Wes Hall Launches WeShall Investments Inc., One of Canada’s First BIPOC-Focused Private Equity Firms
Rebrands and Refocuses Mr. Hall’s Successful KSS HoldCo Venture to Bring Hope and Opportunity to a New Generation of BIPOC Entrepreneurs
TORONTO, ON January 16, 2023 – Wes Hall, Founder and Chairman of the BlackNorth Initiative, Founder and Executive Chairman of Kingsdale Advisors, long-time investor, philanthropist, and Dragon on Canada’s Dragons’ Den, is pleased to introduce WeShall Investments, one of Canada’s first private equity firms focused on breaking down systemic barriers limiting BIPOC entrepreneurs’ access to capital. WeShall will build on the successful foundation of its predecessor KSS HoldCo to bring life to the vision of BIPOC entrepreneurs whom traditional capital providers have overlooked.
WeShall will capitalize on Mr. Hall’s successful track record of investing and scaling businesses from the ground up to provide majority and minority investments in growth-oriented companies mainly led, but not exclusively, by BIPOC entrepreneurs.
“The goal of WeShall investments is to create a new generation of BIPOC entrepreneurs by providing capital and opportunity that too many have been denied for too long. The name WeShall is partly inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s revolutionary 1968 speech: ‘We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” Mr. Hall said. “Ending systemic racism starts from the top down, and representation matters. WeShall will increase the number of BIPOC business leaders and executives in Canada starting today. I was fortunate to have people who saw beyond my colour and realized my full potential. I would not be where I am today without those allies. I am humbled to be able to do the same for hundreds more like me.”
WeShall Will Put People First
WeShall is industry agnostic, will invest in great people with great ideas, and will look beyond paper credentials to realize the full potential and capabilities of BIPOC business leaders. In each instance, WeShall will leverage Mr. Hall’s expertise in ESG, business knowledge, and personal experience emerging from poverty in rural Jamaica to provide the resources and tools needed to elevate BIPOC businesses and ensure their long-term sustained success and growth.
WeShall’s Philosophy and Approach
- Through strategic partnerships with culturally diverse entrepreneurs, leaders, lenders, and investors, WeShall maximizes financial value, creating transformative and self-sustaining environmental and social change.
- WeShall uses an ethical and values-based approach to deliver the best business and societal success in everything we touch.
- WeShall believes that building people up, serving the underserved, making a positive difference, and building for the long term will pay the greatest dividends.
Founding Principles
- WeShall build people up
- WeShall serve the underserved
- WeShall always do the harder right versus the easy wrong
- WeShall make a lasting positive difference in our culture, our stakeholders, and the world
- WeShall remember that where we started from matters less than where we finish
- WeShall always remember where we came from to fuel our drive to get where we’re going
- WeShall give back to the communities in which we work and live
“By doing what is right, WeShall will deliver industry-leading business results, hope, and opportunity to those who have too often been told ‘No.’ It’s time more BIPOC entrepreneurs started hearing ‘Yes,’” Mr. Hall concluded.
About WeShall Investments
WeShall Investments is a premier Canadian private equity firm with a diverse portfolio of investments demonstrating agility in various industries across Canada, the U.S., and the Caribbean. WeShall currently has over $600 million under management and over 19 years of investing in a diverse range of industries. This all started when Wes mortgaged his principal home and obtained a $100,000 loan to start Kingsdale Advisors some twenty years ago.
About Wes Hall
Wes Hall comes from humble beginnings in rural Jamaica. He grew up in a plantation worker's shack as one of several children supported by his grandmother who instilled in him the value of hard work, ambition, and industriousness. Starting off his career as a mailroom clerk on Bay Street, Wes turned a $100K loan from the bank to start his first business, Kingsdale Advisors, into becoming the most preeminent shareholder advisory firm in Canada.
He is the founder of the BlackNorth Initiative designed to help end systemic anti-Black racism in Canada. He has instructed Black Entrepreneurship & Leadership at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, a first-of-its-kind course in North America. Wes is the vice-chair of the Board of Governors at Huron University College, a member of the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce, and sits on the board of directors for SickKids Foundation, TIFF, and Pathways to Education Canada. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce awarded him the Canadian Business Leader of 2022. Wes has received Honorary Doctorates from Queens University, Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of the West Indies.
Wes’ other accomplishments include penning a bestselling memoir, "No Bootstraps When You're Barefoot", launching a podcast in partnership with the Toronto Star, "Between Us with Wes Hall", and is also on the hit CBC series, "Dragons' Den."
For further information, please visit www.weshall.ca or contact media@weshall.ca.
