This is my fourth year writing on my birthday sharing things I learned that year.
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Ideas, in my opinion, are only as good as the impact they create when acted upon. When starting a business, having a great business idea only counts for a small part of a company's potential success. The hard part is the execution - the tangible output of acting on that idea. This is what ultimately impacts the world. Insights we derive individually are only as good as our ability to follow through on them with action.
In general, I like to think I am a man of action - when I have an idea or insight, I try to act on it. This year, witnessing all the crises suffered around the world, it seemed to me particularly important to do more.
A topic that I have become increasingly preoccupied with over the past year is education, and more precisely, the immense value (to the individual, and to society) of good education. While I don’t intend, at this stage, to address in detail why I believe this to be the case, let me just say this: I believe that it is of vital importance to raise the next generation of humans capable of solving humanity’s greatest challenges.
So, with this in mind: less talk, more action. How could I translate this conviction into action?
I decided to establish a scholarship to one of Canada's top universities.
Unfortunately, I can’t share all of the details of the scholarship yet, as many of the details are yet to be finalized, but I can share some. The scholarship will cover the first year of tuition for one student who otherwise would likely not be able to attend the program (indeed might not even apply) due to their financial position.
The scholarship will be available to students of computer and software engineering. I have two main reasons for choosing this discipline. Firstly, in the era of “software is eating the world”, knowledge of computer programming can unlock a multitude of interesting and remunerative career opportunities, thus providing a stepping stone for upward socioeconomic mobility. Second, these highly sought-after programs tend to be cost-prohibitive to those who could arguably benefit the most from the remuneration and opportunities this type of education can offer. My thinking on the matter is straightforward: if this scholarship gets one more person into a great school, into a great program, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend, then I think I have succeeded.
The scholarship will be finalized in the coming weeks and advertised for the 2021-2022 school year. For all the things I know about this scholarship, there are many things I don’t know. There are additional details around selection criteria that haven’t been finalized yet, although financial need will certainly be a major consideration.
The sensitivity of today’s social climate makes me nervous about the backlash I could receive for this initiative. For months, I have wrestled with scenarios of how this initiative could backfire, how it might be misinterpreted, how my intentions might be criticized as misguided, how my reasons might be misrepresented. But I have concluded that at some point I just need to take the plunge. I am still coping with a healthy amount of self-doubt and nervousness - perhaps, more than I would like to share or even admit to myself. But today, as I get another year older, when else but now do I do things that I believe in?