Village Gamer

A growing number of Canadian women are leaving the traditional workforce to join the emerging trend of female home-based entrepreneurs. Statistics Canada reports 951,600 self-employed women in Canada as of July 2012, up from 790,400 10 years ago. The agency says self-employment in Canada has grown as fast among women as it has among men in the past 20 years.  Even more recently in times of economic uncertainty, the rate of self-employed women has grown faster than men. In 2009, a year of downturn for the labour market, the number of self-employed women rose 5.4 percent from the year before, while the number of female employees overall fell 1.1 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

Startup Canada has partnered with partner with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and CATA Alliance to present the Canadian Mentorship Challenge, a nation-wide challenge during Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 12 – 18, 2012, to encourage organizations and groups across Canada to organize mentorship events in their communities in an effort to collectively mentor more than 10,000 enterprising Canadians over the course of the week. Read the rest of this entry »

During the C200 Forum taking place in Montreal this October 22nd through 24th, Export Development Canada is offering internationally focused panel discussions featuring international and domestic venture capital funds and investors who will present their portfolios and investment strategies to a select group of Canada’s 200 leading startups and early-stage technology companies (i.e. the C200). Read the rest of this entry »

Canadian small business owners have always been known for doing a lot with a little. Now a new survey from Quickbooks developer Intuit Canada shows how our bootstrapping entrepreneurs are getting the job done. The survey was conducted to gain insights from successful small business owners at different stages in the entrepreneurial lifecycle and found that the majority (58 per cent) of Canada’s small business owners started out with less than $5,000.
Read the rest of this entry »

Social game developer Zynga Inc. is suffering from a 53% plunge in user engagement in just under three years due largely to its focus on the declining simulation game market, says research produced by social game analytics company dystillr Inc. An analysis of Zynga conducted by the Halifax-based company shows that Zynga players interacted with one of that company’s games an average of 9.8 times per month in November 2009. From that peak, the number has decreased to 4.6 times as of October 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

Route1 Inc. has announced that the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has designated the Company as a Privacy by Design (PbD) Ambassador for its commitment to secure remote access and identity management, evidenced in the development and success of the MobiKEY. A security and identity management company, Route1 customers include both government and military organizations in the U.S. and Canada, as well as private sector businesses such as law firms, healthcare facilities and financial institutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Social mobile gaming content and platform provider GREE has announced partnerships with four North American indie game developers: Enders Fund, Fifth Column, FreezeTag and Vancouver-based Fathom Interactive. The partnerships illustrate GREE’s continued commitment to supporting the indie developer community and growing the worldwide mobile games market. With several game launches on GREE Platform, including HotHead’s  Zombie Ace which reached Top 25 on the charts, GREE Platform has already seen steady North American growth. Read the rest of this entry »

DHX Media Ltd has signed a major non-English language deal for Rastamouse in Europe with Canal+ and has made two significant sales to Germany’s KiKA. The German channel, aimed at kids and youth audiences, has picked up two series from the DHX sales slate: tween live action series How to Be Indie and music-centric preschool show dirtgirlworld. Read the rest of this entry »

AudienceView has been deployed as the new ticketing and customer relationship management (CRM) solution of the Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts, a professional non-profit presenting and production organization in Ivins, Utah that offers exceptional live arts, professional theater and concerts that promote family values and education.

Read the rest of this entry »

For Canadian boomers, the road to retirement may include a stop as a small business owner. Whether starting freelance consulting work, buying a franchise or opening a specialty business, a recent TD Canada Trust survey found more than half of boomers (54%) have started or considered starting a small business prior to retirement (15% and 39% respectively). Read the rest of this entry »