The academic engine for entrepreneurs

Build ventures. Drive innovation. Lead change.

The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is the academic engine for entrepreneurs. Affiliated with Canada’s most innovative university, we provide students with hands-on experiences in innovative commercialization and strategic start-up success, helping them thrive as the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.


Undergraduate Students

Enhance your undergraduate degree by joining Conrad School's specialized programs, experiences, and courses.

Graduate Students

Commercialize your ideas and earn your master's degree, PhD, or complement your studies with graduate offerings.

News

The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is proud to host and sponsor the Problem Lab’s Fall 2025 Problem Pitch Competition Finals, where Waterloo students showcase their research-driven approaches to tackling today’s most pressing challenges.

Unlike traditional pitch competitions that focus on solutions, the Problem Pitch challenges students to dig deeper, spotlighting their ability to understand the root of a significant problem. This emphasis on problem analysis is what often sparks the most transformative innovations.

Finalist teams will present their research to a panel of industry leaders and alumni for a chance to win $7,500 in prize funding.

Dr. Nada Basir, Associate Professor at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, is the lead author of a forthcoming Feature Article in the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) — one of the Financial Times Top 50 academic journals in the world. 

The paper, titled “Disrupted Selves in Transition: How Women Navigate Fertility Treatments in the Context of Work,” co-authored with Dr. Jamie Ladge (Boston College) and Dr. Serena Sohrab (Ontario Tech University), examines how deeply personal experiences can shape, and at times unsettle, one’s professional identity. 

For Ameya Kale (MBET '22), entrepreneurship began not in a classroom, but in the kitchens of home chefs across India. After launching a home-cooked meal delivery platform, he found himself captivated by the startup world, but acutely aware of how much more there was to learn. 

“I was drawn to the Waterloo region’s vibrant startup ecosystem and the MBET program’s reputation for blending academic insight with real-world application,” he says. “I wanted to immerse myself in a community where I could learn how to navigate early-stage ventures more effectively.” 

Ameya’s goal coming into the program was clear: find his footing in a product-focused role, help shape solutions from the ground up, and connect with other founders to better understand the entrepreneurial journey. 

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