The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Bernard Davis, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an incredible achievement by Memorial University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship.

I am proud to say the Centre, or MCE, was acknowledged by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, as one of the top five emerging entrepreneurship centres in the world. In fact, MCE was the only Canadian post-secondary institution to be recognized.

From an initial intake of 20 students, MCE now provides programming for over 300 students interested in entrepreneurship. In just over three years, the Centre has secured $4.7 million in funding from local businesses, donors, and the Provincial and Federal Governments.

MCE has been instrumental in the emergence of several impactful local startups, including Mysa, CoLab Software and BreatheSuite. Mysa is one of only 10 Canadian companies to be accepted in the Lazaridis Institute’s Scaleup Program; CoLab Software is the first company from Atlantic Canada to be accepted into prestigious Y-Combinator accelerator; and, BreatheSuite recently secured over a half million dollars in venture capital. Combined, these three local companies have attracted $5.5 million in investment.

Mr. Speaker, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation is important to our government, as we work to help create an environment that captures the full potential of our province’s many riches.

Congratulations to Memorial’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, for their global recognition, and for playing a key role in supporting entrepreneurs and innovators in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I ask all Honourable members to join me in recognizing this incredible achievement.