“When my business started to take off, Concordia grads were the first people I looked to hire.”
Any retail business that has not taken digital commerce seriously is behind the eight-ball at a crucial time.
It’s not hard to imagine that for companies like Diff — whose very mission is helping businesses develop e-commerce platforms — this rapid online shift has accelerated opportunities.
An experienced retail-strategist and software engineer, Benjamin Crudo founded Diff in 2011 while studying at Concordia. Now as one of the top partners of online commerce giant Shopify, Crudo is seeking opportunities for the company and its more than 100 employees to help others with these newfound superpowers.
“It’s a great honor to contribute directly to the only sales channel keeping a lot of companies alive,” he says.
On giving back
“We’ve done volunteer work this past year to help vulnerable businesses improve their online commerce skills. We’ve been principally reaching out to restauranteurs, who we know are really suffering some of the worst effects of the pandemic.
“I said to my team: ‘I know you program websites for a living, but if you have any spare time and you want to keep using those skills, they’re now superpowers that can be redirected to help businesses stay afloat.’ To my surprise, a lot of people in the company raised their hands and contributed.”
Interesting industry trends
“We used to consider the internet as being something that would connect us to things that are far away and inaccessible. What we’re seeing is that it can be a very useful tool to connect us in a local context.”
What Concordia provided
“When I came to Concordia, I was looking for an institution that was going to be able to take me as a raw material, give me skills and make me useful. And I got that and a lot more.”
The Concordia network
“When my business started to take off, Concordia grads were the first people I looked to hire. We’re showing the next generation how to apply their skill in a commercial capacity to be productive, to earn money for themselves and to contribute value to customers.”