Unique alliance between the University of Waterloo and the Accelerator Centre mentors fledgling social impact founders in the business of doing good

Corporate social responsibility’s “big shift” gives rise to a social impact startup ecosystem

According to Harvard Business School, nearly 70% of employees say they would not work for a company without a strong purpose and 92% of employees who work at a socially responsible company say they would be more likely to recommend their employer to those in their network who are looking for a job.

The shift toward social impact is not only happening within the Fortune 500 world. We are also witnessing this “big shift” happening in the startup ecosystem. The same millennials and zillenials driving corporate change are also turning to entrepreneurship; keenly interested in innovating for social impact.
The social impact startup movement is gaining momentum, promising alternatives to traditional business models. By blending purpose with profit, these companies and their founders are grounded in the principle of positive social change. They are tackling critical social and environmental challenges while demonstrating the potential for financial success.

Between 2022 and 2023, impact investments into socially responsible startups in the US increased by 43%, reaching more than $70 billion. In addition, over 300 new social impact startups emerged in the US in 2023, with founder-led ventures operating across various sectors, including healthcare, energy, education, food systems, and financial inclusion.

Enabling the first step toward social impact entrepreneurship with the Global Impact Creator pilot program

The Global Impact Creator pilot program, an innovative initiative between the University of Waterloo and the Accelerator Centre (AC), is designed to help students, faculty, and recent graduates from UW explore global entrepreneurship opportunities. The program sits squarely in the social impact realm, focused on unmet needs in the critical areas of human, planetary, and animal health and developing innovative solutions that have the potential to make a global impact.

“At the University of Waterloo (UW), we have always encouraged people to fall in love with the problem and develop solutions in response to that problem. That is the key to product market fit. You don't build technology and try to push it into the world without understanding the context around that technology. Equally, in solving a problem, you also have to measure the impact that solving that problem will have on society and the world,” says Sarrah Lal, Director of Innovation at Waterloo Ventures. “The Global Impact Creator pilot program represents a greater recognition that we have to think about how we continuously solve that problem once we've established what a solution to that problem could be.”

Beginning in September 2024 and running until March 2025, seven fledgling founders - six UW students and one professor - will explore and address unmet needs that impact communities in rural Canadian or global geographies. With the support of AC programming, UW researchers and resources, and one-to-one mentorship, participants will develop and pilot potential solutions, gaining valuable insights and practical experience in global entrepreneurship.

“The Accelerator Centre is great at building businesses. But to do that, we need founders with a vision and passion for solving a pressing problem. The entrepreneurs joining us for this pilot program are so committed. They are also at the stage in their lives where anything and everything is possible,” says Ruth Casselman, CEO of the Accelerator Centre.

Sarrah Lal highlights that the Global Impact Creator pilot program is founded on three key pillars, experiential learning, inclusive innovation, and globalization.

1. Experiential learning and entrepreneurship

“Experiential learning is something the University of Waterloo believes in deeply, as embodied by our coop learning and research that’s shown us that there is a strong linkage between students who engage in coop learning and the entrepreneurial mindset,” says Lal.

Founders engaged in the Global Impact Creator pilot program can engage in on-the-ground experiential learning where they can test and refine their innovations in real-world settings.

2. Inclusive innovation

Where in the past, entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo was deeply connected to the university’s math and engineering faculties, the Global Impact Creator pilot program embraces inclusive innovation recognizing that a founder doesn’t have to be a person with technical expertise to create solutions to real-world problems.

Says Lal, “Solution can take many forms. It may not be a technical solution at all. It’s about building a team around you as a founder with expertise across disciplines. This inclusive innovation strategy is very much what the University of Waterloo wants to see. We want to see entrepreneurship coming out of individuals from various faculties and various university areas to demonstrate that innovation does not exclusively happen within science and engineering.” Beyond their diverse educational backgrounds, the seven entrepreneurs participating in the program also are diverse in their gender identity and ethnicity. “It’s inclusivity in the broadest way,” says Lal, “and it’s beautiful to see.”

3. Globalization

The final pillar of the Global Impact Creator program is, as its name would suggest, globalization. “Globalization is increasingly making it important for people to understand how to work with problems in various contexts. So in this pilot program’s design it was important for us to not just do local immersion, but enable global immersion,“ says Lal. “We recognize that innovation must thrive in different countries, different geographies and different contexts where different types of problems exist. To be global impact creators, the innovative minds we're training through this program must be flexible, nimble and adaptable enough to those various contexts. That is why the program incorporates opportunity for entrepreneurs to do that field work and gain exposure to remote communities and other countries.”

Seven entrepreneurs seeking to innovate for global social impact

The healthcare system is one sector ripe for social impact innovation. Still recovering from the crippling effects of the pandemic, suffering from financial strain and resource shortages, and struggling with global inequities surrounding access to care, those inside the system know that transformation is necessary to improve efficiency and outcomes.

It should come as no surprise then, that six of the seven early-stage entrepreneurs handpicked to join the Global Impact Creator program have healthcare-focused ventures.

There’s Aya Ali, a pre-med and pre-research student at UW exploring the use of biomarkers to improve the detection of reproductive disease and technologies to improve access to maternal and child healthcare services in underserved communities.

Courtney Orcutt, a computer engineering graduate with a master's in Business Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) is passionate about leveraging AI to close the patient feedback loop for women, minorities, and those with accessibility challenges.

Dhitri Gabani is a UW biomedical student focused on developing accessible and accurate diagnostic tools for neurological conditions, with a particular emphasis on epilepsy in rural and under-resourced areas.
Biomedical student Hana Karim is exploring the potential for a self-sustaining, low-cost mobile pop-up clinic to medical imaging in low-income and rural communities (LICs) where millions lack access to essential diagnostics.

Nadine Furtado, Associate Clinical Professor Head of Ocular Disease and Imaging Service at the University of Waterloo, has a keen interest in leveraging telehealth and current eye care technologies to deliver continuous support in regions with limited access to providers. Particularly focused on glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness, Dr. Furtado’s work aims to improve diagnosis and ongoing monitoring by harnessing technology to enhance both access and quality of care, locally and globally.

MSc physics student Yuri Postiluienko is researching the diagnostic power and potential for breathnomics (analyzing the chemical composition of exhaled gases) -- in short, our breath for lung cancer disease detection.

Finally, we have Lidya Konlan, a recent graduate of the UW MBET program and the driving force behind SheFarmers and FarmicleGrow, social innovation ventures focused on transforming African agriculture. Lidya’s digital marketplace and production management platform offers a pioneering model for empowering rural women through "Market-Oriented Mushroom Farming."

“Gaining access to mentorship and support in the earliest days of a founder’s innovation journey provides the foundational support they need to validate ideas, understand their target market and its needs, sniff out competition, identify product market fit and move forward to commercialization, explains Lal. In a segment of the economy ripe for innovation, the Global Impact Creator program is perfectly aligned with an entrepreneur’s early-stage needs.

“This program represents a unique opportunity for emerging entrepreneurs to make a tangible impact on global challenges while gaining invaluable experience and support from our across the Waterloo innovation ecosystem,” says the AC’s Ruth Casselman. “Over the next few months, we will give these founders all the skills they need to turn their passion for social impact into a real business success story. Between the University of Waterloo and the Accelerator Centre, we have the people, the programming and the connections to help them realize their dreams. And in my books, that’s a win-win for all involved.”