The Business Leadership Podcast

Salli: You're listening to the business
leadership podcast with Edwin Frondoso.

Emma: I love blockchain.

I love Bitcoin mining.

Guess what?

We only have a 21 million bitcoin that
can be mined and right now we only have 1.

5 million left So what are
we going to do after this?

my vision is to build a
billion dollar company.

I think I can achieve this
hopefully in the next five years.

Edwin: Good morning.

Good afternoon.

And good evening biz leader.

Welcome.

To another episode of the
business leadership podcast.

I'm Edwin Frondozo, and today.

We are featuring a very special episode
from the future narrative miniseries.

Which was recorded live at the
collision conference in Toronto, Canada.

In this mini series, we explore
the future of leadership.

Innovation and storytelling
with visionary leaders who are

not just designing products.

But are creating.

Entirely new worlds and markets.

Joining me is Dr.

Paul Newton.

And together we are
speaking with Emma Todd.

The CEO of MMH technology group and
her journey from banking to blockchain

consulting and Bitcoin mining,
is nothing short of remarkable.

She's faced challenges from banks and
governments, but continues to push

forward with innovation solutions, like.

Methane gas for Bitcoin mining

In our conversation, Emma shares
the importance of a strategic

plan, environmental responsibility,
and her vision of creating

a billion dollar company.

While promoting diversity
and inclusion in tech.

Her resilience and long-term
vision for blockchain technology.

And her team are truly inspiring.

So without further ado, Here we go.

We're now speaking with Emma
Todd, CEO of MMH Technology Group.

How are you doing today?

Emma: I'm good.

How are you?

Edwin: I'm doing well.

I'm super excited to have you and
sit down and have this conversation.

I guess, Emma, just jumping right in,
I'd love it if you could share what

problem is MMH Technology Group solving
for the tech and blockchain industry?

Emma: I have two companies and
one of them does consulting.

It is consulting for blockchain companies
and when I first started it was back

in 2016 I came from banking and I
met this incredible group of people

that were just building things on the
blockchain And they were a little naive.

They were like if we
build it, they will come.

Yeah, and I was like, oh no
You need marketing my friend

into a strategy and no.

No, we have a product
Oh, you really need me.

And so that's how it started.

And from there, I went into Bitcoin
mining, and I sell equipment to

miners that need them, and I find them
sites that are environmentally good

for, just good and things like that.

That's the problems that I'm solving.

Edwin: Amazing.

I love that.

And I guess looking at the blockchain or
the crypto industry, since you're, you

play a lot, it sounds like you have two
types of pivotal roles in there, it's

communications for the tech companies,
or the platforms, or the hardwares.

We actually had a chat with the
Coinbase CEO earlier today as well.

Emma: Isn't he just amazing?

Edwin: Yeah, Lucas is great.

And, just thinking about,
how it democratizes the

vision of crypto and stuff.

So I'd love it to get from your
point of view, especially how you're

within the trenches and you're able
to talk to many like, what are the

major, disruptions that you're seeing
now when it comes to the industry?

Emma: We are trying to disrupt
the way financial services work.

That's the number one thing.

When I first started, I was very naive
and thought, Oh, it would be really easy.

I didn't count on the banks fighting back.

Yeah.

Oh, they're fighting back big time.

We also thought we're gonna
make things a little bit easier.

Guess what?

The government's fighting back too.

Didn't anticipate that.

As you get older, you realize, if we're
looking back, we could have seen this

coming and perhaps planned for a little
bit more strategically, but sometimes

you just have to keep going, so I tell
an example about how in 2022 we had

money we're feeling good about ourselves.

Thirty million for the years
into lobbying in the US.

We're feeling pretty good, right?

30 million is a lot of money.

Yeah, the banking industry
puts 30 million per quarter.

We're like, okay, we're going to have
to depend on goodwill here because

we can't do any better than that.

And but luckily like goodwill has
been turning the ties towards us.

It's favorable now, but yeah, when
we realized, oh, this is not really

helping as much as we thought
we had to come up with a plan B.

Edwin: So how is that working out since,
that, I guess that naiveness within

the industry, I guess really the bright
lights in your eye, like, how has that

shifted now and what are you seeing?

Emma: Honestly, I'm a little jaded.

Okay, I'm a lot jaded now.

I've been in the industry for eight years.

Yeah.

They tell you that when you're in
blockchains, like five years everywhere,

like I have gray hair that I mostly hide.

Yeah.

Now I'm more realistic and now I tend
to look at what, what's happening.

Other industries that have disrupted
that are now more mainstream.

Everyone talks about the
internet back in 20, like 2000.

We're looking at that.

What happened to them?

Like what lessons did they learn the
hard way that we can perhaps learn

from them and just not run a run
into a brick wall like we have been.

Edwin: Yeah, no, a hundred percent.

I'm curious because as we talked
to a range of business leaders

everything from blockchain to SAS.

I'm wondering with these changes
and with the promise of crypto,

how do you lead like your teams?

Stakeholders clients, how do you lead
them to overcome those challenges?

Emma: Have a plan.

