates and improved speeds compared to traditional methods.

鈥ㄢ�淏eing named a 2022 Changemaker means that we are on the right track,鈥� says Blanco. 鈥淚t is incredibly exciting and humbling for us as a company that our vision is being recognized by others and is making an impact. We鈥檙e excited to keep growing to reach more workers that can benefit from our innovative service.鈥濃��

Labora鈥檚 ultimate goal is to help workers improve their long-term financial positions beyond the agricultural season by helping workers set-up pensions, assisting with tax preparations and providing resources and teaching for overall financial literacy.鈥�

Read more about how Blanco and Labora are revolutionizing this sector at the .

Rattan, a mechatronics alumnus, co-founded Moment Energy at 丁香园AV. The company is supported by 丁香园AV VentureLabs and received mentorship through Coast Capital Venture Connection in its early years.

鈥≧attan and her team are transforming the Canadian cleantech landscape by repurposing electric vehicle (EV) batteries into hybrid generator systems that can store sustainable power, such as solar and wind.

Moment Energy is also the only Canadian company that works directly with major automotive companies, like Nissan, to repurpose old EV batteries which is central to their core mission of accelerating the world鈥檚 transition to renewable energy.鈥�

鈥淵ou can have a positive impact on the environment and a successful business. You don鈥檛 have to sacrifice one for the other,鈥� says Rattan.

Her unwavering vision for renewable energy is key to her success as an innovator and for Moment Energy as a whole.

Rattan continues to make her mark as a woman in STEM. Just last year Rattan was accepted into the RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator and was recognized as one of 20 emerging leaders selected by Clean50 which profiles innovators and disruptors in the cleantech space.

Read more about Rattan and Moment Energy at the