epa03881062 (FILE) A file photograph dated 30 September 2008 shows a giant Blackberry Bold smart phone displayed at Japanese mobile phone operator NTT Docomo's booth at CEATEC Japan 2008 exhibition in Makuhari, near Tokyo, Japan. According to media reports on 23 September 2013, Blackberry has agreed to be sold for 4.7 billion US dollars to Fairfax Financial, coming after the announcement of 4,500 job cuts last week. EPA/DAI KUROKAWA
THE troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more than half its staff and lost more than 90% of its market value as consumers shunned its smartphones, might have spelled disaster for the company’s hometown of Waterloo, Ontario. Instead, there are hot sports cars in the streets and new companies filling the refurbished office buildings.
More than 450 start-ups opened for business in the twin cities of Waterloo and Kitchener last year, more than four times the number begun in 2009, according to Communitech, a local company that advises them. Often, the new companies are being founded by former BlackBerry employees chasing their entrepreneurial ambitions in a community that’s Canada’s answer to technology hubs in California and elsewhere.
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