Entrepreneurship

As the pandemic drove people online to work, study and connect with loved ones, Leah Zhang-Kennedy doubled down on her commitment to making digital spaces safer for everyone.

Leah Zhang-Kennedy
Professor, Faculty of Arts
> Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business
> Waterloo Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute

Hamid Tizhoosh was looking for a new idea, a fresh start, when he began talking to doctors about how they do their jobs and how they might do them better.

Hamid Tizhoosh
Professor, Faculty of Engineering
> KIMIA Lab
> Waterloo.ai

WATERLOO, Ont. (February 3, 2021) – Indigenous post-secondary students from across Canada will soon be able to participate in a new entrepreneurship training program.

Hosted by St. Paul’s University College at the University of Waterloo and lead by industrious entrepreneur Jacob Crane, the program will be administered online by the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre and GreenHouse social impact incubator at the College.

Sarah Cheng (BAFM ’08, MAcc ’09) stepped into the Dragons’ Den with her five-year-old daughter while eight months pregnant. The Waterloo alumnus pitched her small business, Bluish, and ended up striking a deal from Canadian investor Arlene Dickinson.  

Canadian online story-sharing company Wattpad Corp is to be acquired by Korean internet company Naver Corp. in an estimated $754-million CAD cash and stock deal later this year.  

Like an amber river, whisky* runs through the landscape of Canadian history. Some might argue that without the economic fuel whisky provided, this country might not exist. It’s been produced here for more than 250 years; at one point, whisky was our leading manufactured export. And as Canada’s earliest and largest taxpayers, the whisky barons bankrolled much of the country’s early infrastructure.

An online education company co-founded by two Waterloo Engineering alumni announced this week that it has secured $159 million in backing to fuel its expansion.

Prodigy Education, one of the fastest-growing education technology companies in North America, was launched by Rohan Mahimker and Alex Peters, who both graduated in 2011 from the mechatronics engineering program at Waterloo.

Upkar Arora (BA '85, MAcc '85) understands just how powerful our investments can be.

He joins us to talk about his work at Rally Assets, an impact investment firm. Plus, he speaks about his personal investments to Waterloo as an alumnus, donor and committed volunteer. Why does he care so deeply about our University community? How does he hope these investments will impact the world? How can others make an impact too?