From enterprise co-op student to business owner

Emily Peat started her undergraduate degree like most young people - with a desire to study hard and prepare for a career. This week she graduates from the University of Waterloo as a partner in her own business.

Peat, a new grad of Waterloo’s civil and environmental engineering program, is already a full business partner at Eat Green Organics. She’s also the first Waterloo student to graduate with the option in entrepreneurship, a new initiative started last fall for engineering students interested in venture creation or corporate entrepreneurship.

“The entrepreneurship option blends the technical, problem-solving nature of engineering with the creative, fast-paced nature of business,” says Peat. “I have created my own job. Upon graduation, I can contribute to employment opportunities for other people and I get to work on something I believe in everyday.”

It all started with an E Co-op term

She started an organic food delivery business, EcoPlace Organics, during an Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) term while she was in her third-year. E Co-op is a program run through Waterloo’s Conrad Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. With the support of mentors and professionals in industry, students take a co-op term to develop their own business. Throughout the term, students also have access to workspace, seminars, conferences and presentations.

“Emily has grown her company with passion, and her entrepreneurial adventures have been filled with many ups and downs – creating, building and operating her own startup business meant making difficult decisions every day,” said Wayne Chang, a lecturer and the enterprise co-op coordinator at the Conrad Centre.

One invaluable experience for Peat was the merger last year of her startup with Eat Green Organics. The merger has increased efficiencies and helped both business owners better share their mission to build healthy communities by supporting organic food producers.

“When it really comes down to it, we are in this every day because we are passionate about the same idea: a local food system that values sustainable agriculture and healthy communities,” said Peat. “We are so much more efficient when we pool our resources and work together."