Breaking the color barrier in Canada’s business world
A fascinating and largely unknown story of business triumph and racial inequality comes to life in Montreal, Canada.
Jean Conille
was no ordinary kid. Born in Haiti on August 12th, 1967, he was the third of a family of four. His father a well known physician, later became minister of sports and youth. His mother was a pharmacist and a lab technician.
Gifted with a phenomenal memory, a systematic and orderly approaches to problem solving, at age 7 he had already competed in the national chess championship in his native Haiti. He traveled to Montreal where he would finish high school at the age of 15 after successfully skipping two grades.
Upon graduating, he was chosen as a finalist by the Montreal chamber of commerce for the “Outstanding Student” award. He was designated as one of “Canada’s future leaders”.
Jean Conille went on to pursue his studies at College Andre Laurendeau in Physics Technology. During this period, his mother died from a chronic illness. He never quite completed the program as he chose to follow in the foot steps of great entrepreneurs such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
At age 19, he started his first business, a very flourishing telecommunication company, which he named after his mother “Les Entreprises Marie Darbouze”.
Already at age 22, Jean was a self made millionaire.
“Being black, wealthy and young in Montreal in the 80’s or even today is highly irregular” says Jean. “Canada may have grown a lot in the matter of race discrimination, unfortunately the stereotypes still remain. Unless you are an athlete or a known entertainer, driving a luxurious car can only mean you are either a thug or involved in some type of illegal activity”. With a cynical look, Jean adds: “I remember when I was younger, being pulled over more then 17 times with in a week by cops, just because I was driving a new Mercedes.”
Jean talks about his dealings with the bank as being one of the most challenging events in his career. “The banks, back then, would simply not understand why a black teenager would want to open up a business account let alone consider a loan”.
Even following his numerous achievements, he continues to be seen as an outsider to this private club of influential deciders. “They will do business with you, but they want invite you to there weddings or even to there children’s bar mitzvahs”.
By challenging the social injustices we evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.
Jean as recently created a foundation, “The Jean Conille foundation” to reach out to young ethnic entrepreneurs and help them achieve their goals and to educate the population on the contribution made by visible minorities to the Canadian society.
Twenty years later, Jean still gets mistaken for a bouncer at an exclusive supper club he owns. That doesn’t seem to bother him much though. With a smile, he gently hands me out his business card where you can clearly read at the bottom: “Some see the world the way it is and ask “why?” But I imagine things that never were and ask “why not?”…
