Ajamu Attard, the CEO and National Director of Student Support, a for-profit social enterprise empowering students to get access to essential services, is the recipient of over a dozen prestigious awards.
The young entrepreneur has Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 Award, the Lincoln M. Alexander Award, the RBC Leadership Award and the Al Hillington scholarship to his name, among several other prestigious awards and accolades.
The budding entrepreneur was given over $50,000 in scholarship awards for his academic performance and community contributions, with the latter being noteworthy enough to garner him media attention and recognition from institutions nationwide.
Ajamu Attard’s academic career and journey as an entrepreneur, however, was riddled with struggles since he left home at 16 years old due to family issues. At one point, he was in a shelter, failing to attend classes, and struggling with stresses of his own.
At one point he decided to turn it all around.
“For most of my academic career I was an underachiever and underperformer. I was average or below average in some areas, but you know, I really pushed myself.”
That was when Attard decided to do a victory lap to prove to himself that he had what it takes to be a high-achiever despite the cards that life had dealt him.
“Not a lot of people knew about the background that I had,” says Attard.
Nevertheless, Ajamu Attard set out to make a difference and make not only his school, but his community a better place.
“That led to one thing and another and the next thing you knew I was running all these initiatives and events for the community and being a leader in the school for the first time,” says Attard.
“I’ve never done anything like that before,”
“I had a lot of teachers and staff members take extra time out of school to support me literally because they found out I was working two jobs and doing all these things.”
Attard was 19 when he received the Lincoln M. Alexander award for helping eliminate racial discrimination in Ontario.
As the CEO and National Director Student Support, Attard aims to help students across the country get access to support throughout their higher education. Everything from online learning to fitness and mental health supports are provided for a discount of over 98 percent to students through the service.
“We’re able to make it so affordable due to economies of scale, because all students are paying a little.”
Ajamu Attard says it’s similar to any other discounted service like a student bus pass, but the benefit is tremendous because it helps the students who need it most.
Attard says students will do it because they know a student who can’t afford the support is going to get access to the service.
For Attard, helping people has always been about community and uplifting others. The role models in his life inspired him to pass kindness forward and to uplift his community, whether it be on campus or beyond.
On the topic of community, Ajamu Attard has a lot to say, but he’d like to leave audiences with a simple message to remember:
“A community is when people band together and decide to uplift each other.” “And it’s not always about lifting people up when they’re down. It’s about lifting people up to thrive.”