An Interview with Mathieu Sabourin

Mathieu Sabourin is the founder and president of Munvo. As someone who launched his own startup in 2005, Sabourin knows just how much effort and energy go into creating an organization from scratch. That’s why, when Sabourin found out Christiane Rochon and Mai Duong were setting up their own non-profit, he was the first to give Swab The World a significant corporate donation. Additionally, in December 2018, Sabourin invited Swab The World to present at the Munvo Summit in Kingston, Ontario. Munvo’s steadfast support over the past few years has helped Swab The World become the organization it is today.

According to Sabourin, "when we think about who we are at Munvo, we take pride in the fact that our colleagues come from many parts of the world.” As a result, the lack of ethnic diversity in stem cell and bone marrow registries is viewed as a “critical issue” by the Munvo team. Additionally, Sabourin tells us he has known Swab The World's co-founders, Christiane and Mai, for quite some time. Sabourin was aware of Mai's battle with leukemia and had heard about the numerous challenges she faced when looking for a stem cell donor as a woman of Vietnamese descent. Having both been aware of how difficult it is for non-white people to find a match and witnessed what Mai had been through, Sabourin said supporting Swab The World was "the right thing to do."

A Startup Helping Another

Sabourin mentions Munvo's employees are “not only diverse and young but also everyone is doing well [financially]...and we felt like it was time to give back.” Roughly 90 Munvo employees attended Swab The World's presentation in Kingston, but barely any of them knew much about the stem cell donation process. Sabourin notes his biggest takeaway from Swab The World's presentation is the importance of demystifying the stem cell donation process and mobilizing young people to register. Sabourin acknowledges most people are scared and not ready to commit to getting swabbed because they know very little about the stem cell donation process. However, after Swab The World's presentation, these issues were resolved for the Munvo employees in the audience. Sabourin appreciates Swab The World's approach because "they do not use guilt" to get people to register. Sabourin remembers how Christiane and Mai used their "knowledge and sense of humor to initiate a dialogue with the audience...and make the audience fully aware of what the stem cell donation process involves." Consequently, the people who end up registering as stem cell donors after these presentations are fully aware of the commitment they are making. Sabourin says, "Mai and Christiane want to make sure everyone who registers is committed to donating and saving lives...their approach makes this goal of theirs a reality."

Munvo

Munvo is a marketing technology consulting firm with offices in Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Since 2005, Munvo has been delivering services and products related to Unica, SAS, and Adobe marketing solutions to clients around the world. Munvo continues to support Swab The World and has a page on its website dedicated to raising awareness for the cause.