Mimik Technology

Having escaped persecution in her native Iran at age 17–“Argo-style, but not as dramatic,” she says–fay Arjomandi lived in dozens of countries before moving to Canada. Life as a refugee changed her, explains the founder, president and CEO of software maker Mimik. “The experience humbles you, and the struggles build you up so that you can face any challenges,” Arjomandi says. “It turns you into a solution-oriented person.”

An electrical engineer, Arjomandi launched what is now called Mimik in 2009, after co-founding two other tech startups. Her Vancouver company's core product turns any computing device into a cloud server for use by app developers. Last year, Mimik signed Amazon Web Services and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) as channel partners.

Of Mimik's 25 staff and five consultants, 90 percent are people of colour, as are four of its five board members, one of whom is a former refugee. Including the founder, three of five senior executives are women of colour, two of them ex-refugees.

“It was natural for me to look for equal opportunity among men and women,” explains Arjomandi, who compares her leadership style to that of a mother taking care of the household. “It's very family-oriented, but at the same time, we're missiondriven,” she says of the Mimik team. “We have zero tolerance for politics.”

Arjomandi wants to see gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other individual traits become irrelevant in work and business. “It's about a common culture, being motivated, being honest, having potential to grow.” •