For Reza Satchu’s family, East Africa of the mid-1970s was a bad place to be. Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was exiling people of South Asian descent, and the same sentiment was taking hold in neighbouring countries as well. Particularly disliked were Ismailis, members of a Muslim sect known for their enterprising nature and relative wealth. So, after the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau opened Canada’s doors to 20,000 Ismaili immigrants, in 1976 a seven-year-old Satchu, his five-year-old brother and their parents moved to Toronto’s Guildwood neighbourhood, taking up residence in a one-bedroom apartment.
Fast-forward to 2000, and SupplierMarket.com, the supply-chain software provider launched by the Satchu brothers just a year earlier, was being acquired for US$925 million. Seven years later, they sold consumer storage facility chain StorageNow—in which Dragons’ Den’s Kevin O’Leary was a minority partner—for $110 million.
Satchu’s other star turn started in 2004, when he offered to create and teach an undergrad entrepreneurship course at the University of Toronto. It became the most popular course on campus, with hundreds of students competing through a rigorous application process for one of 35 spots.
via Reza Satchu on life, entrepreneurship and how to stay motivated | CanadianBusiness.com.
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