As the President and Chief Executive
Officer of SOHO Business Group, Moe Somani is
responsible for the company’s vision and
overall direction to be the #1 business-to-business
connector for small and medium size businesses.
Prior to launching SOHO in British Columbia
Canada, Moe held highly successful sales, marketing,
and management positions with Pitney Bowes of
Canada for eight years. At the age of 30, two
weeks after launching SOHO, Moe was hospitalized
with a rare spinal cord condition, which left
him paralyzed from the chest down. He was told
by doctors he would never walk again. With a
positive “mind over matter” attitude
and aggressive rehabilitation, Moe was able
to successfully overcome this life challenge
within a mere six months.
Today, SOHO is recognized as one of the fastest
growing marketing and special events companies
supporting small and medium size business and
connecting service providers to SOHO and SME
businesses in Canada. SOHO’s growth
and success is the result of Moe’s passion
and enjoyment of doing what he does best –
connecting with people.
In his current role as President/CEO, he continues
to drive the sales and marketing activities
of SOHO with consistent growth year over year,
servicing annually over 35,000 SOHO/SME businesses,
over 20 events, over 12,000 event registrations
and over 5,000 sales leads for corporate partners
offering key business products and service offerings.
Moe is also very active in the community and
donates countless hours to charity. Among others,
he is well known for launching World Partnership
Golf, an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation
Canada, which raised funds that go directly
to projects that benefit communities in the
poorest countries of Africa and Asia. Moe is
also the past Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors
of Small Business BC, a non-profit organization
catered to the small business community and
currently sits on the Board of Governors for
Junior Achievement of BC, a leader in delivering
business education programs for young people.
Born in Uganda, Africa, Moe’s family immigrated
to Canada in 1972. Moe presently resides in
North Vancouver, B.C. with his wife Salma and
two beautiful children, Jasmine and
Jordan.
Inspirational Quote: It is time for us all to stand
and cheer for the doer, the achiever —
the one who recognizes the challenge and does
something about it. - Vince Lombardi
Lama Al-Azzeh,Vice President
Having lived in 3 different countries, Lama’s interest in culture and travel were cultivated at an early age. With a strong work ethic and an ambitious nature, Lama graduated with distinctive honours from the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University in Montreal with a Bachelor of Commerce specializing in Marketing and International Business. In the last 5 years Lama has become a dynamic and seasoned marketing & business development director with a successful background in sales and marketing of business to business events, campaigns and communication mediums.
More recently as Director, Business Development for a national investor-focused radio program, Lama substantially increased revenue and continuously exceeded quota expectations while also managing marketing initiatives and product expansion strategies. The unique skill-set honed as a result of exposure to both the marketing and sales functions allows Lama to regard and develop campaigns mindful of this intrinsic relationship. The result is a proficiency to develop strategies and plans that positively impact the bottom line.
Inspirational Quote: Marketing’s job is to make selling superfluous - Peter Drucker
Jaime Ward, Creative Director
Jaime Ward began work as a graphic designer and marketing specialist in 2003. Previously she studied and worked briefly as an animator.
She firmly believes that she is in fact, a jack of all trades. With experience in branding, web design and development, marketing, copy writing, large displays, tradeshow design as well as management and accounting, she can do it all...
On her off time Jaime is a competitive boxer and a 2012 Olympic hopeful. Her focus on boxing throughout the years has made her the determined, hard-working person she is today. It has aided in her problem solving skills and made her a very dynamic thinker. She has no concept of the word "fail" and will go to great lengths to find a solution in her work and just like in boxing, she will come at the problem from many different angles.
Jaime is the Creative Director for SOHO. She undertakes the management of all creative, including print and web material and will be responsible for the re-design of SOHO in 2010.
Inspirational Quote: Rules can be broken – but never ignored – David Jury
Jennifer Thornton, Accountant
For more than 20 years Jennifer has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs organize their companies and set up their administrative and bookkeeping systems. In addition to this, her background includes human resources, facilities management and five years in the domain name development industry. Jennifer specializes in full cycle accounting and all other aspects of maintaining a successful financial organization.
Raised on Bowen Island and North Vancouver, Jennifer lives with her husband, two children and two crazy little cats. Her interests include singing, blogging, reading, sailing, and skiing.
Andy Cheng, Director of Information Technology
SOHO's IT department is headed by Andy Cheng, Director of Information Technology at SOHO Business Group. Originally from China, Cheng holds a Computer Science Diploma from Northeast University in Qinhuangdao, and is a fluent Mandarin speaker. Upon moving to Canada in 2001, Cheng enrolled himself at Trinity Western University, where he obtained his B.Sc. with a major in Computer Science and a minor in International Marketing. During his time at Trinity Western, Andy was hired by the English Department to program an online registration system for their faculty's annual conference. His biggest accomplishment to date is creating a brand new on-site registration system for SOHO and upgrading the SOHO website in order to make it more user-friendly. In his spare time Cheng enjoys playing video games and soccer.
Inspirational Quote: Impossible is Nothing - Adidas Commercial
