Kevin Reed knew early in life where his future lay. By the time he was in his third year of an Arts degree at the University of Ottawa, he knew for certain. Mr. Reed wanted to be in financial services. Not as an employee, mind you. Kevin Reed wanted to build a financial services company. In June, 2003, 14 years later, that dream became reality.

Kevin Reed, left, president of Grey Horse Capital, and Paul Smith, director of equity transfer services, offer made-in-Canada financial services.

Employees Jennifer Tan, left, and Filitsa Spanogiannis display certificates at Grey Horse Capital.

Grey Horse Capital Corp. Head office Toronto Business sector Financial Services Market Canada Revenue $5-million Number of Employees 27 Web site http://www.greyhorsecapital.com/ Read more Entrepreneur business profiles at http://www.nationalpost.com/entrepreneur

Vision, innovation, passion, determination, leadership. These are but a few of the characteristics that define entrepreneurial success and that Roynat Capital, Canada's leading mid-market merchant bank, believes should be showcased as proof that entrepreneurial dreams can indeed become reality.

Mr. Reed's publicly traded holding company, now called Grey Horse Capital Corp., acquired Equity Transfer Services of Toronto for $6-million in cash and shares. Formed in 1990, Equity Transfer acts as transfer agent for a growing number of small- and mid-cap public companies. Revenues are about $5-million a year.

Equity Transfer is just the start, Mr. Reed says. Grey Horse is actively seeking other acquisitions. As Canada increasingly reshapes its economy into one dominated by small- to medium-sized business, the demand for financial services companies focused on that market segment is certain to grow mightily, he says.

The immediate focus is on growth. He and his partner, Paul Smith, say they will pursue new clients looking for a different level of service from what they are getting from larger transfer agents. They can count on organic growth, as well. Every year, Canada's resident population of publicly traded companies grows by about 4% to 5%, he says, and Equity Transfer's sights will be focused on every one of them.

"What we can do is provide an alternative to today's large transfer agents," he explains. "Starting in the early 1990s and running up until about 2000, there was enormous consolidation in the trust company industry. The major financial institutions bought up the independent trust companies. What typically happened then was that, if a public company was not large enough, it did not get the care and service it had received in the past from its new, larger transfer agent. We believe there is considerable pent-up demand in the market for a national transfer company that specializes in small- to mid-sized public companies."

Transfer services require a bit of explaining. All public companies must, by law, tend to a myriad of housekeeping details when it comes to the securities they issue, such as stocks and debentures. They must, for example, maintain registers of their securities, validate and transfer ownership, maintain control of securities issued and outstanding, replace share certificates lost and issue new ones.

While some corporations handle these chores in-house, most prefer to outsource them. That is where Equity Transfer Services and Grey Horse Capital come in. "What we do is act as a trusted outsourcing resource for public companies," Mr. Reed says.

Mr. Reed's path from university undergrad to president and chief executive of a budding financial services company has not been direct. While the goal was clear, the route took some unusual turns. The only common theme throughout his 13-year career has been his proven skills as an entrepreneur.

Fresh from university, Mr. Reed and his university roommate, Paul Butler, formed an Ottawa company called Magellan Engineering Inc. Its stated business was operational risk analysis. No matter that Mr. Reed had no formal training in the field -- his partner, a chemical engineer, did, and Mr. Reed proved a quick study.

Shortly after hanging up their shingles, Mr. Reed visited family in Sarnia and made some cold sales calls on local petrochemical companies. One asked if Magellan could do an operational risk analysis on a new chemical plant the company was planning to build. He agreed, and Magellan got its first risk assessment client. That contract eventually led to work for The World Bank, analyzing risk for a Terra Nova offshore production facility.

While Mr. Reed continues to own equity in the company, he has little to do with day-to-day operations. "Paul does a tremendous job running Magellan," he says.

His partner has moved from operational risk into risk and security, having worked in Iraq as part of the United Nations weapons inspection program, Mr. Reed says.

In 1999, a new opportunity arose. Again with a partner, Brent Bannerman, Mr. Reed launched a software company called Insurance Engine Inc., based in Boston. The company creates employee benefits software for Fortune 1000 companies. Mr. Reed stayed with Insurance Engine until 2003, when happy circumstance made the move into financial services possible.

As he explains it, his Insurance Engine board of directors included stellar lights of the Canadian financial services industry such as Cedric Ritchie, former chairman of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and Ed Lumley, former vice-chairman of Nesbitt Thomson Securities, now BMO Nesbitt Burns.

In April, 2003, Mr. Reed and Mr. Smith launched AFL Capital Corp. and gained a listing on the TSX Ventures Exchange. The company had $500,000 in the bank and it raised $4.7-million through a new equity issue.

It was a friend who brought Equity Transfer to his attention, he says. The company had been formed by a trio of investors in 1990 and they were ready to sell. A deal was struck and Mr. Reed was in the financial services business. One of the investors, Al Ringler, agreed to stay on for a period after the transaction closed.

The name change to Grey Horse Capital followed in the fall of 2004. "It was just a name Paul and I liked," says Mr. Reed. "It was different and it was distinctive."

The challenge now is competing with giants such as CIBC Mellon and Computershare Trust Company of Canada, the two giants that dominate the field. "Computershare is headquartered in Australia. It is a multi-national [company]. We think that can work in our favour," Mr. Reed says. "What Canada needs are made-in-Canada services delivered by a company that focuses on small- and mid-sized business needs. Service is what will sell our company and service is what we will deliver."