Don't be duped by the nice outfits. The road to success has been challenging for Wes Hall, the self-proclaimed "King of Bay Street" and the first Black Dragon on CBC's "Dragons' Den". At the age of 16, he immigrated to Canada.

He was raised in Jamaica with his grandmother and his 14 siblings in a tin house. Before beginning his career at Bay Street as a mailroom worker, he first worked as a cleaner and a chicken catcher.

Later, as the founder of the shareholder services company Kingsdale Advisors, Hall accumulated his fortune by offering advice to businesses facing hostile takeovers. "No Bootstraps When You're Barefoot", Hall's new memoir, is due out on Oct. 4.

In it, he describes the events that led him to become one of the most significant figures in Toronto's Financial District.

He is referred to as "The Fixer" among the Dragons, and in reality he lives up to that moniker: The racial tension that dogged his early career served as inspiration for Hall to launch BlackNorth Initiative, an organization that works to eradicate anti-Black racism in the corporate world, in 2020.

Hall, who has returned to the Den for a second season, discusses the significance of success and how his faith, family, and perseverance helped him through it all.

Check out the full Q&A below.

Source: Maclean's