Faces of Entrepreneurship ft. Hugo Lemieux
Hugo Lemieux is currently the Business Development Manager at the Innovation Support Services. He also occupied the position of Research Advisor in the Faculty of Science, Executive Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, Research and has been at the university for eight years. Prior to starting at the University of Ottawa, he worked in the government and for the wood industry, where his background training in Wood Science (yes, it is indeed a university discipline!) served him well. In that position, he had to learn to speak in public, and had to develop initiatives and projects to promote wood design. He basically created his position as well as the deliverables to meet the goals of the organizations. He developed project ideas that he needed to defend and then execute.
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
- It’s not being scared of extra work when you believe in what you are doing
- It’s thinking out of the box
- It’s always looking for solutions
- It’s developing a skill set that makes you believe anything is possible
- It’s stepping out of your comfort zone.
How are you entrepreneurial?
I don’t believe that being entrepreneurial means having an idea and starting a company. I believe it’s perceiving a need and finding a new way to meet that need. In the Faculty of Science, it means being creative in my work; it’s developing and delivering solutions and activities when nothing would happen were it not for my initiative.
How does an entrepreneurial mindset contribute to your life?
An entrepreneurial mindset is fundamentally being or becoming resourceful in finding solutions to problems you’re faced with. I think that it also includes having enough perspective to let go when you need to.
*This feature was published as a part of the Faces of Entrepreneurship Campaign, 2021.
