Building Manitoba Podcast

12 Episodes

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Building Payworks: Barb Gamey on Growth, Culture, and Community

2026-10-1341:22

Barb Gamey spent 15 years helping build Comcheq, one of Winnipeg's payroll success stories. Then she watched it get absorbed by a US company and saw decision-making move south of the border. She took that lesson with her when she co-founded Payworks in 2000. Today Payworks is one of Canada's largest payroll and HR providers, serving 45,000 customers and paying one million Canadians. Barb explains why she launched with a product only about 70% finished and how a new company got businesses to t...

Built to Last: Calvin Polet on Family Business and Neptune Properties

2026-09-2801:01:02

Calvin Polet is President of Neptune Properties, a Winnipeg family office that manages over 1.6 million square feet of industrial, retail, and office real estate. He ran a Dairy Queen and a car wash before teaming up with his father in 2002 to start Neptune, and he's spent the last 24 years growing it. Calvin explains what a family office actually is, how his time as an operator shaped the way he treats tenants, and how he thinks about succession, from getting a family aligned before bringing...

Planning for Growth: Matthew Hibbert on Building Maka Power

2026-08-3142:30

A lot of founders are told to move fast and break things. Matthew Hibbert did the opposite. He and his co-founder Kasey Russell started Maka Power with a written plan and built it into a power reliability company serving facilities across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. In this conversation, Matthew breaks down what actually got them there. They landed their first client when a competitor couldn't deliver, and learned early that lenders care about your balance sheet before your vision. H...

Better Over Bigger: Inside Concord Projects with Nolan Ploegman

2026-07-2050:47

Nolan Ploegman, President and CEO of Concord Projects, joins Nathan to talk about how a Winnipeg-based general contractor founded in 1978 has grown into one of Manitoba's most trusted builders by choosing quality over scale. Nolan shares how he stepped into leadership after a career start in finance at Great West Life, why Concord moved its headquarters to 127 Bannatyne in the Exchange District, and what it takes to build a company culture that scales without losing its small-firm feel. The c...

Beatboxer to Tech Founder: Adam Fainman on the Highs and Brutal Lows of Solo Founding

2026-06-2242:53

Adam Fainman is a beatboxer and musician turned tech founder. During COVID, he started using generative AI to make music videos for TikTok and YouTube. When one went viral and everyone asked what app he was using, he realised it didn't exist, so he built it. That became Moonlite Labs, a platform where creators can generate, edit, and distribute content all in one place. In this episode, Adam talks about what it means to be a creative founder in a technical space and how leading bands and prod...

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