I write everything down.

So I Mean what worked for me in
universities what's working for

me now you have a plan no figure
out what it is that you want.

Edwin: Yep.

Emma: Most people who aren't doing
well, it's because they don't have

a plan They don't know They don't
really know what they want and they

don't have a plan to get there.

So they go, here's where I am, here's what
my plan is, how am I going to get there?

Yeah.

And then you execute based on that.

Paul: So your plan is to get where?

Emma: Oh okay.

For my overall company, I want better
adoption for blockchain companies, a

recognition that we're really doing good
things and that we're not the enemy.

If it's good for the
industry, let's just do it.

If it's good for people
in the home, let's do it.

If it's not, we understand.

For mining, we're not the boogeyman.

We are really trying to do good things.

And let's just all work together.

We have one planet.

Let's just make the best of it.

Paul: And what are these good
things that are coming because

of what you're pushing forward?

Emma: Okay I'll talk about Bitcoin mining.

One of the things that we're doing
that really make me happy is, in

the beginning we discovered mining
where everyone's just happy, right?

And then we realized, okay, what we're
doing isn't necessarily as good for the

industry as everyone's telling us, right?

So we were like, okay,
how can we make it better?

We have better equipment now, so
equipment is a lot better like it just,

it mines faster, it's more efficient,
and that's really good for the industry.

Other things that we've been doing
that nobody else is doing, which really

gets me going, is that we're mining,
we're setting up more industries in

better countries, better areas where
it's just easier and better and more

environmentally friendly to mine.

What do I mean methane gas?

Okay, you know when you're watching
a movie and you see those oil rigs,

and they have that thing in the sun?

. That's called methane gas.

And so we found a way to siphon
that off and use that to make

electricity to my Bitcoin.

Also, methane gas that we just talked
about, a lot of it comes from cattle poo.

Cattle, right?

We found a way to streamline that
and use that for Bitcoin mining.

Crazy, huh?

Nobody else in any other
industry is really doing that.

We are.

Edwin: Why aren't they doing that?

Emma: I don't know, but
I I really don't know.

But I think it was because the
narrative was so bad for us.

So we had to find other ways.

And then when we looked at the
numbers, we realized we're really

not that bad compared to everything.

We're really not that
bad or emissions it's.

Lobbying we can't fight against they
say one thing we don't have enough money

to circumvent that, but we're trying.

Edwin: Amazing.

Thank you.

I'm just curious What are
the biggest challenges that

you're facing when it comes to?

This vision or this future
that you're creating as well.

Emma: Okay.

So one thing I learned being
an entrepreneur and I didn't

have any anyone to emulate.

I just had to learn it myself.

You can't stand still.

You can't keep doing what you're doing.

You have to be like a palm
tree during a hurricane.

You have to be able to like,
you can't be like an oak tree

or else you're going to break.

I love this industry.

I love blockchain.

I love Bitcoin mining.

Guess what?

It's not going to last forever.

We only have a 21 million bitcoin that
can be mined and right now we only have 1.

5 million left So what is what
are we going to do after this?

We're looking into data centers for AI.

It's pretty much the same thing We just
need to change up a few things that

work for bitcoin mining, but don't work
for AI And that's what we're heading

to and my team sat me down in 2022 and
said listen, It's going to get harder

to mine bitcoin and so we have a plan.

And so we have a really good plan
that's working out We're almost at the

stage of signing a really amazing deal.

And I'm pretty proud of the next steps.

So you can't, what I've learned
from all this is you can't just sit

back and go, okay, we're doing well.

Life is good.

what's going to happen in three years,
what's going to happen in five years.

I always worry about my employees.

It's like having kids.

Like everyone has mortgages, right?

I want to make sure that everyone
gets paid so they can pay their

mortgage, things like that.

So I'm always thinking three to
five years down the road, how

can I plan to make sure that the
company's better, that my employees

are happier, and things like that.

Edwin: Yeah, so how do you thinking
about your employees and, having these

challenges, in the backyard of mind,
like, how are you, how do you continually

lead and inspire them to do good work?

Emma: What I do isn't for everybody,
but if they understand The vision I

can bring them along for the ride.

They really get it.

So I hired a chief of staff in March
and this poor lady is now in love

with the company because through
a bit of a mix up I went to D.

C.

I said hey come with me.

She was in business class for D.

C.

She's like we all travel business class.

I'm like no.

And then we were in Austin last week.

The client was paying and we're running
late so she went business class.

She's like I love this.

I'm like no not all our
travel is business class.

She's like this is great.

But then she got to meet
everybody face to face.

she said, I get why you do what you do.

She goes, it's absolutely amazing.

The people are nice.

They're all so helpful.

And it's honestly, what I've gotten
me into this is it's the community.

It's the community.

They didn't care what I look like, who
I was, as long as I could help them.

And the community is still
there for me to this day.

And it's really amazing.

Edwin: That's great.

Talk to me about, the community,
what you got you in there, the

people that are inspired working
with you what is the vision of that

future now that you're building?

