Nicole Stefenelli
Name: Nicole Stefenelli
UBC major : Geography
Name of current business: Urban Impact Recycling Ltd.
What we do in our business:
Urban Impact specializes in providing our clients with Zero Waste Solutions and helping our clients achieve their sustainability and waste diversion goals. My role as CEO and Founder at Urban Impact is to lead an incredible team of dedicated employees. I enjoy my role every day and I am very thankful to be so invigorated by what we do.
Why this particular business?
In 1989, Urban Impact began as founder Nicole Stefenelli’s university project. Nicole was seeking to prove that it was viable for commercial businesses to reduce their waste disposal costs and go green. She unequivocally believed that recycling was worth the effort as it conserves natural resources, reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill and saves energy. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, Nicole’s passion for recycling led her to create Urban Impact to promote green solutions for commercial businesses.
Biggest day-to-day challenges as an entrepreneur:
Communicating effectively, efficiently and in a way that provides our customers, suppliers and team clarity and the right information to do their jobs.
Greatest delights in being an entrepreneur:
Going to work and loving what I do and of course, making a difference.
4 key pieces of advice you would give to future entrepreneurs:
1. Whatever you choose to do, please make sure you LOVE it, you are going to be spending more time then you ever thought possible creating your own business and it is so much easier to give your time and dedication if you love the business idea you are creating.
2. Make sure your business idea is big enough to sustain you and your vision. There are a lot of great business ideas out there, but many are too small to create a viable opportunity for you and your investment. Some business ideas are best to be integrated with existing businesses, recognize this in your idea and vision for a business.
3. Align yourself with suppliers, partners and employees who share your passion and commitment to the product or service or idea you are creating. Misalignment is painful and adds difficulty to management.
4. Be nimble and agile, you are going to need it when developing a business and certainly once you are operational as well.
Where do you see yourself going as an entrepreneur in the future?
I would really like to diversify the businesses that I am involved in. I feel like I have learnt an incredible amount in the last 10 years in particular, and I would love to be involved in more businesses where I can share the knowledge and the understanding to help accelerate growth or solidify a business model.
