From failing twice to Canada’s most innovative university

Friday, August 10, 2018

Written by Nirbhay Singh (BASc '17)

I grew up in a small village (Chhangla) with population of 1500 in the state of Punjab in Hoshiarpur (India). I lived there for 18 years until I move to Canada to start post-secondary education. I remember what it felt like to grow up in a village with many things to do outdoors. I used to go out for cycling in the evening with my friends and roam around other villages. I had a lot of fun during my childhood but I would say, I was very poor with academics and I failed “TWICE” in grade 2.

No one could ever imagine that a person can work that hard in just grade 3 or 4 and hence would eventually make it to Canada’s best school. From that day onward I never looked back and kept working hard which led me to the University of Waterloo in Canada. Now I am a proud graduate from a prestigious university and my mom still can’t believe that I graduated.

Nirbhay Singh

Recently my book, which I have been writing over the past year, got published. It was the story which always kept me pushing to continue writing and finish the book. I believe that my story is inspiring which will serve as a source of inspiration to millions of people in India and across the world. This was the one thought which helped me to write the book and bring the story to life in front of people: how a village boy who failed twice in grade 2 made it to Canada’s most innovative university.

Nowadays, I am working with the leading HVAC company (HTS Engineering) in Toronto.  I co-founded a promising not for profit organization (Engineers for Hope) and I was also a world class TEDx speaker.

Nirbhay Singh giving a TED talk

In addition to this I was also the Engineering Ambassador of United Nation’s HeForShe movement and advocated women’s empowerment through guest lecture series in the leadership, academic and startup world. I have also become the first South Asian in the history of the University of Waterloo to receive the Sandford Fleming Foundation’s Leadership Award.

Nirbhay Singh recently launched a new business, The Global MBA. The Global MBA is one of its own kind program based out of Toronto (Canada) which combines education and travelling together for 3 months to 3 different countries with 30 inspiring individuals from different parts of the world.