Scaling Smart: Building Ontario’s Innovation Advantage

Featured Interview with Hiten Makim CPA, CA, Vice President, Finance and Operations, and OneEleven at Ontario Centre of Innovation

View this article featured in CANADIAN
​BUSINESS OWNER Magazine

​CBO: Tell us a bit about your journey.
​
HITEN MAKIM:
Definitely. It’s been exciting. I worked with KPMG, then joined Samsung in its early days in Canada. But most of my 26-year career has been in aerospace and later MDA.
I was part of the Canadarm project, and I’m proud we even got it on the $5 bill. I retired.

I left MDA three years ago and joined OCI, which sits in a sweet spot which I’m
passionate about scaling Ontario companies and helping them stay in Canada.

​CBO: OneEleven (111). What is it exactly?

HITEN MAKIM:
People call it an accelerator—I call it a community. OneEleven is for like-minded
founders. Companies need at least $1M in revenue to join, though we make rare
exceptions for high-potential ones. Most are pre- or post-Series A. We focus on
community: peer groups where founders share lessons and avoid repeating
mistakes. We run sessions for their employees to understand the startup
ecosystem—things like startup marketing or product promotion.

​We also connect founders with trusted service providers—lawyers, accountants,
banks. We offer options, not endorsements, so they don’t waste time vetting.

CBO: How many companies are currently part of the community?

HITEN MAKIM:
We have just under 50 companies— anywhere from $1M to $80M in revenue.
Some have a handful of employees, others have 250 worldwide. WealthSimple came
through One Eleven.
We've had many scale through, across diverse sectors. We’re industry-agnostic—our focus is helping them grow and stay rooted in Ontario.

​Some companies are even benefiting now like Micromart. Their product is
made in Ontario, and they’re well positioned for growth. The message is: stay the course. Ontario has what you need to scale.

CBO: Thank you, Hiten. We look forward to seeing what’s next at OneEleven.

HITEN MAKIM:
Thanks. It’s been a pleasure.

Learn more at OneEleven.com