Arlene Dickinson
| Arlene Dickinson | |
|---|---|
Dickinson on Canada's Walk of Fame
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| Born |
8 October 1956 Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa |
| Occupation | CEO of Venture Communications |
| Net worth | CAD $89 million (2012) |
| Website | arlenedickinson |
Arlene Dickinson (born October 8, 1956) is a South African Canadian businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality. She is the CEO of Venture Communications and is represented by CBC Television as a self-made multi-millionaire. Dickinson joined the cast of the CBC business reality show Dragons' Den during its second season in 2007 and departed in the ninth season in 2015, but will return for the 12th season in 2017. She was selected to perform on the series after she won numerous awards including Calgary Business Owner of the Year, PROFIT magazine's Top 100 Women Business Owners, the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence and Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100. She is also an entrepreneur on another CBC business reality show, The Big Decision.
Born in Germiston, South Africa and raised in Canada, Dickinson graduated from high school in Calgary, Alberta. She married at age 19 and had four children. She divorced at 31. Today, she is single and a grandmother of five.
Politically, Dickinson identifies as non-partisan. When her former Dragons' Den co-star Kevin O'Leary entered the leadership race for the Conservative Party of Canada, she responded by saying that he "has this notion that greed is good." This prompted speculation that Dickinson was planning to run for office for the Liberal Party of Canada, which she denied. Afterwards, she continued to criticize O'Leary for referring to the national debt as the deficit.
Dickinson joined Venture Communications in 1988, taking sole ownership in 1998. During her tenure, she has taken the company from a local firm into one of Canada's largest independent marketing and communications firms, with offices in Calgary and Toronto. Apart from her business accomplishments, Dickinson is also a public speaker represented by several speakers bureaus.
In October 2012, she launched Arlene Dickinson Enterprises to fund and target Canada's entrepreneurs. Businesses she has invested in include Urban Cultivator, The Carbon Farmers and Balzac's Coffee Roasters. Under the ADE umbrella, she also launched YouInc.com, a social website designed to celebrate the "entrepreneurial lifestyle." Future plans for the multiplatform entity include an upcoming magazine, radio shows, apps and television formats.
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