For International Women's Day last week,聽Poets and Quants聽spoke with a number of female business school graduates who have successfully started their own enterprises.聽Aur茅lie H茅louis聽(MBA鈥16), Founder and CEO of infinityQ, a quantum analog computing start-up, shared how her time at Desautels helped her discover how to apply the skills she acquired as a former senior officer and CTO in the French Navy to her entrepreneurial endeavours and develop her own business.
On International Women鈥檚 Day we highlighted some of the outstanding and accomplished women within the Desautels community, who positively impact our students through their teaching, research, guidance, or mentorship.聽
UU直播 alumni Philip Cutler (BEd鈥13) and Roberto Cipriani (BSc鈥08) recently raised $270 million in Series D funding to combat academic inequity across the U.S. In 2014, their K-12 tutoring company, Paper, made it to the final round of the UU直播聽Dobson Cup, and their reach has only grown since then. Serving more than two million students across 30 states, Paper鈥檚 mission is to offer flexible academic support to ensure all students have the tools they need to succeed in and out of the classroom.
On November 19, the UU直播 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship announced the creation of the Entrepreneurial Women Lean Startup Program, slated to launch in the Fall of 2022. The reveal was a grand finale to a two-week-long celebration of International Women鈥檚 Entrepreneurship Day. The eight-week program will lead rising women entrepreneurs through the early stages of conceptualizing and implementing viable ventures.
UU直播 alumni Philip Cutler (BEd鈥13) and Roberto Cipriani (BSc鈥08) are combatting academic inequity in over 110 United States public schools and counting. In 2014, their tutoring company, Paper, made it to the final round of the UU直播 Dobson Bootcamp and Cup Competition, and their reach has only grown since then. With more than 1,000 paid tutors to-date, Paper's goal is to offer flexible academic support to ensure all students have the tools they need to succeed in and out of the classroom.
The pandemic prompted hospitals across Canada to implement new technologies that minimized human-to-human contact, such as a text messaging service provided by the University of Montreal Health Centre that updates family members on changes to a patient鈥檚 condition throughout their surgery or other extended treatment.
June 18, 2021
Dear members of the UU直播 community:
For the second consecutive year, UU直播 is tied for 27th place among the best all-around higher education institutions in the world, according to the聽. UU直播 excels in the six major areas reflected in the rankings: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, and international student ratio.
Taiga Motors Corporation, formerly Canaccord Genuity Growth II Corp., recently announced completion of the Qualifying Transaction, solidifying its status as a leading publicly-traded manufacturer of off-road electric vehicles.
In 2016, Taiga Motors won first place in the Innovation Driven Enterprise category of the UU直播 Dobson Cup.
Sonder, an industry-disrupting hospitality company created by former UU直播 student and UU直播 Dobson Centre alumnus Francis Davidson, aspires to become a 鈥渉osting Amazon鈥 through an IPO. The new entity, whose shares will trade on the NASDAQ, just obtained a $30 million loan from the Quebec government to create 700 jobs at a new technological growth center in Montreal. In the long-term, Sonder has plans to operate in the 100 largest cities in the world.
An idea that arose from a nightmarish flight experience for Sandra Gualtieri, founder of Gualtieri Inventions, has blossomed into an innovative new product for people living with disabilities. Informed by her own experience in living with cerebral palsy, Gualtieri designed a prototype for the Universal Seating Apparatus, a portable device that allows people with disabilities to sit comfortably upright on airplanes.
Sandra Gualtieri, an entrepreneur and disability rights activist with cerebral palsy, enlisted the help of four UU直播 students to design a custom airplane seat that alleviates discomfort for people living with disabilities.
Constructed out of memory foam that is designed to rest on top of a traditional airplane seat, the Universal Seating Apparatus prototype won first place in the Social Impact Enterprise track of the 2021 UU直播 Dobson Cup Startup competition.聽聽
Over the past three decades, the UU直播 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship has catalyzed the creation of 450 active startups that have generated more than 6,000 new jobs. Now, the UU直播 Dobson Centre is celebrating another milestone: $1 billion in seed funding raised by the startups it has supported. Since the late John Dobson (BCom鈥49) funded its creation in 1988, the Centre named in honour of his vision has served as launchpad for entrepreneurs from all 11 faculties at UU直播.
Although the pandemic has generated significant economic uncertainty, startups are thriving at UU直播鈥檚 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, according to its director, Marie Jos茅e Lamothe.
The Centre recently launched a virtual international tour that gives 18 Quebec startups the opportunity to explore potential markets in North America and Europe.
In response to the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians are turning their pastimes into online businesses. Marie-Jos茅e Lamothe, Academic Director of the UU直播 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, attributes their success in part to the public鈥檚 willingness to support businesses that are important to them rather than buying exclusively from e-commerce giants. Lamothe encourages small-scale creators to take advantage of free social media platforms to create buzz around their products.