Fatima Zaidi, VP of Business Development, Eighty-Eight

Fatima Zaidi has had over nine years of experience in Business Development, Marketing, and Strategy. Her expertise in sales effectiveness and partnerships led to her role as VP of Business Development for Eighty-Eight, a Toronto-based creative communications agency, where she’s responsible for all inbound and outbound sales. Her work at the agency has led to projects with Telus, PayPal, Canadian Tire, and multiple startups and tech companies including Lyft. Prior to Eighty-Eight she was Head of Business Development at retail company Rent frock Repeat (which was featured on Dragons’ Den – Canada’s version of Shark Tank – in Season 7), where she was responsible for the overall management of all strategic business development, marketing, and customer relationship activities nationwide. She also took ownership of the management of the sales and corporate strategy functions, and during her time at the company developed partnerships with over 200 organizations including Delta Hotels, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Fight to End, TIFF, Women’s Executive Network, and the Toronto Board of Trade.

Fatima is a commentator for Global News and BNN, and she contributes to The Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Financial Post and BetaKit. She was named one of Marketing Magazine’s top 30 under 30 marketers and brand developers for 2016, one of Flare Magazine’s Top 100 Canadian Women, and was a finalist for the 2017 Toronto Board of Trade Young Excellence Awards. Fatima is a frequent guest speaker, event host, and moderator for organizations including Generation Now, the Retail Council of Canada, and Women of Influence, and she also teaches classes about sales and business development at local tech school Camp Tech.