News

This past September, the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business welcomed a new set of University of Waterloo PhD students to the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) classroom through the highly successful Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship program.

The fellowships were awarded to support outstanding, business-minded Waterloo doctoral students who are interested in commercializing their research. The following recipients will complete the three-year part-time program alongside their regular doctoral studies, tuition-free. 

Kelly Zheng, a driven and ambitious entrepreneur, has been named one of Forbes’ 2024 Top 30 Under 30 for her ground-breaking work in the field of clean energy.  

It was only just over a year ago that Zheng embarked on a new academic journey when she was awarded the prestigious Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship which allowed her to take her Master of Business and Technology part-time, alongside her PhD studies. Read on to learn how she did it. 

This fall term, Enterprise Co-op students took part in the Ignition Week pitch competition. Meet the winners!

Dr. Victor Cui, Conrad Research Excellence Chair and an Associate Professor at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, has been awarded the SSHRC Insight Grant for his project, “The risk to Canadian intellectual property rights imposed by foreign subsidiaries.” Nicolas Roulin, a psychology professor from St. Mary’s University is the co-investigator of this project.

The SSHRC Insight Grant supports research excellence in social sciences and humanities research. Funding is available for both emerging and established scholars for research initiatives of two to five years.

When she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2019, Rachel Bartholemew (MBET '14) learned the surgery and radiation would affect her pelvic health for the rest of her life. She began researching rehabilitation options and discovered women were still using devices known as dilators, which were invented in 1938. So, she founded Hyivy Health, a startup that is developing a rehabilitation system to help women recover from everything from cervical cancer and gender-affirming surgery to childbirth.

Marking the end of the spring 2023 term is our termly competition roundup to celebrate the successes of Conrad School students.

Graduate students in the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program and undergraduate students in BET 300 or Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) performed admirably in both on- and off-campus competitions.

We have winners from the annual MBET end-of-year tradeshow, plus wins at an international competition!

This spring term, two batches of Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) students pitched during (two) Ignition Week(s) - meet the spring 2023 pitch winners!

Before switching to E co-op, Madison had done three co-op work terms.

Originally, she planned to continue with a regular co-op stream, but after suffering a concussion, was unable to continue the rest of her co-op terms. Because of this unexpected change, she decided to look further into E Co-op and give it a shot!

Both Madison and her partner were interested in woodworking. Taking their hobby and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), they came up with Beaverdam Designs, a business that specializes in handmade home decor products.

We sent off the MBET class of 2023 last week at the annual end-of-year Tradeshow.

25 student ventures set up on the ground floor of the Engineering 7 building (home to the Conrad School), where passing students, faculty, staff and guests stopped by to learn more about the projects that MBETs have been working on for the last 10 months (or more!).

The Tradeshow was followed by a dinner where speeches were made, dessert was delicious and 5 student ventures were presented with prizes. Check out the winners and their ventures, as well as photography from the event!

Darren Harry Baine is a University of Waterloo undergrad and entrepreneur passionate about inspiring youth to think beyond themselves and create initiatives that advance society. Baine founded The Young Eye, a foundation that supports social growth and development of youth-based institutions in Uganda. Along with a group of friends, Baine also co-founded and hosts a youth motivational talk show also called The Young Eye.

In 2022, Baine was recognized for his outreach and was named to Uganda’s top 40 under 40 list. He says he is humbled by the honour that confirms he is on the right track.