Dear BTF Community,
From selling clothing at Grand Beach to building an international apparel business, Ash Modha, Co-Founder & CEO of Mondetta Clothing, has spent four decades navigating growth, reinvention and some remarkable ownership decisions, including selling a majority stake and eventually buying it back.
At BTF Winnipeg, Ash joined Bram Strain, President & CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, to share lessons on entrepreneurship, adapting to change and building a lasting legacy.
Key Takeaways:
- Keep evolving. Long-term growth requires the willingness to adapt beyond early success.
- Choose partners with purpose. Shared values and a clear vision matter when bringing in outside investment.
- Build beyond yourself. Developing future leaders is essential to creating a lasting business.
Enjoy,
Mark
From Grand Beach To The Global Stage
Mondetta’s story began with an entrepreneurial idea and a little ingenuity.
After arriving in Winnipeg as a refugee from Uganda in 1973, Ash grew up surrounded by a strong work ethic and a determination to create opportunities.
Inspired by the colourful beachwear he encountered during a trip to Jamaica, he and his partners began selling clothing at Manitoba’s Grand Beach in 1986.
The early days required creativity. When their clothing struggled to attract customers, they brought a skateboard half-pipe to the beach, turning their stand into an attraction.
Mondetta’s breakthrough came from another unexpected source.
Driving home from Grand Beach, Ash spotted a German flag on a passing car. That image inspired the company’s distinctive flag sweatshirts, which gained popularity as international events brought national identity into the spotlight.
Demand accelerated, taking Mondetta from a small Manitoba business into markets across North America, Europe and Asia.
Looking back, Ash credits a combination of timing, opportunity and entrepreneurial instinct.
“It was really a lot of good luck and not a lot of good management.”
Behind that modest assessment was a willingness to recognize opportunities and act on them.
As the company grew, the founders also learned that maintaining momentum meant continually adapting.
By the mid-1990s, changing consumer tastes and the collapse of a major international distributor created significant financial pressure.
Rather than remain dependent on the products that had made Mondetta successful, the founders began developing new opportunities.
A relationship with Costco became an important turning point, helping Mondetta expand its manufacturing capabilities, private-label operations and eventual move into activewear.
The company evolved from a fashion-driven brand into a more diversified apparel business, building capabilities that would support its growth for decades.
For owners, Mondetta’s experience illustrates how the willingness to reinvent a business can become one of its greatest long-term strengths.
Finding The Right Partners For Growth
By 2014, Mondetta’s founders were exploring another opportunity: expanding into direct-to-consumer retail.
Recognizing that the next phase would require different expertise, they partnered with US private equity firm Webster Capital, ultimately selling a majority stake.
The partnership brought a new perspective on growth, along with a different approach to investment and risk.
“We take methodical risks. We don’t take big risks.”
Ash explained that the founders had traditionally favoured a measured approach to expansion, while their new partner pursued a more aggressive direct-to-consumer strategy.
Over time, those differences prompted the founders to reconsider the company’s direction.
For owners evaluating outside capital, the experience offers an important lesson in alignment.
A prospective investor may share your ambitions for growth while having very different expectations about how quickly to pursue them, how much capital to commit and which risks to accept.
Understanding those differences early can help establish a stronger partnership and clearer expectations for both sides.
Ash’s experience also reinforced the importance of protecting the values that define a business.
When negotiating the original transaction, the founders secured a provision preventing Mondetta from being relocated outside Winnipeg.
That decision reflected their commitment to the community where the business began and helped preserve an important part of its identity.
A New Chapter Of Ownership
By 2019, Mondetta’s founders saw an opportunity to take the company in a new direction.
They began negotiating to repurchase the majority stake, reaching an initial agreement in November of that year.
Then the pandemic arrived.
Having witnessed the emerging situation during his travels in Asia, Ash recognized the potential disruption to global supply chains and began preparing Mondetta’s operations.
As the crisis developed, the company drew on its longstanding international manufacturing relationships to help supply personal protective equipment.
Those relationships, built through decades in the apparel industry, allowed Mondetta to respond to an urgent new market need.
In October 2020, the founders completed the buyback, regaining control of the company they had started more than three decades earlier.
The experience brought together many of the qualities that had sustained Mondetta throughout its history: adaptability, strong relationships and a willingness to make difficult decisions when circumstances changed.
It also gave the founders the opportunity to shape the company’s next chapter around their long-term vision.
Building A Legacy Beyond The Founders
Today, Ash is focused on ensuring Mondetta continues to evolve.
The company has expanded its retail presence and developed Modern Ambition, a menswear brand focused on making luxury-quality clothing more accessible.
For Ash, retail represents an opportunity to strengthen Mondetta’s independence and relationship with its customers.
“The reason to get into retail was so we can control our own destiny.”
That sense of independence is central to his longer-term ambition.
“We want to leave a legacy business in this province like what Princess Auto has done.”
Achieving that vision means preparing Mondetta to succeed beyond its founding team.
Rather than automatically passing leadership to their children, Ash explained that the founders want experienced professionals within the business to help shape its future, including opportunities to participate in ownership.
“We believe that this organization has to be run by the professionals who are with us and have been with us for so long.”
It’s an approach to succession that recognizes the importance of developing people who understand the company and are invested in its long-term success.
That commitment extends to how Mondetta operates.
In 2021, the company became a Certified B Corporation, reflecting its focus on responsible business practices.
Ash described how relatively simple changes, including reducing paper consumption, helped build momentum for broader sustainability initiatives.
“If you do it one step at a time, you can actually make a difference.”
For owners thinking about their own legacy, the message is practical: meaningful change often begins with deliberate decisions made consistently over time.
Final Reflection
When asked what advice he would give young entrepreneurs, Ash reflected on the challenges that had shaped his own journey.
“Most people give up before they hit that stage. You have to persevere. You’re going to have ups and downs, and that’s what happens.”
From a clothing stand at Grand Beach to an international apparel business, Mondetta’s growth has been shaped by the founders’ willingness to pursue opportunities, learn from experience and continually adapt.
The decision to bring in outside investment, the eventual buyback and the focus on developing future leadership have all contributed to Ash’s understanding of what it takes to build a lasting company.
For owners considering their own next chapter, Mondetta offers an encouraging example of how businesses can evolve through different stages of growth while remaining connected to the values that shaped them.
Four decades on, Ash is still looking ahead, with an ambition to build a business that continues creating opportunities in Manitoba for generations to come.