Immigrating North: Huda Idrees
Founder & CEO, Dot Health · Canadian from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
To mark its launch, Immigrating North has conducted its first interview with Huda Idrees, an immigrant from Saudi Arabia who moved to Canada in search of better education and opportunity.
Karel: Tell me about your early years and where you come from.
Huda: My grandparents are from different parts of South East Asia and their families moved to Pakistan due to persecution of the Muslim faith in other governments. My parents moved from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia shortly after they got married and raised me and my five siblings there. I was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
K: Why did you or your family decide to move to Canada?
H: While a booming economic city, Jeddah was and maybe even still is too new to be home to prestigious post-secondary universities and so we all left home to go to school abroad. I knew I wanted to go to engineering school and applied to a couple of different institutions in Canada and the United States.
The University of Toronto’s Industrial Engineering program stood out to me most and ended up giving me a scholarship. My brother immigrated with his family to Montreal around the same time. Five of the six of us now live in Canada.
K: Do you still have family at home? How do you and your family feel about the separation?
H: My parents live in Saudi Arabia still. My dad runs a power services business in the gulf region and travels a lot for work. My mom recently retired and feels not-so-great about the separation now but travels often and we see her all the time. I go back to Saudi at least once a year to see them. I’m a permanent resident now but before I had that processed, I used to constantly worry about getting the Canadian transit visa in-time to see my parents if there was an emergency of any sort.
I’ve always considered myself a third-culture kid so there was zero culture shock for me when I moved to Toronto. I feel completely Canadian because Toronto accepts me.
K: How do you define your Canadian identity?
H: It’s been really interesting for me. I wasn’t planning on staying after finishing school but I ended up getting a job I really liked after graduation and found my passion for startups and building a better world with new, technology-enabled business models. I’ve always considered myself a third-culture kid so there was zero culture shock for me when I moved to Toronto. I feel completely Canadian because Toronto accepts me.
K: When and how did you get into technology?
H: I had a job offer from Google HQ at 18 after winning a consulting case competition. When it came time to apply for co-op jobs, I applied to just one: Wattpad. They were advertising for a Quality Assurance Analyst position and while I still think it’s the most mind-numbing job, I applied because I love to write and Wattpad was built around it. I convinced Allen Lau (Co-Founder & CEO) to hire me as the company’s first designer and have worked at startups since. Turning down Google to work at Wattpad instead was the single best decision of my life.
Turning down Google to work at Wattpad instead was the single best decision of my life.
K: How does being an immigrant affect who you are now and what you do?
H: My rallying cry has always been inclusivity because of my personal background. While I’ve had a great time exploring the world of Canadian tech, I’ve also seen, first-hand, the blatant misogyny, sexism, and xenophobia that is prevalent across our industry. This is something that I can’t stand for and a big reason why I decided to start my own company. Because someone has to do it right!
My rallying cry has always been inclusivity because of my personal background.
K: What steps can Canada take to become more inclusive to both new and old immigrants?
H: The Government of Canada should be fighting for the best and brightest of our students to not only stay, but become residents and citizens of the country. The process to help them do this needs to improve.
You’ve probably heard this time and time again, but there’s a global competition for talent. If Canada expects to have a chance at competing, it needs to start by getting smarter about retaining the talent that comes here to study. I’ve seen 75% of my graduating class move to the United States for work. This includes Canadian citizens and those on student visas. These people have started business in the U.S. Businesses they could have started in Canada and given our economy a boost. Some of my favourite Canadian techies now live in the U.S. and it’s a brain drain that makes my heart hurt. We might as well start advertising people to go work south of the border.
I’ve seen 75% of my graduating class move to the United States for work. This includes Canadian citizens and those on student visas.
On the venture capital side, Canadian investors can start funding more female founders. Discounting half the population when it comes to backing ideas is a recipe for disaster. Our tech industry leaderships are awfully skewed to the affluent white male demographic. And Canada, of all the countries, has little to no excuse for not fixing this yesterday. We’re one of the most diverse places in the world!
K: Recently, Jodi Kovitz, the CEO of AceTech Ontario organized Moving the Dial, a large scale event in Toronto that saw over 600 entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders come out to support and celebrate women in technology. The best part of it all? More than 80% of its participants were female.
Later announced was #GoSponsorHer, an initiative aimed at tackling gender parity in senior leadership by encouraging leaders to take an active role in the career advancement of women and commit to their success.
Finally, Canadian technology leaders can start promoting, recognizing, and helping more people who don’t look like them. Is it counter-intuitive? Yes. Is it absolutely, terrifyingly, nauseatingly necessary? Most definitely.
K: Anything else you’d like to share?
H: My new venture now employs 4 people, which is job creation in its infancy but job creation nonetheless! Canada’s oligopoly-ridden business culture needs disruption and promoting entrepreneurship is the best way to do it.
And the best way to create companies that will survive the test of time? Fund more female CEOs. You get to see how the other half of the population would run stuff! Fun.
Follow Huda on Twitter to be the first to know when she launches her next venture.
Immigrating North is a publication dedicated to showcasing the untold stories of immigrants and their families that moved to Canada to build a better future with technology.
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