British Columbia Innovation Council

Portalife Solutions Inc. founder and CEO, Wahiba Chair demonstrates the Carrotlines application to BCIC's Director of Wireless and Digital Media Dean Prelazzi (left) and Director of Life Sciences and Clean Technologies Richard Hallman

This BC entrepreneur knows exactly what she eats because she reads all about it on her iPhone. For as long as she can remember, Portalife Solution Inc.'s founder and CEO, Wahiba Chair, has wanted to be an entrepreneur. Raised in a very health-conscious household, Chair's passion for healthy living started at an early age.

"I personally had issues with food labels when grocery shopping and started to notice that other people around me were also analyzing food packaging for much longer than they should be," said Chair. "In a society where smart phones are fast becoming the mobile device of choice, I knew there could be a solution for consumers that would make healthy eating easier."

And the CarrotLines iPhone application was born...

She came up with the idea of a calorie tracking system in 2004 and worked on it as her engineering thesis with two other students. After completing her engineering training in the U.S., she pursued an MBA at SFU to complement her technical background and continued to expand her original idea to encompass a much greater scope of nutritional analysis.

The CarrotLines application lets consumers create a profile with specific nutritional, lifestyle and allergy attributes that are personalized to their specific interests and characteristics. It enables them to stop reading confusing labels. Instead, they use CarrotLines to scan a product's bar code and within seconds retrieve an easy-to-understand, personalized nutritional profile of the food product. With instant feedback, it's really easy for consumers to find exactly what they want, and avoid what they don't want in the products they eat.

"What's cool about our product is that it can relate to everyone," said Chair.

How BCIC has helped

BCIC has played an important role in the evolution of Chair's CarrotLines application. In 2007, Chair's hard work was rewarded as she received a BCIC MBA Access to Commercialization Scholarship. The scholarships support students to advance technology research and innovation towards commercialization and was instrumental in instilling confidence and providing credibility to the work Chair was doing.

In the past year, she has had frequent contact with BCIC's Director of Wireless and Digital Media, Dean Prelazzi and BCIC's Director of Life Sciences, Richard Hallman - each having played a number of roles in the young entrepreneur's journey.

"My first meeting with Dean last year turned into a long brainstorming session where he really took the time to understand the business aspect of my product and then applied his own experience in sales and marketing to help me identify new market development options, some of which are really starting to pay off," said Chair. "I connected with Richard this year regarding the food platform we are building. He saw the benefits of the application and he has since been a strong advocate of the work we're doing, often helping me make relevant industry connections. The positivity, support, feedback and contacts they have both provided has been incredibly helpful throughout this process."

"BCIC does so much in terms of fostering an entrepreneurial high tech environment in BC. Beyond their efforts as a whole partnering with stakeholders in the community to deliver so many relevant industry events and opportunities, there are people who really care and take the time to try to help in the ways they can," said Chair.

New Ventures BC Competition

Today, Carrotlines is one of 16 companies that have qualified for the final round of the 2010 New Ventures BC Competition (NVBC), presented in partnership with BCIC, that attracted 138 applicants.

"I first entered NVBC while still pursuing my MBA in 2008. This was my third time going for it and proves that persistence is critical when you're an entrepreneur," said Chair. "Being involved in the competition forces you to think through the tough questions that you need to know if you're an entrepreneur trying to convince investors and partners to work with you. Also, the networking opportunities and events the program provides are invaluable."

As one of the top 16 companies in the competition, Chair has just been assigned three mentors to work with and gain valuable guidance from.

What's next?

Today, Chair is excited to see where this three year journey takes her. In recent months, CarrotLines has been garnering increased attention and being taken more seriously both by the public, critics and media.

"Right now I am focused on securing funding and am looking for early-stage investors who share our vision and want to join us in this journey," said Chair. "I am very excited for what's next, and very proud that this is a ‘made in BC' technology that we can share with the rest of the world!"

Learn more about CarrotLines at www.carrotlines.com.

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