Grant Ruffinengo

Background

About Grant Ruffinengo

TLDR; Business Growth Advisor @ Invest NS - Making Nova Scotia the next wave in oceantech Board Chair @ NEBA - Working with North End business owners to create the destination for all things local Atlantic Canada 30 Under 30 Venture for Canada 2019 Fellow As a locally-minded community builder, all I wanted to do straight out of university was work to support Nova Scotia's startup ecosytem and work with founders who are making our province the next wave. Events, projects, reports, volunteering, and even a mural celebrating innovation & entrepreneurship, my experience has allowed me to fulfill this goal in many more ways than I had even imagined! I'm currently working as a Business Growth Advisor for Invest Nova Scotia, managing our incubator space COVE Start-Up Yard, where I aupport ocean technology founders and their companies to chart new waters for the sector. I also Chair the North End Business Association, I work with other small business owners to make the North End the destination to be for Haligonians. As a volunteer, leading up to the 2019 Federal Election I organized and hosted a candidates debate on youth issues. With attendance of over 100+ youth, we facilitated the debate to allow youth the opportunity to ask their questions directly to their potential representatives simulating a form of direct democracy. A graduate of Dalhousie University, I finished with a BA in Political Science and Journalism. After university, I was lucky one of 80 lucky enough to have been selected for Venture for Canada's Fellowship program from a pool of 1500+ ambitious people across Canada. I spent four weeks with other like-minded post-grads and learned what it takes to be entrepreneurially-minded.