Around the world with Obama

Following her sojourn in Washington, Ahmadian published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail underlining gender and racial disparities in entrepreneurship.

Although she now lives in Silicon Valley, the Iranian-Canadian businesswoman is focused on improving the entrepreneurial spirit — particularly among women — on her former home turf. She founded Seamless Planet in Montreal, where most of her employees are located.

“The Canadian economy, especially in Quebec, is not great,” Ahmadian says. “I see Canada as a service-oriented country, but not really good at entrepreneurship.”

She says there are many advantages to setting up a business in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada — tax breaks and access to multidisciplinary talent, for example — but those benefits aren’t well presented to prospective entrepreneurs. She believes that lack of self-promotion contributes to a youth-driven brain-drain.

“Most smart Canadians who are ambitious do not stay in Canada, which can be a huge problem. It’s already a problem in Quebec,” Ahmadian says.

She would like to see Quebec universities do a better job of creating business mentorship and career-placement programs for current students, rather than focusing on developing final-year or post-graduation services.

“When you’re an entrepreneur you have access to so many mentors, but most students are lost and don’t have access to anyone,” Ahmadian says.

She is looking for collaborators who can help further homegrown mentorship programs for women firstly, but also for immigrants, visible minorities and young people.

“It’s important for women to start something and be successful — because then they can help other women,” she says.