Thursday, January 27, 2022
Despite the challenges faced in 2021, students, staff and alumni at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business continued to demonstrate resilience and accomplished many achievements. Here are a few highlights from the past year.
Winter Term
Shane Kilpatrick (MBET '18), Founder and CEO of Membio
- In late January, six teams of Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) Ìýstudents participated in the virtual 2021ÌýAPEX Business Plan Competition. All winners are MBET 2021 studentsÌýincluding,ÌýMaaz Hashimi and Arsalan BadarÌýwho placed Second Overall for their venture, ASPx; Stefanie Bruinsma who won Second Place in the Elevator Pitch for her venture, MissMechanic; and Hanna KyoskiÌýand Paul Marchildon who won Best Social Enterprise for their venture, Cove.Ìý
- Two teams consisting of current and former Conrad School undergraduates and MBET students, placed within the top three at the 2021 . Tooba Mohtsham and Gabriel Saunders (MBET 2020) took home the top prize for . Three undergraduate BET course students, Nicholas Jelich (Science and Business '19), Liahm Ruest (Master's of Rhetoric and Communications Design '21)Ìýand Alexander Racher (Environment and Business '21)Ìýplaced in the top three for Team Prokaryo.
- In March, MBETÌý2018 alumnus, Shane Kilpatrick was featured in a story on À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ News. Kilpatrick is the Founder and CEO of Membio, a Canadian startup focused on developing a bio-manufacturing process that will allow the production of functioning red blood cells in a lab.Ìý
- , a startup based in Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ has raised $3.32 million CAD through a seed round of funding. The co-founding team consists of several University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ alumni including MBET 2017 graduate, Amr Abdelgawad. .
Spring Term
- MBET-student ventures ASPx and EMRE along with Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op)-student ventures Microbuild, Scena and Maesos, participated in the spring term finals. Maesos, founded by BET 300Ìý(Foundations of Venture Creation)Ìýand E Co-op students were one of the winners. .
- Rachel Bartholomew (MBET 2014)Ìýwas featured in a À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Magazine article where she discussed her story and motivation behind her venture,Ìý. The startup is to offer an at-home rehabilitation system that provides clinicians with real-time data on their patient’s pelvic floor health.Ìý
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In August, the Conrad School appointed two new faculty members: Horatio Morgan and Dean Pacey. Horatio is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Business and Organizational Behaviour and teaches BET 340 (Essentials of Entrepreneurial Planning and Execution). Dean joined us as a lecturer and currently teaches BET 430 (Sales Fundamentals) in addition to delivering sales workshops for MBET students. .
- Alex Rodrigues and Brandon Moak are former BET 300 and students, who have taken their venture Ìýpublic.ÌýRead about theirÌýjourneyÌýhere.
Fall Term
Yvonne Osagie (MBET ‘23 candidate), Founder of Medical Melanin
- Gabriel Saunders (MBET 2020) led the team to victory at the . In addition to the opportunity to present their project to North America’s top environmental officials at the CEC’s 2021 Council session, the team won $15,000 in seed funding. .
- , a financial technology company founded by Noah Buchman (MBET 2009) and another À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Engineering Alumni, .
- All eight semi-finalist teams at the fall 2021 Concept $5k are made up of current and former undergraduate BET 300 and/or BET 320Ìý(Entrepreneurial Strategy) and graduate MBET students. The winning teams include Learnlist, PERCare, Hydro House and Microbuild.Ìý
- Yvonne Osagie, a current part-time MBET student won the Fall 2021 Quantum Valley Investments® Problem Pitch, for her venture . She started her venture to tackle the problem of Women of Color being misdiagnosed in the medical field at a greater rate compared to non-Women of Color.