About us

Amber Allen

Amber Allen, a McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management MBA, has started and developed a number of companies and since 2005 she has refined a strategic growth planning methodology that continuously receives top reviews. Amber worked with Health Canada for six years as a chemist and has an expansive understanding of regulatory environments and bringing products to market.

Paul Girodo

Paul Girodo, MBA is expert in transnational entrepreneurship, scaling startups, and designing leading edge immigration products that deliver clear benefits to the governments, start-up ecosystems, and most importantly the citizens of countries accepting transnational business class migrants. As Co-Founder of Empowered Startups he helped build it into the largest deal flow provider to the Government of Canada’s Start-up Visa Program.

He also leads Empowered’s delivery of new leading edge fast-track business investor class migration programs for entrepreneurs in Portugal and France with a growing number of established incubators in both countries. His industry interests range from combating human trafficking with his father (Former Team Leader for INTERPOL Group of Experts on Corruption and chief human factors consultant in specialized drug and money laundering investigations with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to deep tech and social venture enterprises. He is a shareholder and director of many Canadian, French, and Portuguese companies.

He also leads Empowered’s delivery of new leading edge fast-track business investor class migration programs for entrepreneurs in the USA, Portugal, and France with a growing number of established incubators in all three countries.

Christopher Lennon

After spending a little over a decade with a prominent law firm in Vancouver, primarily advising technology companies, research organizations, and corporate boards, Chris joined Empowered Startups Ltd. as President and General Counsel. Prior to taking on this role, Chris had acted as Empowered’s primary legal counsel since the organization’s inception. Chris also acted as an advisor on strategic issues and specific ventures incubated with the organization. As President and General Counsel Chris now oversees all Empowered’s operations and legal matters, working closely with the business incubator’s Board of Directors.

Separate and apart from his role with Empowered, Chris also continues to advise technology companies and other organizations through Lennon Law Corporation.

Shawn Olson

Shawn is a graduate of the University of British Columbia who has lived and worked all over the world. He is a dynamic leader and lifelong coach who believes in the inspirational power of the human spirit. His 6 years living and working in Central Europe has provided Shawn a global perspective on life and business. He has a proven track record of driving business results and fostering long term strategic global partnerships. Shawn has years of experience building and leading national sales and recruitment teams in multiple industries. His unique experience working for and with some of Canada’s most prestigious universities provides Empowered Startups with valuable insight. Shawn is a skilled mentor, an avid sportsman, who is passionate about travel, people and relationship building.

Kyle Kirkegaard

With over 10 years of experience, I am passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and innovators to achieve their goals and create impact. At Empowered Startups, I leverage my multidisciplinary experience to build strong relationships and deliver engaging and effective programs, workshops, and events for aspiring and established entrepreneurs across various sectors and regions. I collaborate with a diverse and dynamic team to identify and pursue new opportunities, partnerships, and markets, ensuring exceptional customer service and support for our clients and stakeholders. My focus on relationship building allows me to understand and meet the unique needs of each entrepreneur, fostering lasting connections and success.

Scott Rintoul

Scott joins the Empowered Startups team as Vice President of Global Communications following more than two decades in media. A trusted voice in Canadian sports broadcasting, Scott’s versatility and depth have allowed him to cover everything from local sports to the Super Bowl to the Olympics. Curious by nature, Scott has a true passion for learning about people and sharing their stories, which he continues to employ in his role as Vice President of Global Communications.

Separate and apart from his role at Empowered Startups, Scott continues to create various content through his company, Toul Kit Content. His projects include the podcasts “Meet Me in the Kitchen” and “Unreel: West Coast Express”, both of which he created and hosts.

Dalton Stark

Dalton is part of the legal team at Empowered Startups. Prior to joining the company, he practiced as a corporate commercial lawyer in downtown Vancouver working on a broad range of private company transactions including mid-market mergers and acquisitions, as well as a variety of corporate and commercial transactions within various industries. Dalton has extensive experience negotiating commercial agreements, and company acquisitions and sales. He assists Empowered’s general counsel in overseeing legal and operational matters within the company.

Dalton graduated with his Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia, and prior to that he studied business finance in the Okanagan.

Francesco Berrettini

Francesco is responsible for establishing and developing Empowered Startups’ partnerships and special projects in Portugal.

Prior to joining Empowered, Francesco was CEO of the Algarve Systems & Technology Partnership in southern Portugal. He assumed that regional leadership role subsequent to the sale of his award-winning marketing company Inesting to Digital Group. His previous experience includes due diligence in the investment banking sector, project management for the EU’s Business Innovation Centers, and strategy consulting services for both private and public organizations.

Francesco holds an MBA and is a certified Hubspot Inbound Marketing Consultant. He has served as Assistant Professor in Marketing & Management at the Catholic University of Portugal, and continues to teach at higher education institutions. He is also currently Honorary Consul for Italy, based in the Algarve.

