Sam Ibrahim
Sam Ibrahim’s historic $25-million gift to the University of Toronto Scarborough is aimed at inspiring and supporting the success of generations of Scarborough-based entrepreneurs and innovators.
Together with his family, Sam Ibrahim immigrated from Egypt to Canada in the 1980s and settled in Scarborough to start a new life. At 26, shortly after attending the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), Ibrahim founded the Arrow Group of Companies — a strategic consulting and talent solutions firm providing services to a wide range of industries. Today, the Arrow Group is one of Canada’s largest private corporations and employs over 10,000 people on four continents.
Drawing on his lifelong passion for entrepreneurialism and desire to see the potential of people and communities in Scarborough elevated and encouraged, Ibrahim made history in 2023 with a transformational $25-million commitment to establish the Sam Ibrahim Centre for Inclusive Excellence in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership at UTSC. One of the largest contributions ever received by UTSC and the largest ever made to U of T by a first-time donor, this investment will play a crucial role in helping emerging entrepreneurs realize their dreams while showcasing the incredible talent and creativity of Scarborough’s future business and community leaders.
With a focus on harnessing the talent of young people from equity-deserving communities, the Sam Ibrahim Centre will leverage the university’s vast research and innovation expertise to equip UTSC entrepreneurs with the connections, resources and learning opportunities they need to accelerate their ideas and ventures.
As part of his investment, Ibrahim has established a scholarship endowment fund that will provide financial support to students facing economic barriers to education through three new awards: the Sam Ibrahim Awards, the Gabriel Fanous Awards and the Shaemin Ukani Awards. Ibrahim’s contribution has also created two new positions that will be housed at the Centre: the Sam Ibrahim Chair in Inclusive Entrepreneurship and Innovation to lead the Centre’s strategic vision and an entrepreneur-in-residence, who will provide invaluable guidance and mentorship to promising young innovators.
To create a central hub and focal point for the Sam Ibrahim Centre, this new partnership also supported the construction of the Sam Ibrahim Building—a state-of-the-art student hub that features 23 lecture halls, collaborative spaces, lounges and a café, and serves as the new home of the Office of Student Experience and Well-Being and other key departments at UTSC.
By investing in the success of Scarborough’s emerging entrepreneurs and innovators, Sam Ibrahim’s remarkable gift is a true celebration of inclusive excellence — one that will spur economic growth, ignite prosperity for countless people and communities, and support new generations of Scarborough changemakers to realize their greatest potential.