Technology entrepreneur recognized by CEO Publication

By Al Beeber – Lethbridge Herald on December 17, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A technology entrepreneur from Lethbridge has been named one of Canada’s 20 Best Dynamic CEOs by The CEO Publication.
Colin Moreland’s downtown business has only been in business for 19 months and its accolade comes after MPP Software Solutions was named Company of the Year 2021 in the Innovation and Technology category by the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce. in October.
Moreland spent 30 years in Calgary before moving to Lethbridge six years ago with his wife who is the Family Medicine Obstetrics Department Manager for the Southern Alberta Health Services Zone. Prior to launching MPP Software Solutions, he worked at the University of Lethbridge and did private consulting.
His company has five full-time employees and seven part-time contractors and he “ideally” plans to double its workforce at least next year.
“We’re more resource-constrained than anything right now. We just signed new deals through the consulting arm of our business for over a quarter of a million dollars for next year and that’s just one of the irons on the go right now, ”said Moreland Monday at his downtown office.
A 10-year cancer survivor, Moreland is a strong supporter of women’s and amateur sport and is the founder of Lethbridge Sports, which provides a platform for Lethbridge athletes to tell their stories.
His company has several key products, including Eligere, which will soon be relaunched as Trustedshare.com.
Eligere is an app that allows people to privately book their properties for rentals. It takes a different approach than the AirBnb and VRBO models that work in the open market and fixes some of the issues with renting out to strangers who may not care about respecting a property.
“That doesn’t mean if people use it I don’t want to be compensated, but I do care who goes there and I want trusted friends and family who I think are going. take care of my property and want to take advantage of that space, ”Moreland said.
MDGuest is a welcoming and sharing platform reserved exclusively for Canadian physicians that allows them to share and discuss with, or rent properties to other physicians.
Together with local real estate agent David Agema, he developed an app to streamline property viewing. Just Ring the Bell coordinates real estate agents, home sellers and potential buyers who, after being properly vetted, can view properties at a time convenient for them and the seller. Interested buyers receive a code for a smart lock box, which is changed after each visit, and have 60 minutes to make their own visit to a home. Not only does this service provide convenience for all three parties, but in the era of COVID-19, it enables contactless home viewing.
“My number one emotion is surprise,” Moreland said of his honor.
“We’re a small business and getting recognition is pretty important at this stage of growth that we’re at. So that was fantastic, Moreland said.
“A lot of the ingredients are there” to make Lethbridge a tech hub, Moreland said.
“There is the educated workforce, there is no reason why people need to finish their degrees, college and university programs and leave town to find work. They see the opportunity to stay here and find a high quality job. We have therefore partnered with the University of Lethbridge and a number of our employees have taken internship or work-study programs and learned our product to help us grow.
Moreland said he had a similar partnership with the University of Alberta in Edmonton with the development staff there.
“The skilled resources are there if we can catch them before they feel like they have to leave town to pursue a career in technology. Then all the other factors of the Lethbridge advantage, as I’ve heard it described, apply – the short commute times, the smaller center, ”he said.
A sense of community is also a strong attribute, according to Moreland.
“The way the business community helps each other out rather than trying to crush the new guy, all of these things make it a very attractive place to do business compared to some of the other cities I’ve worked in. North America.
“Lethbridge has a lot of rooms to be really fun to live in and operate,” he said.
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