Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award
The Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award is presented in collaboration with the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre to recognize alumni who have achieved outstanding entrepreneurial success in sustainability, innovation, and community outreach. A maximum of three candidates per year will be granted the Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Selection
Candidates are considered annually by the Saint Mary's University Alumni Association's Awards & Nomination Committee. Winners will be announced and celebrated at the Alumni Awards.
Timeline
The deadline to nominate a candidate for the 2024 Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award is September 20, 2024.
Nomination Form
2023 Recipients
Sehmat Suri BA'19 BComm'19 
Sehmat Suri is an entrepreneur, content creator, media strategist, filmmaker, model, actor, and tv host who graduated from Saint Mary’s in 2019. She moved to Kjipuktuk from Kolkata, India in 2014, and pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing. For all five years of her undergraduate degree at SMU, she was deeply involved with the Enactus team, where her entrepreneurial journey and passion for giving back started. She worked on multiple initiatives, varying from food security, to assistance for newcomers to Canada. However, the most impactful to her was helping women in rural Kenya learn how to make and sell reusable feminine hygiene products, allowing them to stay in school and continue their education.
She ran a local small business for a year which led her to start her modelling, acting, film making and content creation career in 2017. Her focus in content creation lies specifically on lifestyle, travel, South Asian comedy and social justice education. One of Sehmat’s biggest passions is elevating and uplifting the voices of those in the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. In 2022, Sehmat noticed a gap in connections and conversation among historically marginalized folks in the creative community in Kjipuktuk, which led her to found The POCketbook, a social enterprise that hosts meetups for underrepresented creatives, artists, and entrepreneurs in the city. The intention is to create spaces for them to grow their networks and share their journeys. POCketbook events have been attended by over 200 people in the local creative community and have allowed attendees to forge fruitful personal and business connections. The POCketbook aims to give back and continue to grow the presence of racialized voices, so a portion of the proceeds from each event are made to causes that support those underrepresented communities across Canada. Through its events, The POCketbook has donated $2,000 so far, with the goal of reaching $10,000 by 2025.
Mohammed Issa BComm'16 
Mohammed Issa, the founder of Eureka Technologies Inc., is an entrepreneur who moved from Amman, Jordan, to Bedford, Nova Scotia. A graduate of the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University from 2016, Issa has skillfully blended his technical expertise with solid business leadership. Under his guidance, Eureka Technologies, established in 2015, has become a beacon of innovation and entrepreneurship in Halifax. The company encompasses various verticals, including EurekaTec, which focuses on prototyping and digital fabrication; EurekaFilaments, known for its high-quality 3D printing filaments; EurekaPrint, offering a wide range of printed materials; EurekaSigns, specializing in signage solutions; and EurekaSTEM, which promotes educational STEM kits and activities.
Issa's leadership and Eureka Technologies' impact have been widely recognized. In 2019, he received the Best New Business award from the Sackville Business Association, followed by the Most Inspiring Immigrant award in 2020 from My East Coast Experience. Further cementing the company's success, in 2022, the ISANS Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia honoured Eureka Technologies as the Small Business of the Year. Beyond these achievements, the company is also known for its philanthropic efforts, mainly through the "One Spool One Tree" program under EurekaFilaments, which plants a tree for every spool sold, demonstrating a commitment to environmental sustainability and community engagement.
Mohammed’s continued involvement with the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre demonstrates his dedication to the students of Saint Mary’s and his true entrepreneurial spirit.