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Daniel Monzon has a heart that beats a big and constant drum to help immigrants, newcomers and refugee entrepreneurs overcome the challenges of starting their own business. And he should have the answers, as he personally climbed several mountainous challenges in his life before helping launch Catapult business startup solutions.

Monzon was born in Peru with only one arm and a portion of one of his legs. Fortunately, his loving and determined parents went to work to find ways their son could grow to be an active adult. Through a TV commercial they discovered Shriner’s Hospitals in the U.S., and Monzon had his first treatment when he was eight months old. He spent a lot of time in hospitals in Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, but says the toughest period was at age six when he underwent intensive therapy every day for six months.

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Today, he looks back with thanks for the lessons it taught him. Instead of, “Am I going to fall?” he began to trust in his own ability. And he laughs when he says that growing up in a hospital environment with other kids, he never realized he had a disability.

Thanks to having relatives here, Daniel and his family moved to Calgary 30 years ago; he says he was “Born in Peru — Made in Canada.”

After Father Lacombe Catholic School, Monzon studied political science and management and society at the University of Calgary.

Things were going well, but Monzon has always been presented with disappointments to overcome. He was excited to learn he had been accepted into an oil company’s management program, then frustrated because he was later told that the program meant being involved in all aspects of the business, and his disability would not allow him experience in the field due to insurance costs.

During this time, Monzon also built up his own business network by volunteering with TEDx Calgary.

He found employment selling construction software, then office supplies and software solutions with Great Northern Data, and with Supply Chain Canada of Alberta as director of digital and customer experience. By 2015, Monzon had decided to go on his own and launched Creative/Social, a management consulting firm helping people and organizations bring ideas to life. The company grew by advising a growing number of clients who asked, “What can you do for us?”

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A couple of businessmen he worked with, Steve Blair and Jesse Lalli of Blair and Co. — a marketing and advertising firm specializing in real estate companies and mid-size business — found a synergy in their ideas in working for not-for-profits and, in 2020, along with technology and intellectual property lawyer Julian Dobre, they co-founded Catapult Startups.

CEO Monzon says it has been able to help many newcomer entrepreneurs who have been held back by not knowing Canadian business customs, lacking credit history and without the benefits of networking with other entrepreneurs and investors. He adds that 80 per cent may have enough capital but lack the wherewithal to survive, and quit to accept unskilled jobs for others. The other 20 per cent need capital and come to Catapult for help in obtaining it.

Monzon and his co-founders have put together an impressive group of partners, including RBC, Economic Development Lethbridge and Calgary Innovation Coalition, collaborating to help new Canadian entrepreneurs become successful. They have already caught the attention of municipalities in other parts of southern Alberta, pushing ahead with their goal to help launch many more immigrant-founded businesses.

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Notes:

Shorey Law has been providing Calgary and surrounding areas with professional legal services since 1998. Last month, in collaboration with Punjabi Community Health Services (PCHS), Pro Bono Law Alberta and the Calgary chapter of the South Asian Bar Association, it hosted the city’s first South Asian-focused legal clinic. “There are many who seek legal advice but are barred by a variety of factors, including language. Canada is a land of immigrants and it is important to ensure that where language is a barrier to access to justice, that the city begins to collaborate in such a manner,” says Jatin Shory, partner and immigration lawyer at Shory Law.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.

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