The Hard Part with Evan McCann Wes Hall from Kingsdale Advisors, WeShall Investments and The BlackNorth Initative
Wes Hall, Founder and Chairman of WeShall Investments Inc., came from humble beginnings in rural Jamaica and was raised by his grandmother. He moved to Canada in 1985. With a $100K bank loan, he transformed his first business into Canada's leading shareholder advisory firm, Kingsdale Advisors.
A staunch philanthropist, Wes launched the successful BlackNorth Initiative, combating anti-Black racism in 2020. He serves as Vice-Chair of Huron University College's Board of Governors and contributes to boards like SickKids Foundation, TIFF, and Pathways to Education Canada. Wes holds Honorary Doctorates from several universities, including Uni. of Toronto, Queens Uni., Toronto Metropolitan Uni., Uni. of Ottawa, and the Uni. of the West Indies, along with a 2022 Medal of Distinction from Huron University.
Wes' accomplishments span a bestselling memoir, "No Bootstraps When You're Barefoot," a podcast with Toronto Star - "Between Us with Wes Hall," and a Dragon on CBC's hit series, "Dragons' Den."
In this episode, we discuss...
- Coming to Canada from Jamaica in 1985
- From his job doing a paper route to his big break on Bay Street
- How he started Kingsdale Advisors
- How he recruited his initial team at Kingsdale
- How he landed his first big deal, a $18B takeover of Falconbridge by Xstrata
- The importance of luck in business and how you can create it
- Why he started the BlackNorth Initiative due to barriers he faced as a black man on Bay Street
- The barriers that BIPOC people in Canada face and how we can remove them
- The importance of and how to build relationships for the long term
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