In this episode of ɬ Management Insights, MBA alum and founder of Arani, Sean Arani (MBA’16), shares his journey from engineer to entrepreneur with current MBA student Kelly-Dawn Clarahan. Launched in 2009, the Montreal-based company is a Canadian leader in lighting and electrical that’s not only at the forefront of LED technology and smart infrastructure but also committed to sustainability and innovation.
"I started the company when I first moved to Montreal,” he explains. “Somebody spoke to me about LED lighting. It was in the very early days of this technology, and it seemed very attractive because it was aligned with my values of being environmentally friendly."
Through founding Arani, Sean felt that he had a lot to learn about the world of business and decided to dive headfirst into an MBA to help lay the foundation for his understanding of how to run a business effectively.
“The company being in Montreal, I had no choice but to choose a Montreal university, and ɬ was the only option,” he says. “There was no other option in my head, so I applied only to ɬ, hoping to get in.”
Sean wrote the GMAT two weeks later and was accepted into the program, which he credits as being highly useful to him as a founder and CEO.
“Knowing what I know now and knowing where I was back then, I would do the MBA again and again,” he adds.
When he first launched Arani, Sean saw the untapped potential of LED lighting technology and opportunity for growth in the market. It was an obvious eco-friendly solution, but not only that, they were efficient which means for him, the choice was clear.
“LEDs are highly energy efficient, and they last much longer so they reduce waste. I could see that I could be doing something that would reduce energy consumption in the world, as well as a good business opportunity,” says Sean.
Over time, Arani has expanded beyond lighting. They’ve increased their product range to meet the other needs of electricians, including offering EV chargers and electrical infrastructure.
“The future is in electrification,” he says. “Our cars are electrifying. The AI wave is all about electrification.”
While Arani aims to be at the cutting edge of bringing electrical innovation to consumers, Sean also seeks to remain innovative in his approach to running the company especially when faced with economic uncertainty like tariffs.
“We switched away from an annual planning to quarterly planning,” he explains. “We don’t know what’s going to happen and what’s going to change.”
He also places an emphasis on values-driven leadership, saying that he makes it a priority to ensure that everyone feels like they are contributing and that their work matters. This mindset pairs well with Arani’s mission, he adds.
“When the business’s mission itself is something such as ours, which is reduced cost of home ownership for people, then they can see how the work that they do feeds into our mission,” he says.
When asked what he wished he had known before the MBA, Sean shares that the value of soft skills was something he’s come to understand through the MBA and as a leader.
“Actually, the HR stuff, all of the leadership,” he says. “That ranks above all the technical knowledge when we really are in a management position.”
On developing those skills, he encourages young leaders to learn to become engaged listeners.
“Listen more, lead with questions. I personally have had this tendency to be quick with having an answer, and that’s not good. Great leaders are great clock makers. They teach other people how to be good clocks.”
Now almost 10 years out from his MBA, Sean’s connection to ɬ remains strong. So strong that when the Quebec government introduced new policies that would see an increase in tuition costs for out of province students, he sprang into action to help create the Arani Bursary. This bursary is awarded annually to an out of province Canadian student entering the Faculty of Management.
“I'm a big fan of education, and I find that higher education right now is getting a lot of pushback in different aspects for various reasons,” he explains. “At ɬ, I had the opportunity to and was working with a lot of international students and [people with different perspectives]. I wanted to make sure that ɬ doesn’t lose that. I wanted to make sure that all students have that opportunity to have classes with people who come from other places and to get that mix of different characteristics.”
Tune in to the full episode to hear more about Sean’s journey as an entrepreneur, and his advice for graduating students as they look towards the next chapter of their careers.
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