Blog

Whether or not an entrepreneur should make their hobby into a career is a large debate within the business community. This path does not work for everyone, but through the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program, I have been able to take my hobby and turn it into a premise for my business, The Mod Market.

After injuring myself racing motocross, I decided to try a safer motorsport hobby so I turned to automotive tuning. I love the artistic expression, representation of individual taste, and illustration of a car enthusiast’s personality that each vehicle embodies.

Harry Gandhi, an Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) and BET 300 student, recently traveled to Silicon Valley to attend Startup Grind 2014 and a "Biotech Business Bootcamp" as a semi-finalist in the OneStart Competition, the world's largest biotech idea competition.

As entrepreneurs, most of us will probably end up going to Silicon Valley at some point, whether it’s to meet potential investors, build relationships or learn about the "Valley mentality."

These are five main take-aways I learnt in my recent trip to Silicon Valley.

In January I had the opportunity to travel to the region of Kerala, in South-west India to participate in an International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Women: The Role of Business Incubation & Social Business Development. The conference was primarily based out of Assumption College, a women’s college that is affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University.

At the conference, I had the chance to talk to and build relationships with a number of students and faculty at Assumption College. These students are keen, well spoken and many are driven to start their own business.

On Tuesday, January 28th, St. Paul's GreenHouse hosted a talk, Larry Smith presents, "So You Want to Change the World."

Victoria Suen, one of the Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) students that attended the event, wrote about a few of her takeaways:

Have a big vision, expect more from yourself, consider the challenges you face, ask tough questions, develop your understanding, social enterprises are businesses.

I was elated to be part of one of the teams selected in the top 5 finalists for the RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge. Following the announcement, our team banded together to strategize a winning plan of action. We had to take our "RBC+" socially responsible investing solution for using big data to the next level!

When the week of the competition finally arrived, I think my team members and I were all both nervous and excited. The anticipation grew in the days leading up to our final moment of truth.

Calvin Chu has travelled from Waterloo, Ontario to San Francisco, California to Shenzhen, China all to develop his startup, Palette. What started as a fourth year design project during Calvin's Mechatronics degree at the University of Waterloo quickly grew into an international entrepreneurial pursuit.

Palette is a freeform, tactile interface that gives hands-on control of your favourite software.

Palette is a hardware platform made up of a variety of modules that lets you build a physical interface customized to your personal needs. Each module has a single physical input, like a button, dial or a slider. You snap together modules like Lego, no coding or soldering required!

As an English major, working at the Conrad Business Centre had its share of challenges. Surprisingly enough, what I was challenged by the most was the business terminology everyone used. As my Co-op term comes to an end, I’d like to share with you how working here has demystified some simply mysterious terms for me. On top of that, I would like to talk about my experience working alongside this year’s cohort of Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) students.

Ecosystem. When I first came to Conrad, I heard this word a LOT. Actually, it was more like a phrase: “the entrepreneurial ecosystem” or “the Waterloo ecosystem”.

Imran is different. Are you?

To cap off Global Entrepreneurship Week, we are happy to share a video of young entrepreneur Imran Jiwa. Imran, a University of Waterloo undergraduate student studying Arts and Business, has a strong entrepreneurial spirit, which naturally led him to the Conrad Centre. Imran is currently enrolled in Conrad’s BET300: Foundations of Venture Creation course, an introductory undergraduate course that guides students through processes of turning an idea into a venture. Course instructor, Wayne Chang, noticed Imran’s talent early on.

Clearpath is different. Are you?

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) alumnus Matt Rendall launched his startup company Clearpath Robotics during his time at the Conrad Centre. He continues to keep the company’s entrepreneurial spirit alive by hiring fellow MBET graduates.

Clearpath Robotics is the leading employer of MBET graduates. We have reached out to each alumnus and asked them how obtaining an MBET and working at Clearpath has helped them to reach their career goals.

Melissa Young Sing

Previous Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET)student, Melissa Young Sing, recently sent us an e-mail after finding an unexpected note while she was packing up her room. This note was a list of goals Melissa had written at the beginning of her year as an MBET student.

Believing in the value proposition of this note, Melissa wanted us to pass this along to prospective and current MBET students. She even included a picture of her hand-written note. Having forgotten that she even wrote these goals down, finding this artefact was a pleasant surprise. Here is what the list included.