Supporting BC’s Entrepreneurial Culture



Supporting BC’s Entrepreneurial Culture


Graham Lee, President and CEO of GSL Group, is a firm believer in supporting BC’s entrepreneurial culture.

As a graduate of UBC, Graham is particularly dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs at the university. In 2013, when entrepreneurship@UBC (e@UBC) was launched to offer resources to UBC students, staff, faculty or recent alumni trying to start a business, Graham was eager to be involved.

This is an initiative where startup ideas are incubated, and promising startups are invited to the Venture Builder program, where they are mentored by a c-level executive, and eventually seek funding from the $2-million seed fund established by e@UBC. Graham’s donation facilitated the building of a home for e@UBC, where e@UBC now flourishes with a number of budding startups.

At UBC’s Graham Lee Innovation Centre, is a student named Jason Yee, who played on the UBC hockey team during his years of study in kinesiology. Together with fellow teammate and engineering grad Ben Schmidt, they designed a platform which identifies a hockey player’s strengths and weaknesses by using statistical algorithms to analyze game videos. This is where mentorship comes into play: as the owner of the Victoria Royals WHL team and an alumni of UBC, Graham’s involvement with e@UBC created an immediate connection to kick-start the conversation between Jason and Graham.

Today, over $1.35 million have been invested in 12 startups, and many incubating resources have been provided to growing startups at UBC. Graham now sits on UBC’s Board of Governors and continues to dedicate time and effort to fostering an environment of entrepreneurship at UBC and within the province.

Learn more by reading a recent story in BC Business HERE.

And to learn more about e@UBC, visit http://entrepreneurship.ubc.ca/