Introducing the Startup Women Advocacy Network 2023
Two years ago, we created the Startup Women Advocacy Network (SWAN), a network of 11 early stage, woman-identifying founders from each province and territory to champion the needs of women entrepreneurs across the country.
SWAN members have the opportunity to amplify their business across our platforms, are given a seat at important government roundtables aimed at policy creation and decision-making, and are invited to be speakers and panelists at key entrepreneurial events such as Startup Canada Tour to showcase their stories.
This is just the beginning. The hope behind SWAN is to create an ever-growing network of champions in each Canadian province and territory to ultimately increase the visibility and voices of early-stage, woman-identifying entrepreneurs.
In the spirit of amplifying women entrepreneurs, we sat down with each of our SWAN members to learn more about their founder journeys. Our third interview is with Hong Phuc Nguyen, Founder of Kibbi Technologies Inc., from Alberta.
Meet Hong Phuc Nguyen, our SWAN Member from Alberta
Hong is the founder of Kibbi, a multilingual, one-stop-shop app that makes it easy for local businesses to connect with active job seekers, especially eligible, ready-to-work newcomers.
Hong was exposed to entrepreneurship from an early age. Her first encounter with entrepreneurship was selling fish sauce in plastic bags near a wet market in a small coastal town in Vietnam at the age of 5. Naturally, this upbringing sparked her passion for entrepreneurship and has helped her fully appreciate teamwork, humility, curiosity, and the power of hard work.
We’d love to learn a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey toward founding Kibbi.
The origin story of Kibbi began in 2019 when my husband and I fled to Canada amid protests over China’s repression in Hong Kong. We landed in Canada during the full lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the peak of the labour shortage, and job interviews were virtually non-existent. Many immigrants, including myself, were still struggling to find work. I had $30,000 CAD in savings to survive on.
That’s when I decided to start Kibbi. Kibbi was founded initially to help Vietnamese newcomers find jobs in Calgary. It’s now grown to be the first multilingual job portal, translating job listings into 60 different languages. The app lists jobs visually on a map. This enables newcomers to avoid, for example, a one-hour bus ride to work and instead apply to businesses in their neighbourhood. Or for single moms to see who is hiring near their child’s daycare. The goal of Kibbi is to redefine the job-search experience for newcomers completely.
What has been the most challenging obstacle for you in starting your business? And how did you overcome it?
Establishing a technology company is undoubtedly a formidable task, especially for someone like me, who is a woman, a visible minority (South East Asian), and a newcomer to Canada. Among these challenges, my newcomer status is the most significant hurdle I’ve encountered. When I immigrated to Canada, I didn’t have an established credit score. It became difficult for me to get access to capital as I couldn’t apply for the conventional options of bank loans and debt financing. Additionally, as a newcomer, I lacked an established network, making it difficult to pursue equity-based funding. In order to dedicate myself fully to Kibbi, I sought support from various sources and ecosystem partners. I believe having a resourceful and positive attitude as an entrepreneur is key – do whatever it takes and move on from failure or rejection fast.
What brings you the most joy or excitement in working in your business?
I get most excited when I see how the app benefits our users, many of whom face barriers to getting jobs, such as not knowing the language, being new to the city, lack of transportation, gaps in their resumes, and more. Seeing their reactions when they get a job because of Kibbi sparks so much joy and happiness, not just for me but for our entire team.
What do the next few years look like for Kibbi?
Our mission is to be the designated home for North America’s newcomer labour force. We want to help them reduce their time to employment from over six months to only weeks after settling in a new country. We want them to integrate quickly into their community to feel like they belong in their new country of choice.
What does being a part of the Startup Women Advocacy Network mean to you?
Being a part of the Startup Women Advocacy Network allows me to raise awareness about the imbalance in support and investment for women entrepreneurs, especially newcomers. It also allows me to offer insights and guidance in any way possible. My goal is to assist aspiring female entrepreneurs in achieving a smoother entrepreneurship journey, foster their confidence, and inspire them to actively pursue their dreams.
In the spirit of advocacy, is there a woman-identifying, early-stage entrepreneur in Alberta that you admire or are following along their entrepreneurial journey?
I’d like to give a shout-out to Elizabeth Macrae. Elizabeth is the co-founder of Village Wealth, an all-in-one acquisition management platform that connects qualified buyers with prepared sellers. Having buyer credibility and understanding the acquisition process is a complex and time-consuming task, Elizabeth aims to change that with Village Wealth.
When founders talk about their journey and their business, they often talk about their “why” – why they do what they do. So, we’re interested to know – what is your “why”?
I founded Kibbi alongside a collective of immigrants and international students who shared a common challenge: pursuing meaningful employment in Canada. While newcomers contribute valuable experience, skills, and cultural diversity, they frequently encounter obstacles in securing jobs. Conventional job platforms often lack the capacity to tackle newcomers’ distinctive hurdles, including language barriers and credential validation. Our initial motivation was personal – to create a solution for ourselves that later evolved to supporting fellow newcomers to find gratifying careers in their new homeland.
Thank you for joining us! If someone wants to connect with you, where is the best place for them to go?
You can reach out to me on LinkedIn or e-mail me at hp@mykibbi.com.
———————————-———————————-———————————-————————-
You can learn more about our 2023 Startup Women Advocacy Network at https://www.startupcan.ca/startup-women-advocacy-network-2023/