We’re thrilled to announce the winners of eBay Canada’s 14th annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. This program continues to recognize Canadian eBay sellers who demonstrate exceptional entrepreneurial skills as they run successful online businesses and contribute to the continued growth of e-commerce in our country.
The winners of the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year award are:
Entrepreneur of the Year
Nima Tahmassbi (sogoodtobuy) began selling on eBay as a side business to support himself while finishing university, but early success led him to securing North American distribution rights for a manufacturer of air conditioners and ductless heat pumps. Though cost-effectively shipping large appliances would be difficult, Nima saw the category as an unexplored area of opportunity. During the early days, eBay was Nima’s main source of sales, and profits were used to build out other initiatives to help fuel growth – a warehouse, marketing and advertising, and, eventually, a company website. The business started taking off in 2008, but shortly after, it was hit by the effects of a recession when his manufacturer went out of business. Nima reacted by creating his own in-house brand to protect his business from future manufacturer changes, giving him the freedom to expand his brand’s product offerings. Today, Nima runs a multi-channel, multi-million-dollar business, operating out of four warehouses across North America.
Micro-Multinational of the Year
Mike Maguire (motomike_canada) began working in the parts department of a local car dealership to fuel his passion for cars, but his entrepreneurial instinct led him to opening an eBay store to sell the company’s deadstock inventory. He saw products begin to move off the shelves to customers not just across the country, but around the world, so he doubled down on his ecommerce efforts. Mike left the dealership a couple of years later to embark on his own eBay venture and began sourcing rare, obsolete and liquidated parts for cars and motorcycles. Quickly, he found himself selling to customers across the globe, and his sales more than tripled within the first three months. Today, over 75 per cent of Mike’s sales are to buyers from international markets including Japan, France, Germany and the UK. His inventory portfolio has grown along with his export sales, and this year he’s on track to double his annual sales.
Integrated Entrepreneur of the Year
When Matthew Dirk (silvergoldbull) joined the Silver Gold Bull team in Calgary, he had one objective – expand the bullion business’s online presence to broaden their customer base. He believed bullion, a traditional business-to-business industry, was primed to tap into the consumer market thanks to ecommerce. While Silver Gold Bull was selling to traditional clients through their own website and over the phone, Matthew saw eBay as the right channel to penetrate the untapped consumer market. He initially established a store on eBay.ca, offering bullion products with consumer appeal and instantly saw the business take off. To continue the growth and amplify the company’s international presence, Matthew opened an additional store on eBay.com to cater to US customers and plans to open additional eBay stores soon. Today, the company’s online sales are up 400 per cent with total eBay sales anticipated to hit the $8 million mark by the end of the year.
For full stories on the winners, go to eBay.ca/eoy/winners.html.
In addition to their winning titles, Nima, Mike and Matthew will also receive a cash prize, a one-year eBay Store subscription upgrade, and quarterly consultation sessions with an eBay Canada business development expert. Congratulations to all three!
This awards program showcases just some of the incredible entrepreneurial spirit and success that occurs on the eBay platform each and every day. We are thrilled to recognize the incredible achievements of our Canadian seller community and hope to hear about your success story in 2019!
Andrea Stairs,
General Manager, eBay Canada & Latin America
