To get a sense of how much has changed for Vasile Caniuca since he arrived in Canada in 2001, you only need to step into his south London construction business.
You will get a glimpse of his story right in the entrance of Millstone Homes: Framed newspaper clippings that show a younger version of Vasile looking tired and haggard after he and six other Romanian stowaways emerged from a steel shipping container at the Halifax Harbour.
Their treacherous journey made international news. Even CNN showed up to get footage of the men who’d risked their lives by crawling into that container 17 days earlier with a little food and a lot of faith. They had spent the final seven days at sea, while a cargo ship carrying the container travelled from Livorno, Italy to Canada.
Vasile and the other refugees had succeeded in their desperate attempt to escape a life of poverty and find opportunity. Along with the media there to greet them, there were police and border security officers. Vasile spent his first night in Canada at a homeless shelter.
Eighteen years later, Vasile is known as a high-end London homebuilder whose company has been employing other Londoners and adding to the city landscape for more than a decade. He drives a nice vehicle, has more than he needs. He has even published an autobiography about his life and his faith. It is called The Grinding of the Millstone.
But success didn’t come overnight.
“I struggled big time,” says Vasile, who moved to Kitchener, then London. There were days when he and his wife were scrounging for loonies and toonies just to put gas in the tank. When he first started his business in London, he felt like people doubted he could do it. He was young, in his 20s, and still just learning English. But he kept working at it because he loved it. He believed in himself and refused to give up, and that’s the advice he gives other newcomers and entrepreneurs.
“Now I have a few things, and I’m happy and glad, but it’s not because I’m so smart, it’s because other people helped me. And God works through people,” says Vasile. “I don’t have enough fingers on my hands to count the people who helped me. People who didn’t really know who I was, but they had faith. They had such a positive impact on me.”
He never forgets the impact they had and says its easy for him to pay it forward. He is involved with his church and does charity work around the world.
“When you make it, look back and bring somebody with you,” he says. “When you see someone without money offer them money. When you see someone who has potential for business, push them in that direction. There is enough pie for everybody.” 

Not all girls went to school when Kay Habib was growing up in Lahore, Pakistan. But her dad wanted his daughters to have the same confidence and opportunities as their brothers.
And he knew that would require an education. So, against the wishes of many friends and relatives, Kay and her sisters went to school. And Kay kept going to school, earning a Master’s degree in interior design in Pakistan, then a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Australia, before immigrating to Canada in 2006 with her husband and son
“Education enabled us to find our way, it changed our lives,” says Kay, owner of London interior design company Skill Décor.
These days Kay is helping others find their way. Early this month, she held a grand opening for her new social enterprise called Skilled Accents, which hires women who came to Canada as refugees to sew stylish decorative pillows. Nearly 130 people turned out to the grand opening at Kay’s Hyde Park showroom.
In six years, Kay has achieved more than she was dreaming of, when she moved to London from Toronto in 2013 and set out to start her own interior design business.  
“At first, in London, I felt like I really had to prove myself – being a woman and also being a brown woman,” she says. “A lot of people told me London is conservative and not as open as Toronto, and because of your last name people might not call you.”
“I decided to do my thing and see what happens. People have been so supportive.”
Kay started getting to know people by joining groups for entrepreneurs. The reception she received from Londoners turned out to be the opposite of what she had been told to expect. 
“”There are always people who treat you differently when they see the colour of your skin or find out where are you from, but if you look past the filters people have and focus on your thing – people will see that.”
Her business was growing, but she wanted to do something that had more purpose. She had seen some refugee women who appeared to be struggling in London and started to think about women from her own home country, who may not be having an easy time getting settled.
A friend referred Kay to London’s Cross Cultural Learner Centre, where she met with a sewing group for refugee women. “I went there, and I was like ‘That’s it! These are the people I need,’” says Kay, who launched the social enterprise in May 2018, providing each of her employees with a sewing machine and fabric that had been donated from London stores.
“I felt like I just have to work with them.”