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Young Surrey entrepreneur smells a winning startup

CITY CENTRE — Young Surreyite Kevin Cruz never had to flip burgers, unlike many of his peers in high school.

In fact, the 22-year-old entrepreneur said he couldn't see himself answering to a boss.

"(Entrepreneurship) was something that always intrigued me; I never really liked the idea of working for someone else," he told the Now at the SFU Surrey campus, where he's enrolled in an entrepreneurship program.

"Ever since I was a kid I always had that entrepreneurial spirit. I would always get in trouble for dealing Pokemon cards on the playground or something like that," he said.

That lack of traditional work experience has actually worked in Cruz's favour, however, having been recently named Student Entrepreneur of the Year from B.C. by Enactus.

Now, Cruz and a team of others are heading up ORA Scents, a mobile device company that is introducing the ORA, the world's first app-enabled scent diffuser that allows users to create and control scents in real-time.

"I noticed that there's this trend happening with tech industry right now and it's called 'the Internet of things,' so its this idea of smart technology where pretty much all the aspects of your home or your life are controlled through your phone, and everything is connected," he explained.

"Your lighting systems, your sound systems. We noticed a lot of people are targeting these different senses within these sensory experiences in your home, but no one has really done anything with fragrances."

Enter the ORA. Technologically speaking, it's a step up from using scented candles or even plug-in scent diffusers.

ORA

Cruz and his teammates are the first ever to make this "smart" diffuser a reality.

"To speak to the technology itself, we are offering this totally new level of customizability compared to any other diffuser on the market today," he said.

The device allows the user to mix a variety of essential oils and create different levels of how much of each oil is desired, thereby creating its own scent profile.

All of that is communicated to the device through the user's phone.

"It will tell the phone what it is, and you can control how much oil is released into the device, and then from there the essential oils are mixed into a reservoir of water, and it's vibrated with a metal plate at the bottom of it to a point where it vibrates so fast that it evaporates," Cruz explained.

For now, the company has a 3-D mock-up of the ORA device, and is looking for beta testers.

Cruz and co are just happy to be among good company when it comes to entrepreneurs in the city.

"(Surrey) is turning into this hub of innovation, its turning into this hub of young people doing awesome things and solving a lot of today's problems. I love being a part of this eco system and helping spearhead this change that's happening right now."

For more information about ORA Scents and its upcoming Kickstarter campaign, visit Orascents.com or follow them on Twitter at @ORAScents.

kalexandra@thenownewspaper.com