Emma: Okay, for me, I'm doing well
I was trying to be a little more low

key, because, when you are a minority,
especially if you're black, you tend

to get, Attacked a little bit more.

So I was like, let me stay
a little under the radar.

Just do what I do, but turns out
everybody knows who I am now.

So I might as well keep going
like guns blazing, my vision is

to build a billion dollar company.

I think I can achieve this
hopefully in the next five years.

Build a billion dollar company,
still be We want to make sure

we do good things regarding ESG.

we have to work with Gas.

But how can we mitigate
the effects of that?

So build a really good company
internationally continue what

we're doing and eventually perhaps
an ambassadorship by when I'm 60,

Edwin: That's amazing.

Just digging in, like you're at
this billion dollar company you

have these good investments.

Everyone's grown.

What does your world look like?

What does the world of your employees

Emma: still doing what I'm doing?

I think the secret to a good
job is to like what you do.

I might not like what I do every
day, all day, but at some point

during the day I'm still happy.

I still live downtown Toronto,
and I come from banking.

And occasionally I will have
to have a meeting at 8 o'clock.

And I see everybody walking to
work, and it's like drones, right?

And I'm just like, that's
not me anymore, right?

Like last week I got a little teary eyed.

And we were, I did A bell ringing at TMX.

. And I was like in my Uber,
going past those people and I

was like, that's not me anymore.

And look at me here eight years later.

And I had did a video and I was
like getting a little teary eyed.

Just like if you work hard and work
smart, working smart's, very important.

You can realize your dreams

Paul: You wanna build a
billion dollar company.

Emma: Yeah.

And building.

Paul: And you certainly are.

Why?

What do you want to do with
building a dollar company?

Emma: I don't know.

I just know that women, I just
know that more women need to be

recognized for being smart and
doing all these really great things.

And I like to set goals for myself.

I don't see limits.

I just see, I want to do this.

I'm going to do it.

And yeah, I decided to do it.

Paul: Do you see yourself making things
possible for women or for minorities

or for under underserved communities?

Emma: Yeah, I do.

So one of the things that's interesting
for me, so I'm originally Jamaican and

I came to Canada and I learned things.

I'm still learning things to this day.

I've been here since I was like 15, 16,
and I already came with a sense of self.

So I want to do something.

I just did it right.

But then I learned during the pandemic,
good Lord, three years ago, someone

said to me it was a zoom call.

They said, Emma, you came here with
a sense of self and you had already

seen other black people achieve this.

We grew up here and we're not in
the history books or anything.

And so we didn't know that
we could accomplish this.

And I was like, Oh, it never occurred to
me that I couldn't accomplish anything.

If I want to do it, I just do it.

I just, once again, I make a plan.

I make a plan for everything I do.

I do.

It makes me happy to make plans.

And then you look at, are they executable?

Does it, is it worth your time?

Do I need to get advice
on how to do things?

But yeah, every single thing
i've literally hit almost all my

milestones Almost all of them.

I have one and I had
a meeting with a lady.

About it yesterday I want to
get to the the main stage of

davos the world economic forum.

I'm on the secondary and tertiary
stages The catch is to get on the main

stage You got to pay a lot of money
and I don't want to pay You're like,

oh, how much money do you have to pay?

Yeah, unless you're like a CEO of
one of the fortune 500 companies and

even then they do pay you pay 250,000
to be considered to put in the pool

for them to choose who they want.

No, that's to put in the pool so then
but if you want so You're paying a lot

more to be guaranteed and even then
they want you to be part of the fortune

500 Which is just absolutely nice

Paul: So you, you talk about, okay,
mining Bitcoin, but then you like also

talk about mining and the off gassing and
stuff that, how did you link those two?

Emma: Oh when everybody in 2020 was
telling us how bad Bitcoin mining was,

we had to find something that was better
for the environment and things like that.

And people were like methane gas is a
really good way to create electricity

so that we can mine Bitcoin.

What are the, how do you get methane gas?

Number one, oil.

We all we do like oil, but like,
how can we we've got to figure out a

way, a gentleman in Alberta actually
figured out a way to streamline that

gas and then use it for Bitcoin mining.

And then somebody else was like,
what about for for animals?

They're the number one reason.

That's why everyone's oh, go vegetarian.

It's better for the environment because
cows, that's a lot of methane gas.

And so that's how we were
able to, somebody worked on

it and found a way to do it.

Paul: Yeah.

Emma: If there's a problem, just
give people the right incentive,

they'll find a solution.

Edwin: Emma, again, thank
you for joining us today.

Emma: Thank you.

Edwin: That's it.

Biz leaders.

Thanks for joining me on
this special episode of the

business leadership podcast.

Part of the future narrator
mini series recorded live.

At the collision conference.

It was such an amazing conversation
with Emma exploring her journey.

From banking to blockchain and her
innovative vision for the future.

Check the show notes in the app
for links to all the resources that

we discussed to connect with her.

And to learn more about the
future narrative project.

And by the way, if you're interested
in reading more about Emma and

the other amazing business leaders
that we profiled at collision.

Please.

Join our waitlist for upcoming book.

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Until next time have a 100 X day.