Creating an event and then connecting people to it was a problem that both Abiodun Oduniyi and Babacola Awoniyi wanted to solve.
Even more so for people who are new to Calgary or to Canada. They wanted to build an Afro-centric event listing system that helped people not only create the events but have them reach people who can then connect and build community. That’s when they decided to launch Event Paddy.
Oduniyi said that the event space is largely fragmented and there’s a dissociation between event goers and event creators.
“A lot more times we see that these events are potentially on places like WhatsApp groups, Instagram, just sort of disaggregated and especially with the community that we’re trying to kind of focus on,” he said.
The pair came together at an event in their community, after seeing each other at various other community gatherings. Their skills – strategy and design, along with finance, and a third partner who does data analytics – made them a well-rounded team with a similar goal.
“This solution came out of a need that we all share, it was just easy for us to come around and resonate and develop a solution around solving problems, because we have the skills to do that,” said Awoniyi.
What separates Event Paddy from other event creators and marketers is they assist the creators in executing the outing successfully.
“We just don’t say, ‘go create an event and then you’re good.’ We kind of help follow through to say, what does that look like? What are you looking to achieve?” Oduniyi said.
So far, they’ve helped organizers put on more than 70 different events. Not only in Calgary, they’ve set up events in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and even in Nova Scotia.
Learning is the key: Awoniyi
Even with a well-rounded group of founders, the team at Event Paddy wanted to know more about how they could successfully run their own start-up.
Awoniyi said it was a chance to learn from the other founders participating in the Alberta Catalyzer Velocity program.
“There’s a lot of skills flying around here, and we’re kind of like, of course, getting to benefit from those skills, I would say,” he said.
Oduniyi said they were asked a lot of “thought provoking” questions about what their true value proposition was and what story was it they had to share.
“I think so far, we’ve learned to kind of look inwards,” he said.
“What’s it’s been to kind of go through this program, I think about what else we can do and how we can do better.”
Growth across other Canadian cities is the near-term goal for the Event Paddy team. They also want to work very closely with creators to meet them where they’re at and fill the needs they have.
Beyond that, they see expansion into other communities.
“In solving this problem for this community, we feel like we can potentially broaden out to other communities,” said Awoniyi.
“So, there are opportunities across communities and people. Right now, we just want to focus on the market that we know and maximize the opportunities there first.”
- Join Alberta Catalyzer to fast-track your startup with know-how and expert guidance. Alberta Catalyzer offers merit-based, pre-accelerator programs for early-stage tech entrepreneurs in Alberta at no cost. These programs are developed and delivered by Platform Calgary and Edmonton Unlimited, with support from partners and organizations across the Alberta Innovation Network. They are made possible by the generous support of the Alberta Scaleup and Growth Accelerator Program, run by a consortium led by Alberta Innovates. The consortium includes the Government of Alberta, Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), The City of Edmonton through Edmonton Unlimited, and the City of Calgary’s Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund allocated $35 million over three years to retain business accelerators. It’s part of the Alberta government’s goal to help create 20,000 jobs and increase technology firm revenue to $5 billion by 2030.
