Meet the Founders: Zainab & Moh
Engineers. Partners. Builders. And the couple behind Canada Drone Operations.
We’re Zainab Badawi and Moh Abu-Shaaban — both Mechanical Engineering grads from the University of Ottawa, and the co-founders of Canada Drone Operations. We started this company the same way a lot of great ideas start: with curiosity, caffeine, and a dining table covered in wires.
It All Started with an Idea (and a Design Challenge)
In the middle of the pandemic, when everything felt uncertain, we took part in the Simon Nehme COVID-19 Design Challenge. Moh pitched an idea for drone delivery to support local restaurants and we ran with it. That experience was the spark. We didn’t know exactly where it would lead, but we knew we were onto something.
That project helped us land a spot in the uOttawa MakerLaunch Accelerator, which gave us our first shot at turning this wild idea into a business. Back then, we imagined drones delivering takeout to backyards. Today, we’ve refined the scope, but the dream of drone-powered logistics is still alive and well.
Built by Us, Literally
Every component in our system — the winch, the delivery hook, the fleet software — we designed, tested, and rebuilt ourselves (more times than we can count). Our early prototypes were held together with zip ties and duct tape. We tested winch tension in the stairwell of our home. We’ve crashed, rebooted, and rebuilt — again and again.
There were no off-the-shelf solutions that worked for what we needed, so we made our own. That's still how we operate today.
From Engineering to Event Delivery
We ran our first drone delivery at a golf tournament in 2022. It was clunky, imperfect — but people loved it. There was something magical about seeing a drone drop a cold drink out of the sky mid-round.
Since then, we’ve flown at dozens of events and worked with some amazing partners who took a chance on us, including:
The Marshes Golf Course
The Meadows Golf & Country Club
Brookstreet Hotel
United Way East Ontario
Ottawa Senators Foundation
Wesley Clover
KRP Properties
uOttawa Kanata North
Black & McDonald
TELUS Canada
Diabetes Canada
Hub350
They’ve helped us grow, refine our system, and take our drones from prototypes to fully operational platforms.
A Business Built on Passion
What most people don’t see is what happens behind the scenes. Late nights soldering. Testing flight sequences in a parking lot. Running a business while balancing day jobs. Turning our home into a lab. The two of us have worn every hat — from engineers to pilots to customer support to logistics planners.
We’re not a big company (yet), but we care deeply about what we’re building. We believe drone delivery can be practical, accessible, and downright fun
What’s Next?
For now, we’re focused on live events — bringing something exciting and fresh to golf tournaments, charity fundraisers, and outdoor experiences. But we’re still dreaming. The long-term vision is to scale up, build smarter autonomous systems, and make drone logistics a reality for more use cases across Canada.
Thanks for being part of the ride. Whether you’ve flown with us, cheered us on, or just followed our story — we appreciate it.
If you're ever curious about how it all works, or you want us at your event — let’s talk. We'd love to show you what we’ve built.
— Zainab & Moh
Canada Drone Operations
