Riaz Sidi

Q&A

Please tell us about yourself and your journey.

In 2004, I returned from a gap year abroad in Europe knowing that I wanted to pursue a diploma in Journalism at Algonquin College. Over the two-year program, I learned so much and had hands-on training, which helped to start my career. I have had 200+ published articles in newspapers and magazines and this program really gave me the foundation to write well.

After graduating from Algonquin and then Carleton University in Communications, I realized that my passion for journalism no longer matched the great skills I had acquired at the College. I typically ended up in sales roles and call centre roles – and while the majority of people would despise this type of job, I noticed that I thrived on the rush and loved to connect and help customers. Eventually, I moved into a B2B (business-to-business) digital marketing call centre position selling Yellow Pages & Google Ads by phone to small businesses. From there, I was promoted into a management position.

My love for digital marketing grew and I started to build small websites, regularly blogging about sales and creating videos for YouTube and social media. Coincidentally, I saw a position for Digital Media Specialist at the Ottawa Citizen. I realized I could work in sales, digital marketing and journalism at all at the same time!

The digital team grew to 15 team members from two and I was promoted into a sales manager role. Two years later, I was again promoted to the parent company, Postmedia, as national training manager. I travelled across the country training over 500 media consultants on digital marketing sales and platforms.

At that time, I discovered my love for social media ads and as I was not working on the front lines any longer nor did Postmedia have Facebook ads solution, I took on a few clients and became really strong at delivering leads and opportunities for clients. I had a light bulb moment that instead of making cold calls and getting one opportunity at a time, I could use digital marketing to generate thousands of opportunities for my clients.

In 2016, I started Sidi.io, a digital marketing agency focused on lead generation using paid media ads on digital marketing platforms. Our core client base consists of B2B tech companies although we work with diverse industries promoting many unique products and services. The business took off and we are now at 20 employees.

In 2018, I accepted a part-time role as a brand consulting professor in the post-graduate Brand Management program the College. I taught for a year and had an extremely rewarding experience. The business continued to grow so rapidly that I needed to focus on the business although my love for teaching never dissipated.

As Sidi.io has continued to grow, we were named one of Ottawa’s Fastest-Growing Companies for 2022 by the Ottawa Business Journal. I was also named to the Ottawa Forty Under 40 for 2022. I continue to create videos on social media and recently presented as the keynote speaker at the College’s Entrepreneur Summit.

How did Algonquin College support and prepare you for success?

Algonquin’s tempo is fast, and this builds the endurance and tenacity needed to perform at the highest level. It also taught me important skills I have used throughout my career: writing, group work, project management, communication.

What motivated you to take an entrepreneurial path after studying journalism?

For me, the path to entrepreneurship was paved through a series of events that led to me providing more value to the marketplace than I saw currently existed. The only decision was to build a business once this revelation became clear. I did not seek to start a business initially. In fact, my parents had run businesses and I had assured myself that I would not take such a risk.

You speak to the importance of time management and prioritization. What does it mean to “work smart?”

Working smart is being self-aware about your own strengths and weaknesses and developing systems to ensure that your weaknesses aren’t preventing you from reaching your full potential.

What is one specific hope or dream for your future?

A goal is to continue building the business and being a destination workplace that treats the team well and where professionals can come to thrive.

What advice would you give to students in your program today?

Keep an open mind about where this program might take you. Take the program to elevate yourself and to build a set of skills that are transferable across multiple disciplines.

Tell us your life story, in five words.

Kindness and empathy ARE strengths.