Western University has been given a multi-million dollar boost to help grow and nurture entrepreneurs for years to come.
Canadian entrepreneur and financier Ron Schmeichel announced on Wednesday he is donating $10 million to the post secondary institution. The money will be used for the creation of a new entrepreneurship and innovation building on campus, which will be named in honour of Schmeichel.
"This space will help students from all academic disciplines come together around a common belief: when you invite ideas, enthusiasm and skills to come together you create and build innovation,” said Schmeichel, a Western University graduate. "This is more than a building. This is a place where tomorrow’s entrepreneurs will cultivate their entrepreneurial spirit, whether they’re in engineering, music, journalism, law, medicine, science, business or the arts. We need to both encourage and back the entrepreneurial culture in Canada, and this new institute is going to play a big role in doing that."
The 100,000-square-foot space is already under construction and should be completed in the fall of 2023. It will be Western's first net-zero energy building with a state-of-the art active learning classroom equipped with 3D printers, metalworking, machinery and woodworking tools, and a digital lab.
In addition to the new building, the multi-million dollar gift will also be used to establish the Ronald D. Schmeichel Founders Awards which will provide financial support and mentoring to the school's most promising entrepreneurial students. A new biannual speaker series featuring in-person and virtual high-profile entrepreneurs and alumni presentations will also be created.
"Over the past 20 years I’ve had the distinct honour to speak to classes of Western students. Giving back in all forms matters greatly and making a sustained investment in the aspirations of a whole new generation of students is important to me,” said Schmeichel.
University President Alan Shepard said the donation will allow Western to emphasize innovation and commercialization across campus and all faculties.
"Ron often talks about ‘the art of the possible’ in boosting Canadian entrepreneurship, and education. His generosity will make it possible to strengthen that ecosystem here,” Shepard said. “Students, with a seed of an idea, will be able to find – from faculty, staff, and other students – the kind of expertise that will allow their business or product concept to flourish into new commercial ventures.”
Schmeichel is the co-founder and chairman of JJR Private Capital, a private capital firm specializing in equity and credit investments to emerging and mid-market companies in Canada and the United States. He was an articling lawyer before starting his first company within six months of graduating from Western in 1995.