Earning his PhD in Geography and Environmental Management from the University of Waterloo, Yuanming helped grow Ecopia from a three-person company with no revenue to an international industry leader with 50 employees, hundreds of customers, and national recognition despite the COVID-19 pandemic challenges. The company has been named a recipient of the Deloitte Fast 50 and the Deloitte Fast 500 for the last two years in a row.
Ecopia partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and Maxar Technologies to create comprehensive digital maps of sub-Saharan Africa. The image collection, which began in late 2019, mapped 417 million buildings, 17 million linear kilometres of roads and 582 hectares of forests across 51 countries. This mapping has helped empower the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to give Tanzania’s government critical life-saving data they need for vaccine distribution, population mapping and disaster response.
Yuanming has always been a strong and active proponent of the Waterloo community; participating in forums, speaking events and mentoring students and budding entrepreneurs. Yuanming also ensures that Ecopia recruits heavily from the University of Waterloo – leading to many engineering and business hires over the years. In addition, he continues to expand his knowledge by reading books and enjoys watching movies and basketball games in his free time.