Canada 3.0 may be Canada’s largest annual digital media and technologies conference, but for Deepak Dutt, CTO of Zighra, it’s an opportunity to dive into new global markets.
Dutt says that attending Canada 3.0, the flagship annual event of the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), has contributed to the success of the Ottawa-based company that builds mobile device biometric solutions.
The CDMN gives opportunities that are always worth seizing, says Dutt, who has taken advantage of several of its programs. Most notably, he has participated twice in the Soft-Landing Program, the first in Jordan and the second in New York City.
He does, however, have a soft spot for the 3.0 experience. Zighra was named one of the top three Globalizers of the Year for the 2013 CDMN Moonshot Awards. That win kicked off a year of 3.0-related travel.
“We’ve been finding a lot of traction and early adopters in Asia, the Middle East and the U.S.,” Dutt says. “Every 3.5 seconds a phone is lost or stolen in North America. We’re seeing a lot of uptake for our technology.”
Since Dutt had his eye on the Brazilian market, he traveled to sunny São Paulo after being selected as a high-potential Canadian company to attend Brazil-Canada 3.0 last December. There, Dutt impressed both the Canadian and Brazilian delegations and won the Canadian portion of an international pitch-off competition.
The Brazil trip and subsequent competition win was timely for the company. During the company’s launch in New York City as part of its soft-landing, it caught the interest of banks in Brazil. The conference enabled Zighra to get a toehold in the South American country.
“For us, it was a great experience,” Dutt says. “A lot of potential business opportunities were there. The clients we wanted to talk to were based in São Paulo. It kickstarted us in a great way. We were able to make meetings happen and connections on the ground there. We’ve launched a proof of concept for a client there, and are building momentum in that part of the world.”
Next stop for Zighra is this year’s Canada 3.0, being held in Calgary May 26-28. The ticket was part of the OpenText sponsored prize for winning the Brazil pitch competition and will connect them with potential business opportunities in Alberta.
“Calgary wasn’t on our radar, as we’ve had an international market focus,” Dutt says. “However, the Calgary opportunity came up and we said, ‘Let’s try it out.’ CDMN has been getting us a lot of traction, so we said, ‘Let’s go. The event will be a good ice-breaker for a great sector to dip into.”