‘He’s definitely going to be missed’: Nauman Farooqi leaves Mt A for presidency of St Thomas
The architect of student entrepreneurship in Sackville is leaving town.
Dr. Nauman Farooqi, Mount Allison’s Dean of Business and Social Sciences has been offered the position of president and vice-chancellor at St Thomas University in Fredericton, a job he will start on July 1 this year.
Farooqi has helped quite a few student businesses get started in Sackville through a class he has been teaching since 2002 called Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation.
One of the better known successes to graduate from that class is Bagtown Brewing, run by Mount Allison grad Anthony Maddalena. “I guess the entrepreneurship class is the sole reason why Bagtown exists,” says Maddalena. “If it wasn’t for that class, you know, I had no plans to start a brewery at all.”
Students pitch different ideas at the outset of the class, and then select one to work on. Maddalena says because he had been experimenting with brewing, and had a brother in the business in Halifax, it seemed like a venture that could work.
Maddelena recalls that Farooqi’s class was different right off the start, with a retreat for class members at Centennial Park in Moncton. He says that first experience set the tone for Farooqi’s class, which was very hands on.
When Bagtown was launching in 2016, Farooqi told CBC that he and the entrepreneurship students didn’t have classes, but rather meetings where the students run a company, and Farooqi provides advice.… Continue