A web design agency built between school and a job

Paragon Media Canada is a web design agency that builds websites for local businesses. Its founder, Dax Tigley, is in Grade 12 at DSBN Academy, and whatever time is left over from school and a part-time job goes into the business. His area is the Niagara Region, and his goal, he says, is for Paragon to be the best media services agency there.

The websites are built to grow a business's online presence, bring in leads and give it credibility.

“I love being able to help others in the best way I can, and that's always been through technology.”

Dax Tigley

Growing up, he says, he always loved technology but never knew how to explore it.

He started the business in April and has been building it for about six months, teaching himself as he went. "I can say that I have found what I am truly passionate about and what I want to pursue for the rest of my career," he says.

Along the way he has had to work out for himself what being a business owner means. Plenty of his friends want to start businesses too, he says, and he would like to help them, even if only by sharing how he started his own.

That instinct runs through his other project. Niagara Volunteer Opportunities is a free community hub that helps people in the Niagara Region find ways to volunteer. It is aimed mainly at high school students but open to anyone, and he wants it to become a single source of volunteering information for schools across the region. He started it because he struggled to find ways to give back himself, and what he did find was scattered across disorganised Facebook listings and outdated sources.

"I wanted to make something completely free that organizations can use to make our community better," he says.