01. 20 years in Marketing Management. 02. 16 years hiring and managing personnel. 03. Involved in 15 company start-ups. 04. 17 years in business to business marketing. 05. 17 years managing marketing for service companies. 06. 14 years developing and implementing corporate Web strategies. 07. 8 years experience as a consultant. 08. 8 years in international marketing. 09. 4 years experience in retail store management.

My first marketing initiative happened when I was training for track cycling. At that time, very few athletes had sponsorships. I was able to negotiate with AVIA, a footwear company that just launched a line of cycling shoes. Also on board was a cycling store. These were my first steps in the wonderful world of marketing.

Once my cycling career was over, it was time to earn a living. My first business was, naturally, a retail bike store where I was general manager which meant that I was overseeing the day-to-day operations while being in charge of marketing. In that business, my associate and I were trying to find exclusive products from Asia that we could distribute throughout Canada. We made contacts in Japan, Korea and China and thus began my experience with international marketing.

After, I had the chance to work with one of the most recognized brand in Canada: Kodiak. As a marketing coordinator, I would assist the National Director in developing and implementing local and national marketing strategies. This period at Kodiak was a very special one as the company was starting to grant licensing rights to extend the brand. I am very proud to see that, even today, many of the initiatives that were developed back then are still in use and that many of the licensees are still using the brand successfully.

While at Kodiak, I started doing my M.B.A. from HEC Montreal and since we had many in-company interventions for our classes, I was able to obtain some mandates which then enabled me to move from Kodiak to consulting.

One of those mandates was with a corporate training school. After a some time, I was offered the role of Director of Sales and Marketing's role. While with the school, we went from a company with a single service to a diversified company having a wide array of services. We also concluded a student exchange agreement with Costa Rican schools. We were amongst the first Montreal companies to do business online. In 1998, we had an interactive Web site generating up to 80% of our new contracts. A branch was opened in Toronto and our list of clients included some of the most prestigious companies in the Montreal region. In less than 10 years, we moved from a small training center to one of Montreal's most respected linguistic training school. The name of that school: Langage d'ici.

Following that success, I wanted to expend my horizon. Being fluent in Spanish, being somewhat knowledgeable of Mexico and having studied a little on NFTA, I decided to help open commercial bridges between Mexico and Canada. Since then, I share my time between San Juan del Rio (Querétaro) and Montréal, helping businesses wanting to increase sales in both markets on top of the other mandates that I have.

Today, if you are looking for solutions helping your business grow, you have a partner: Principio.

Looking forward to be part of your success.

Stéphane Elmaleh-Riel, MBA
Founding President and Senior consultant

 

Email: stephane@groupe-principio.com