Bianca Lopes began her entrepreneurial journey in Kindergarten.
At five years old, she made a necklace from the pink and purple beads her mother bought and sold it to the principal for $1.50. Her business even received some press — it was featured in the school newsletter.
“I have always done everything with intensity, passion and to the max that I could,” she said.
Many years later, Lopes has kept her entrepreneurial spirit alive with her go-getter attitude and a life-long love for learning.
A varsity swimmer, Lopes moved to British Columbia, Canada from Brazil as an international student. She wanted to be diplomat until she rediscovered her entrepreneurial instincts and took over a painting franchise as a means to support her education.
“I found my true calling through a necessity,” she said. “I hired 15 guys to work for me and now three of them operate their own business. It’s really rewarding and inspiring to know I was part of someone’s change in path.”
After moving to London, Lopes found herself in an entrepreneurship-based class at Brescia University College, where she got the idea to find a solution to save people precious time spent looking through food labels at grocery stores.
“I thought there had to be a better way to get the information (from food labels) and assist people with knowing what they were really buying,” said Lopes, who holds a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational studies with a specialization in finance from Western University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of British Columbia.
Thus Basketwise was born. It is a tool for grocery retailers to integrate their Systems, Applications and Products (SAP) system with inventory management and pricing in real time, as well as a tool for customers to know and better understand their purchases. After months of intense market research, Lopes saw her idea come to life with help and guidance from the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), the Small Business Centre and BizInc – the student incubator at Western University and Fanshawe College.
“If you have the drive and humility to ask for assistance, it is incredible how many people will come forward to help you,” she said of the support she received from various London agencies. “Entrepreneurship is contagious.”
Financial support from the Stiller Centre and TechAlliance allowed Lopes to develop a blueprint of the tool and hire staff. After months of working out of her basement and several coffee shops around town, Lopes and her 8 employees were invited to MaRS Discovery District — a non-profit incubator in Toronto. In 2013, Lopes successfully sold the front-end of Basketwise to a large Canadian grocery store and the back-end to a large publically traded company in the United States.
“The connections I made in London were a huge part of my journey. People are afraid to ask for help and admit failures, but one of the best things I did was to surround myself with experts from different areas,” she said. “What excites me the most is that relentless optimism that entrepreneurs have and their collaborative spirit.”
What’s the advice Lopes wants to share with budding entrepreneurs in London?
“Really take a dive deep, get to know yourself and where your passion lies. Once that is on its way, all else will fall into place.”
After selling her business, her passion for continuous learning took Lopes, who also holds a specialization in mathematics through the Actuarial Sciences department at Western University, to Royal Bank of Canada, where she currently works as a Commercial Account Manager in London. She finds it very rewarding to assist people in growing their business by providing a variety of financial solutions and valued advice. Lopes is working on completing her Chartered Financial Analyst program and prides herself on being able to relate to entrepreneurs and business owners.
