by Robert Gray
     
     Jagdeep Bachher is not your average 21-year-old graduate
student.
     After graduating with a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering in May 1993, he decided to do his master's degree
in management sciences, which he started in September. He
plans to have his thesis completed by August, taking just one
year.
     And in his spare minutes while doing that degree in half
the usual time, he started up something called the Investment
and Technology Forum, the goal of which is to address issues
about investing in the new economy.
     The forum came about through a combination of information
gathering for his thesis and an instructor's lesson.
     His thesis has to do with understanding the decision-
making criteria used by investors when evaluating technology-
based companies.
     "The new economy seems to lay much emphasis on technology-
based and knowledge-intensive companies," says Bachher. "One
sub-topic is, what should investors be looking for when
investing in the new economy?"
     He continues: "I met many business people when I was
gathering information, getting a better perspective on the
problem. What came out of that was there was not really
anybody who could say this is exactly what is done, because
everybody did it differently. If you ask, they'll say gut-
feel.
     "Now, is that good enough for a technology-based company?
Will that be good enough forever? Gut feel is important, but
let's study this in more detail. If we don't do something
soon, Canada will lose its competitive edge on the issue."
     An instructor's lesson on gatherings in Japan, where
people from industry and universities get together informally
in high school gyms to share information, inspired Bachher to
do something about the lack of consensus among investors.
     "I said, a week from now we're going to talk about
investing in the new economy; we're going to informally invite
venture capitalists, bankers, and academicians to speak for
five minutes."
     The first forum was held March 25. It went so well that
five more forums were planned to deal with investing in
technology based companies.
     "Our goal is to get an informal network and an
interdisciplinary discussion of this issue." There doesn't
seem to be another forum in the country that addresses this
issue, he added.
     The forum is so successful that Bachher now concentrates
on getting new people to attend, something that has become
almost a full-time job for him. He originally thought he could
combine his thesis with the forum, but he has to keep them
separate.
     Doug Bierer and Abdul Kassim take care of the rest of the
forum, says Bachher. "Doug and Abdul are both actively
organizing the event at this time."
     Extracurricular activities demanding this much attention
are nothing new for Bachher. For two years he was chairman of
three groups on campus: student branches of the Society of
Automotive Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering.
     He has also served as chairman of the Ontario Engineering
Design Competition, and was president of the Engineering
Students Societies Council of Ontario.
     As if that wasn't enough for one man, he started a
company two years ago to transfer technology to Nigeria, where
he was born. "They have a hard time even getting chalk for the
boards," he says. "So what can a brilliant person do with
those kinds of resources?
     "I just can't sit down and not do anything extra-
curricular. I always need to have a minimum workload to keep
me going."
     What's next for Bachher? He has a job lined up, starting
in January, with Anderson Consulting, a management consulting
firm in Toronto.