Arlene Dickinson (born October 8, 1956) is a South African and Canadian businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality. She is the general partner of District Ventures Capital and CEO of Venturepark. Dickinson joined the cast of the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

business reality show ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it ...

'' during its second season in 2007 and departed in the ninth season in 2015. She then returned to continue with the Dragons 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, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards and Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100. The show describes her as a self-made multi-millionaire.

Personal life

Born in

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as the m ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, and raised in Canada, Dickinson graduated from high school in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Alberta. She married at age 19 and had four children. She divorced at 31. She has seven grandchildren. Politically, Dickinson identifies as non-partisan. When her former ''Dragons' Den'' co-star

Kevin O'Leary Terrence Thomas Kevin O'Leary (born July 9, 1954), also known as Mr. Wonderful, is a Canadian businessman and television personality. From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows, including the business news programs ''Sq ...

entered the leadership race for the

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, she responded by saying that he "has this notion that greed is good." Afterwards, she criticized O'Leary for confusing the national debt with the deficit.

Business

Dickinson joined Venture Communications in 1988, taking sole ownership in 1998. In October 2012, she launched Arlene Dickinson Enterprises (ADE) to fund and target Canada's entrepreneurs. Over the years, Dickinson has served on boards including Ad Rodeo, Kids Help Phone, and the Calgary Municipal Lands Corporation. She sits on the advisory committee of the Stratford Institute at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

, the Leadership Council of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics as well as the editorial advisory board of '' Marketing Magazine''. In October 2016, Dickinson was appointed to the board of directors of Aphria, a licensed medical marijuana producer.

Books

In 2011, Dickinson published her first book, ''Persuasion'', an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

. Her second book, ''All In'', subtitled "You, Your Business, Your Life", was released in 2013. In 2019, Dickinson published her third book, ''Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future''.

Media

Dickinson starred as a dragon investor on ''

'', starting in 2007 for the second season. She also starred in her own spinoff, '' The Big Decision''. In 2015, Dickinson announced that she was leaving ''Dragons' Den'' after the ninth season. She returned for season 12 in 2017. In 2012, Dickinson guest starred as a past version of herself on the

Canadian television Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, ...

period drama ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...

'', in the episode called "Invention Convention", as a possible investor. She appeared as a judge on '' Recipe to Riches'' in the 2014 season. In 2017, Dickinson hosted '' Under New Management'', a television special in which she guided aspiring new entrepreneurs in the process of purchasing a business. In 2018, Dickinson and singer Jann Arden debuted as cohosts of ''The Business of Life'', a lifestyle podcast on topics such as entrepreneurship, motherhood, writing, relationships and navigating life challenges. It aired for 46 episodes before ending its run on August 3, 2019.

Awards

Dickinson has been inducted into Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 Hall of Fame. In 2014, Dickinson was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards presented by Canadian Immigrant Magazine. Her company Venture Communications was noted as one of the 2001 winners on the list of Canada's Best Managed Companies sponsored by

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

CIBC The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...

, ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'',

Queen's School of Business Smith School of Business (formerly Queen's School of Business) is a business school affiliated with Queen's University at Kingston. It is located at the university's Goodes Hall. Since July 2021, the school's dean has been Wanda Costen. The Sch ...

and MacKay CEO Forums.

Commonwealth honours

Honorary degrees

Honorary military appointments

Humanitarianism

Dickinson was the national spokesperson for Breakfast Clubs of Canada to help raise awareness of the importance of children having a nutritious start to the day. In 2013, she joined on as a champion of the Give a Day campaign, in support of Dignitas International and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

References

External links

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Arlene Dickinson
Video produced by '' Makers: Women Who Make America'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Arlene 1956 births Businesspeople from Calgary Canadian business writers Women business writers Canadian venture capitalists Women venture capitalists Canadian people of British descent Canadian women in business Canadian women non-fiction writers Women in marketing CBC Television people Participants in Canadian reality television series People from Germiston South African emigrants to Canada South African people of British descent Living people Writers from Calgary Canadian women podcasters Canadian podcasters Dragons' Den