📍 Editor’s Note
👋 Hiya,
It is (another) Mother’s Day today, and in all honesty, I don’t think we can quite have enough Mother’s Days. I think we’d all agree on that.
But as we talk about all the sacrifices our mums make, how many times have we stopped to consider how many times they put themselves last? Especially in scenarios where they have to be immigrants in another country? The last to eat, last to rest, last to buy for themselves, and slowly disappear into the role of provider and absorber of everyone else's needs.
How many times do we ask the question: what happens to the children who grow up watching a mother treat her own needs as the last thing on any list? What do they learn about what love is supposed to look like? Let’s pause for a minute and think about that, and if you have a mother who has spent years putting herself last, today is a good day to interrupt that, not just appreciate it.
PS: We’ll need your help with a short-ish survey. You’ll find out all about it in a bit. Thank you in advance.
— Dami
HEALTH & TRAVEL |
What to Know About the Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak |
Eight reported cases. Three deaths. The rare Andes strain, which is the only hantavirus known to spread from person to person. The MV Hondius outbreak is serious enough to have triggered a multinational public-health response involving WHO, ECDC, and national health authorities across several countries. It is also not COVID-19, and health authorities have been consistent on that point. This piece gives you the actual facts: what happened, what Andes virus is, how it spreads, and why the wider public risk is still considered low. |
SETTLEMENT & LIFE |
How Newcomers Can Actually Use Affordable City Recreation Programs in Canada |
Most newcomer advice focuses on the big systems: housing, banking, paperwork, jobs. City recreation barely gets mentioned, which is a shame because it is one of the most useful and most underused parts of Canadian public life. Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, and Winnipeg all run fee subsidy programmes that can make municipal swimming, fitness, skating, and kids' activities either heavily discounted or free. The catch is that registration is competitive and the subsidy programmes require some advance setup. This piece explains how all of it actually works. |
BUSINESS & MONEY |
How to Start a Business in Canada as a Newcomer |
The cheerful version of this story skips from 'great idea' to 'Instagram page' without mentioning the part where you have to choose a legal structure, register a business name, open CRA accounts, check permits, separate your money, and confirm your immigration status actually allows you to run the business you have in mind. This piece covers the administrative sequence that determines whether a good idea becomes a stable business or an expensive experiment — including the BizPaL tool most new entrepreneurs have never heard of. |
STATE OF WORK NIGERIA 2026 |
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We want to know what work actually looks like for you in 2026. Not the LinkedIn version. The real state of work. CareerBuddy is building the State of Work Nigeria 2026 — our first annual report on what Nigerian professionals are actually experiencing at work. Salary, burnout, japa intentions, AI anxiety, the gap between what employees need and what employers think they're delivering. 7 minutes. Anonymous. And your answers go into a report that thousands of Nigerian employers, HR leads, and professionals will read in June. If you've ever wanted to tell someone in power what work in Nigeria actually feels like — this is the form. Employee survey (7 mins): Take the survey → If you manage people or run a team: We've sent the employee survey to thousands of Nigerian professionals. Now we need the other side of the story. 6 minutes. Fully anonymous. Contributing organisations will be listed as report contributors if they choose. One question we're asking employees: "Does your employer understand the financial pressure you're under right now?" We're asking you the same question in reverse. Employer survey (6 mins): Take the survey → |
ABRAHAM’S LIST 🔥 |
This Week: Wealthsimple Toronto, ON · FinTech · Series D · Founded 2014 Canadian banks are very good at one thing: making investing feel complicated enough that you don't ask too many questions. Wealthsimple was built on the premise that this was a choice, not a necessity. Michael Katchen started the company in 2014 after building an Excel model to help his Ancestry.com colleagues invest properly. What began as a robo-advisor is now a full financial platform — managed portfolios, commission-free trading, crypto, high-interest savings, a credit card, and tax filing that lets you pay what you want. Three million Canadians use it. They have $100 billion in assets under administration. They turned profitable in 2024 and stayed there. The 2025 fundraise told you everything you need to know about the trajectory: CAD $750 million at a $10 billion valuation, backed by Dragoneer, GIC, and CPP Investments. That is not a company still figuring itself out. That is a company in expansion mode with serious institutional conviction behind it. For newcomers, Wealthsimple is worth paying attention to for two reasons. First, it is genuinely one of the better places to park your first Canadian savings while you're getting oriented — no minimums, low fees, no branch required. Second, if you're in product, engineering, or fintech, it's a company that has consistently grown fast enough that early-career talent can move quickly. The risk rating sits at low-medium: profitable, well-funded, but pre-IPO in a market where the incumbents still have very deep roots. |
Valuation | $10B (2025 round) |
Total Funding | $900M+ |
Risk Level | Low-Medium — profitable, Series D, pre-IPO |
Equity Upside | 2–4x |
Clients | 3 million Canadians |
Best For | Product, Engineering, FinTech professionals |
Why Abraham’s List? Each week, we spotlight one Canadian startup that aligns with you and may just get you out of the trenches
THIS WEEK'S HOTTEST OPPORTUNITIES |
Roles across Canada in tech, product, engineering, finance, HR, and more — curated for African newcomers who know what they’re looking for. |
See you next week
— Dami
The New Local Team