BIZ BUZZ
Moving on
Martinus Geleynse has kissed goodbye the magazine he began publishing six years ago.
Urbanicity Magazine — part of Urbanicity Omnimedia — was recently sold, alongside some of his other advertising properties, he says, although he remains a part of the magazine’s advisory board.
Selling the magazine was part of a “natural evolution,” he adds.
“The city has changed so much” since the magazine’s launch in 2010, he says, pointing to the stadium debate and Supercrawl’s emergence at the time.
The goal then was to create an “urban conversation piece.”
“At the time, downtown … felt like a cause. It was in rough shape and everyone was starting to do stuff to bring it back.”
Since the city has morphed, so too must his company, he notes.
“I don’t see Hamilton as a cause anymore. Now, Hamilton is a thriving, wonderful place to live. For us, we needed to also be in a different place.”
The Interceptor
A Hamilton entrepreneur who created a neck guard to protect hockey players against slicing and impacts from a puck or stick now is selling his product in a local store.
Joe Camillo’s Interceptor — made with a soft, rubberlike substance from British company D30 that solidifies instantly when hit — was delivered to Stoney Creek’s Pro Hockey Life in March. About 4,000 of the lightweight guards have been sold across Canada, the United States and Europe since the product launched in January 2016.
Camillo has also developed wrist guards and neck guards for goalies.
Hijab-friendly salon
Laila Nawabi, owner of Laila’s Hair Design at 1401 Plains Rd. E. in Burlington, has made her shop hijab-friendly for women.
In Islamic culture, it is forbidden for a woman’s hair to be seen by a man who is not her husband or other family member. This can make getting a haircut more difficult.
Nawabi’s salon space is equipped with blinds on exterior windows, and a movable room divider inside. An even more private, self-contained hairstyling room is also available. She also tries to book 10 minutes between all appointments so it’s just her and her client in the salon.
“All of my clients, no matter who they are, want privacy. If you are dyeing your hair, you don’t want people sitting beside, staring at you when your hair is a mess,” she explains.
Nawabi is hopeful that her idea will take off.
“If people like it, then I might do one night where we close all the blinds. And we can do one night where it’s just for Muslim women.”
Life science competition
A local company that developed a system to speed up the detection of E. coli bacteria and other pathogens in recreational water supplies took home the grand prize at a recent life science innovation competition.
InnovoGENE won $25,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of other prizes from the fourth annual Synapse Life Science Competition when its final showcase was held at McMaster Innovation Park last month. The competition is designed to move products and services out of labs and into the market.
“The work we have done during the competition is so important for our business,” co-founder Kha Tram said in a media release.
While current water testing methods can be costly and require between one and three days to work, InnovoGENE’s system cuts testing time down to one hour.
The competition’s runners-up included Healthcare Innovation in NeuroTechnology (HiNT) in second place and 20/20 OptimEyes, which was a big winner at a recent Forge@Mac Student Startup Competition, in third place.
Era Diabetes won the poster prize of $1,500 in cash.
In total, 10 teams competed for nearly $60,000 in cash prizes and professional resources.