People in Business


Profit to the people
Trevor Nichols - Feb 08, 2017 - People in Business

Ken Stober had been working in the family business for well over two decades when he left it all behind. After 26 years in the construction industry he longed for a way to make the world a better place, so he began collaborating with local not-for-profit organizations. It wasn’t long before he realized he liked it more […]

Never out of style
Trevor Nichols - Feb 07, 2017 - People in Business

Katrina and Shawn Hansen do not blend in. Standing on the floor Pinned – their rockabilly-inspired, downtown Kelowna boutique – they look like a pair of stylish 50s-era misfits. Shawn, grinning from behind a long beard, sports Dickies, held up by suspenders, over a graphic tee. Katrina wears a red polka-dot dress, flared at the […]

Can’t keep them down
Trevor Nichols - Feb 06, 2017 - People in Business

In early October of 2016, in the dead of night, a masked man broke into the popular West Kelowna restaurant Thai Fusion and set it on fire. Atsawin (Luke) Sumpantarat, who owns Thai Fusion along with his wife Atchara (Ess), says the fire was devastating, costing the couple more than $100,000. The damage and lost […]

The franchise that isn’t
Trevor Nichols - Feb 02, 2017 - People in Business

Memphis Blues BBQ House is known for the near-hypnotic smell wafting from its kitchens and food so messy each table gets its own roll of paper towel. Kelowna’s two Memphis Blues locations are just a few of the dozen scattered across the west, but not everyone realizes Kelowna’s iconic BBQ joint is actually a franchise. Andre […]

Vancouver developer a fraudster
Trevor Nichols - Feb 02, 2017 - People in Business

A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has found that Brendan James Schouw (who commonly goes by James) and Hornby Residences Ltd. perpetrated fraud on an investor. According to the panel, in 2009 Shaw took $1 million from an investor for a Hornby real estate project, promising 18 per cent interest to accrue annually. After depositing […]

Going remote for a year
Jon Manchester - Feb 02, 2017 - People in Business

A Kelowna woman is “going remote” for a year. Communications specialist Michelle Hargrave is one of 75 people selected from 25,000 applicants around the world to spend a year working, traveling and exploring 12 cities as part of the Remote Year program. She’ll leave Kelowna March 4 to join the group at its first stop, in Split, Croatia. “I was at […]

Priebe’s ‘Google of the north’
Trevor Nichols - Feb 01, 2017 - People in Business

Every day, about four billion online messages filter through  Chris Priebe’s software. Priebe, the CEO of Kelowna tech startup Two Hat Security, says that, in the time it’s taken you to read these words, Community Sift has already identified and prevented “thousands” of cases of online bullying and harm. In a single day, Two Hat will […]

Big finish for business students
Okanagan Edge Staff - Feb 01, 2017 - People in Business

A group of students from UBC Okanagan’s faculty of management took top prize at the largest business competition in Western Canada earlier this month. Alan Blackwell, Tyler Hesketh and Kirstin Townsend snagged first place in JDC West’s marketing competition with their pitch for an e-concierge system for the tourism industry. “We were going to a […]

Vernon students shine at business comp
Okanagan Edge Staff - Jan 31, 2017 - People in Business

A pair of Vernon locals had a strong showing last week at Canada’s longest-running undergraduate business case competition. Okanagan College business students Jared Hubner and Anthony Peterson finished second in the Management of Information Systems category at the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition, held at Queen’s University in Kingston. Coming in just behind a strong team from […]

NHL exec joins local company
Trevor Nichols - Jan 30, 2017 - People in Business

Patrick La Forge, the former president of the Edmonton Oilers and COO of the Oilers Entertainment Group, has taken an executive position with Kelowna-based company Getintheloop. La Forge spent years in the senior positions in sport, entertainment and beverage industries, and is known for his role helping produce the first ever NHL Heritage Classic outdoor […]