Canadian Mask E-Commerce Bien Aller Found Opportunity Amid A Business Freeze

Jordan Owen and Sean Tassé launched their e-commerce only nine days after agreeing to start a business together. BIEN ALLER

Marie Labrosse a master’s student in English Literature at McGill University contributed to this story.

For some organizations, Covid-19 has taken a severe toll on business. For others, the pandemic is the reason that they exist. Brothers Jordan and Mark Owen, along with Sean Tassé founded Bien Aller, a re-usable mask e-commerce to combat the shortage of available medical equipment and support Canadian seamstresses affected by recent layoffs. After just 2 months in operation, Bien Aller has manufactured and sold over 120,000 masks and donated more than $12,500 of their proceeds to local charities like CanadaHelps and the Laval Social Pediatrics Centre.

Their striking success is no accident. All three founders wanted to help, and they saw an opening to support their community amid a global pandemic. 

“Our generation wants to help people and give back to the community, while also having a sustainable business model,” Jordan said. “And we believe that Bien Aller is doing exactly that. We’re trying to incorporate doing good into every level of our business.”

Jordan, a student in MIT’s Master’s in Real Estate Development and City Planning program, came home to Montreal after universities across the country cancelled in-person classes in March. His brother’s real-estate business was slow, and their co-founder Sean had been laid off. All three were itching for something to do. 

On a run with Jordan, Sean pitched the idea of making re-usable masks. He had identified a trend of concern about the novel coronavirus and he wanted to provide to help people cope with the pandemic. On that run, Sean suggested that they team up and Jordan agreed instantly. They had been looking for an opportunity to collaborate for years but had never found the right project.

Read more: forbes