About Us

That would amount to a $50-billion market between restaurants and retail. That sea change could result in food retailers investing in a system of automated micro-fulfilment centres dedicated to serving online ordering.”

-Sylvain Charlebois, Professor of Food Distribution and Policy at Dalhousie University 

With Alberta at the highest risk of businesses closing in Canada, and the uncertainty of consumer habits due to the global pandemic, when Calgary declared a state of local emergency on March 15, 2020, work began on a new type of opportunity... .

Ricco & Ailene

After a successful decade as an Architect (Ricco) and Accountant (Ailene) starting multiple businesses in Dubai, they moved to Calgary in 2016 seeking a better life for their daughter Bezalel in Canada.

Brian

Born and raised in Montreal, Brian moved to Calgary in 2012 to work for an airline and started a travel company with Adventure with Purpose in 2017. Brian volunteered much of his free time to poverty alleviation projects in the Philippines.

---

SURVIVE

90%-100% Loss in Sales

Brian

At the onset of the global pandemic, leisure travel plummeted and Brian hit a double-blow of airline company layoffs and a 100% loss of travel tours.

Ricco & Ailene

In 2019, sales with their Canadian company ZOE Direct Selling Corp. were soaring until the global pandemic put a halt to one-on-one meetings and sales drastically sank by 90%.

---

Ricco & Ailene

They recalled their grandfather’s local variety store (sari-sari store) in Manila, Philippines. In the Philippines, sari-sari stores are family-run neighbourhood shops operating out of their home accounting for a staggering 70% of sales of consumer food products in the country!

Ailene had always dreamt about an online home-based grocery store in Canada and Ricco wanted to bring that concept into reality.Ricco also saw that this idea not only fulfilled Ailene's dream but it can also help budding entrepreneurs start-up and small establish shops evolve

Brian

In the Philippines, the rural and agricultural areas make up the poorest regions in the country. Brian started volunteering with young entrepreneurs in rural Philippines from SEED Philippines, an accredited education-based poverty alleviation platform that farms quality ingredients and products.

Brian fell in love with the work and saw an opportunity to use technology to move these coveted products for rural communities.

They were trying to solve the same problem...

---

VISION

The Digital Transformation Gap 

On a chanced encounter through a mutual friend, Ailene and Ricco met Brian and discovered they had the same vision, a digital shop experience for small shops in the Philippines. 

They then realized the small independent shops dotted in Calgary were facing the same problem!

   

"If we can solve the online problem for small shops here in Canada, we can solve it in the Philippines and anywhere else in the world.”

- Ricco Dela Torre

 

The small community-based shops needed a new way to market.

Without the benefit of high investment capital like the big box stores and the continued operating costs of a shop with lower foot traffic due to the global pandemic, they realized there was a massive digital transformation gap to fill.

 

That’s when Nimbly Market was born.

Inspired by the humble sari-sari variety store and the need to adapt to a new normal for grocery fulfillment, they set out to launch their pilot stores in the city.

---

With some losing employment in Canada, Nimbly Market provides the opportunity for citizens to serve their community online by providing contact-less purchase and delivery for a variety of products right from home with little start-up cost.

PILOT LOCATIONS

Cornerstone Pinoy Online Grocery

Cornerstone, Northeast, Calgary

"We have always dreamt of having our own online grocery store to fulfill the needs of the families in our area. Nimbly Market made it simple!” - Luisa & Ailene

Logos Mart

Auburn Bay, Southeast, Calgary

"Nimbly Market was our answer to startup with optimism! We’re now providing home staples for our community!” - Richie & Joain

Shop Wise

Grand Prairie, Alberta

"We’ve been searching for the right business to start for over a year! Nimbly Market helped us earn additional income during the pandemic!” - Jojo & Tess

With this newfound drive to impact our community here in Calgary, we envision a world benefitting from our homegrown platform as a service helping SMALL BUSINESSES serve their communities in a BIG WAY!