Filipe Galego

Filipe is responsible for coordinating the operational processes of Empowered Startups incubation programs in Portugal.

Prior to joining Empowered, Filipe was Manager of ÉvoraTech, the public incubator for the Alentejo region, in the center of Portugal. His work at Alentejo’s regional development agency ADRAL included travelling internationally to attract direct investment. As the regional facilitator for EU programming in EIT-KIC, Filipe also coordinated projects in efficient/renewable energy, agri-tech, and water management.

Filipe was previously in banking, as Branch Manager at Unicaja Bank (formerly Caja Duero), and Deputy Manager at Espirito Santo Bank.

Filipe holds a degree in Management, and is a semi-professional singer.

Paulo Garcia Ferreira Martins

Paolo is a digital transformation leader and expert with deep networks throughout Portugal and internationally in the innovation space. He is a co-founder, business executive, lecturer, mentor, and advocate for entrepreneurs and digital transformation.

Paulo is a Professor at Polytechnic Institute of Leiria lecturing in the areas of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Design Thinking and Digital Transformation. He is highly educated in innovation and startup methodologies, having designed graduate level Innovation and Entrepreneurship curricula. For over a decade he has been a guest lecturer on innovation and digital transformation. He is a certified business coach with certifications in startup methodologies (Scrum, Kaizen, Six Sigma) and complimentary experience advising organizations in methodology implementation.

Paulo holds deep and rich experience in the startup space as founder and leader in entrepreneur mentorship. He is the co-founder and non-executive leader at inCentea Group, based in South Africa, which provides consulting and design implementation of management systems for companies in the areas of product engineering, innovation, marketing and communication, management consulting and digital transformation. He is also a founder and board member of TICE Portugal, an organization that engages and mobilizes academia R&D departments, the business world, and affiliate networks throughout Portugal in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) initiatives. Paolo is also the Director of Startup Leiria, an organization partnered with Polytechnic Institute of Leiria that supports companies and entrepreneurs in creating value and growth using an agile and sustainable approach. He has served as an innovation consultant for several companies throughout his career including implementation of lean methodologies.

Carlos Cardoso

As a startup leader, Carlos joined Empowered Startups in October 2024 and is dedicated to bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and universities, fostering innovative research programs that fuel the next generation of startup business models. With a bachelor’s degree in management and plans to pursue a master’s in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2025, Carlos combines academic rigor with real-world experience to empower entrepreneurial minds.

Throughout his journey, Carlos has thrived in collaborative, team-driven environments, balancing studies with hands-on professional experiences. With a vision to strengthen Portugal’s innovation and startup ecosystem, Carlos is committed to creating opportunities that inspire growth and long-term success for entrepreneurs.

Matthew Pattinson

Matthew Pattinson, UBC MBA graduate, specializes in sales, new product development, and applying lean startup and customer development methodologies. Before joining Empowered Startups Ltd, Matthew worked in sales in the environmental industry where he achieved rapid revenue growth and brought a new technology to market. He also worked internationally in Central America and West Africa where he created social enterprises that provide financial services to underserved clients. These enterprises have gone on to serve thousands of clients.

As a Startup Leader at Empowered Startups Ltd, Matthew is excited to use his experience in both building social enterprises internationally and developing and selling new products to support Empowered Startup’s ventures through their early stages of growth and create an international tapestry of entrepreneurship in Canada.

Alexandra Wheaton

Alexandra (Alex) Woudzia is an UBC MBA alum with a specialization in Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Alex has a diverse skillset, with experience working in B2B, B2C and B2G organizations in various capacities. Prior to joining the Empowered Startup team, Alex worked in the sustainable business sector in business development and marketing roles for several impact driven enterprises including a sustainable waste management company, an apparel company, and a greenhouse gas consulting firm. Her accomplishes include engaging over 300 businesses across all sectors to measure their own corporate carbon footprint and develop a comprehensive reduction plan and developing four long term partnerships between a newly founded charity and local municipal governments. Alex has experience working directly with small businesses as a business consultant and volunteer consultant with the Social Innovation Academy, where she worked directly with social enterprises on several market research and financial projects. She has vast experience as a coach, mentor, and teacher. During her MBA studies, she served as a Teaching Assistant for entrepreneurship classes taught out of the Sauder School of Business and was as a mountain bike instructor and camp counsellor for several years.

Colin McDonald

Colin McDonald, USQ, MEd graduate and trained under Ash Maurya, author of Running Lean, specializes in the mentorship of applying Lean Startup methodologies and facilitating key mind-shifts for entrepreneurs with new ventures. Before joining Empowered Startups, Colin worked in the education field as both a teacher and administrator in secondary and post-secondary intuitions and also as the Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, where he now sits on the Executive Board as Vice President. He has also worked with a number of startups in Asia, where he has lived for the past 20 years, with the last 10 in Vietnam with his wife and son. Colin is excited to work with new entrepreneurs and to help nurture their passion and skills toward furthering their vision of building a successful Startup.

