The uEvents team is a product of the Crunch, a competition “designed to inspire purposeful collisions,” as it says, presented by Algonquin College, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. This annual event encourages interdisciplinary teams to address challenges and gaps within an industry, under categories such as health innovation, social impact and emerging technologies. Together, co-founders Antoine Lavigne, Astara Mushamboyera and Marc Wu claimed the top spot in 2022.
Tell us about your entrepreneurial initiative
We have a passion for technology, entrepreneurship and building impactful products. Our goal is to help connect students together through uEvents.
uEvents has taught us more about problem solving and has given us a platform to speak and collaborate with students to find ways to improve their experiences in their community at school.
Many people are doing cool things on campus. What entrepreneurial endeavour are you currently working on?
uEvents is a mobile and web platform to find events for students. You can find a complete list of all events for university clubs and more in one convenient place. Use the app to post your own events, explore your horizon, find new communities and never miss out on anything ever again.
How does interdisciplinary collaboration and/or innovation play a role in your entrepreneurial endeavour?
At uEvents, we have a diverse team with skills in software, marketing and business. This collaboration is critical to our business. uEvents needs both a strong marketing strategy and solid software to succeed. Having diverse skills in our team not only helps achieve our goals, but also gives us different perspectives and ideas for innovation.
What impact do you hope to make through your entrepreneurial endeavour?
uEvents is all about connecting students together. From our own personal experience, finding events on campus is hard, time consuming and we often end up missing out. Our mission is to transform finding communities into a task as simple as opening an app.
What advice would you give to those who are eager to follow in your entrepreneurial footsteps and make an impact through their own initiatives?
We would suggest getting involved in the various entrepreneurship communities here at the University. You can even use uEvents to find out about those events. They are a great way to network with liked-minded people and learned from more advanced projects. When you are ready, give your project a try! Start by gathering feedback from potential customers, validate your business model and then build an MVP.
Your nominations
The We Do Cool Stuff series is all about showcasing the inspiring work, projects, and innovations that students, researchers, alumni, faculty and staff are passionately pursuing. We want to share their stories, their journeys, and their visions with our University community and the world. Do you know someone who fits the bill? Send your nomination to: [email protected]