Pakistani Canadian entrepreneur Obaid Ahmed was a recipient of the 2015 Top 40 under 40 Award for local business professionals by the Ottawa Business Journal. He has recently been nominated for MAX Gala’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, for outstanding Muslim Canadian entrepreneurs. (Vote Here Deadline March 5th)

Muslim Link interviewed Obaid about the rewards and challenges he experiences as an entrepreneur. 

When Korean Canadian Caroline Sohn decided she wanted to leave the corporate world to become her own boss, she discovered Eye Level, a supplementary education franchise developed in South Korea which teaches over 2 million students worldwide. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management’s MBA Program, Caroline has taken up the challenge of opening Ottawa’s first Eye Level Learning Centre, located in Barrhaven.

L’essence salon is the latest entrepreneurial adventure for Turkish Canadian couple Mustafa and Selma Elevli. Muslim Link sat down with the couple to talk about their beauty salon and the lessons they have learned over their years as a business-owning family in Ottawa.

This fall, Ottawa residents are busy planning their dream weddings and more than 1,500 people experienced the latest South Asian wedding trends at this year's Suhaag show on November 23rd.

Nargis Yousuf began her career as a beautician from her small kitchen in a two bedroom apartment. Now her established beauty salon, Al Nisa is the official hair and makeup company for Suhaag's Ottawa Show.

Islam has a long standing tradition of encouraging business and entrepreneurship. The Prophet (peace be upon him, PBUH) was a successful businessman at the age of 25 and so was his first wife, Khadijah. Much of Islam was spread, not by the sword, but through traders from West Africa all the way to Asia.

The idea of entrepreneurship is a long forgotten Sunnah (Muslim practice); Muslim communities, overall, have lost touch with our entrepreneurial history. The entrepreneur is a challenger of the status quo, someone who questions long existing assumptions and then builds the proper infrastructure needed around a solution.

For the first time in Ottawa, Muslim business women got a chance to come together to network, share ideas and learn about each other. This networking event was organized by the Muslim Women’s Business Network of Ottawa (MWBNO) on Saturday April 12th, 2014. The event was a huge success and was attended by a total of 28 women which consisted of beauticians, lawyers, professional consultants, etc.

The Muslim Women’s Business Network of Ottawa was established in March 2014 by two women entrepreneurs: Jessica Keats and Mahwash Fatima. They wanted to create a platform where Muslim business women could come together to network, mentor, and share their ideas and experiences.

Like many of her peers, at 22, Nafeesa Salar had her hands full with her full-time university and a part-time job. But her love and passion for art and design inspired her to take a bold move two years ago and launch her own business, Salar Event Planning, a Montreal-based event planning company.

As rare as it is to find a practicing Muslimah who is also an entrepreneur, it is rarer still to find a Muslim man who supports his wife in starting and running a home based business.

Shahzad Khan was recently named one of 2013's Rising Stars by Invest Ottawa, an organization that aims to support entrepreneurs and local start-ups. Gnowit Inc., an online brand-monitoring company which Shahzad co-founded with Mohammad Al Azzouni, launched this year, gaining international clients and government contracts. Muslim Link met with the Pakistan-born entrepreneur to discuss what it takes to survive as an entrepreneur.