Zoya Brar

Zoya Brar is a healthcare entrepreneur and the founder of CORE Diagnostics, establishing the company in 2012 at the age of 23. Her leadership has been instrumental in shaping CORE into a prominent player in genetic diagnostics in South Asia. Zoya's innovative initiatives have led to the company serving 40 million patients across 13 countries, with a team of over 500 professionals.

In addition to her achievements in healthcare, Zoya has been a pioneer in fostering organizational culture. She describes CORE as a "social experiment," promoting radical transparency and a non-hierarchical structure. Recognizing her expertise, Quest Diagnostics in the US sought her input to revamp their leadership training programs.

In 2020, Zoya transitioned from the CEO role to support her mentee and relocated to Vancouver. She remains an Executive Advisor to CORE while dedicating time to mentor start-ups in Canada and the US, focusing on women-led and women-funded ventures. Zoya serves as the Global Chair for Biosciences at G100, a consortium of influential women leaders advocating for gender parity. Additionally, she holds the position of Chief of Staff at Eli Health, a women's health start-up in Montreal, and contributes as a columnist for various journals and publications.

Zoya's journey in leadership has been influenced by her mother, a single parent who transitioned from a physician to a CEO. Now a mother of two herself, Zoya is inspired to advocate for equality, progress, and inclusivity in her professional pursuits.

Darrell Houle

Darrell leads Empowered Startups’ digital development team and projects. He is a graduate of two programs from the University of Alberta – Native Studies and Web Development. As a Metis student in the School of Native Studies, Darrell created the School’s and Aboriginal Student Council’s first websites when the Internet was just starting to become widely used. After receiving his degree, his interest in website design led him to enroll in the university’s first program for web development and started his career as a full-time web developer.

Now, he has 20 years of professional experience in developing websites, applications, mobile apps as well as strategic and tactical consulting for small, medium, and large for-profit and non-profit International organizations. In that time, he’s won a number of website awards including a Webby (the Academy Awards of the internet) and been part of two startups and a handful of internationally distributed web development teams.

He is a lifelong learner with broad experience across other Internet related areas such as search engine optimization, user-centered design practices, server and DNS management, and project management.

Darrell’s primary focus is leading the Empowered Startups Platform’s design and development team in the longterm and day-to-day improvements for the variety of people, organizations, and communities using the platform.

Jen Yang

Jen Yang is an accomplished marketing professional with expertise across multiple industries, including immigration, eCommerce, software, and fintech. She specializes in developing and executing high-impact marketing strategies across platforms such as Meta, Google, and LinkedIn. With experience managing multi-million-dollar ad budgets, she consistently drives growth and maximizes ROAS.

Driven by a passion for marketing and business, Jen is always exploring new ways to generate high-quality leads and optimize performance. A naturally curious learner, she enjoys digesting articles about finance, reading about different businesses, and staying up to date with the latest marketing trends. When she’s not analyzing campaigns, you’ll find her watching Shark Tank (US & Australia), Dragon’s Den, or rewatching Friends.

Maya Ramchandani

Maya holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto. She studied in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program at the University of British Columbia where she identified her passion for financial empowerment. She kickstarted her career in Ottawa serving as a policy analyst at Global Affairs Canada and then Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

Her career transitioned into the private sector where she has spent the last 5 years in the investment industry with her most recent role, prior to joining Empowered Startups, being a financial advisor for a Canadian financial technology startup specializing in Registered Education Savings Plans. Her interests include fundraising, financial literacy, and tech.

Julia Paulasaari

Julia is an essential part of the Empowered Startups operations team and primarily works behind the scenes to ensure the office runs smoothly and efficiently. Before joining the Empowered Startups team, she worked for an early-stage Silicon Valley startup where she had proven success in delivering exceptional results in a timely manner.

Julia holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland. She also has several years of administrative work experience in Finland and California and is fluent in Russian, English and Finnish. She is passionate about technology and startups and is well versed in the latest trends in the tech industry.

Yulia Komarov

Yulia is a member of Empowered Startups’ operations team where she provides key support in the bookkeeping division. In her current role she plays a critical role in facilitating Empowered’s monthly accounting cycle including reconciliations, invoice processing, client accounts, data reporting, and document management. Her ability to adapt to dynamic work environments and handle multiple priorities with precision further supports her continued success.

Yulia is a highly skilled professional who excels in fast-paced, detail-oriented environments. She brings a nearly a decade of rich experience in accounting and administrative roles. Her background in financial administration and office management are conducive to the team’s operational flow, maintaining accuracy and efficiency across all processes. Yulia is dedicated to continuous improvement and learning, she thrives in settings that demand both precision and efficiency where she consistently strives to support the organization’s goals and advance her professional growth.