The winner of the competition to build a sustainable, scalable start-up enterprise that will restore the rights and dignity of 10 million people by 2022 was Roshni Rides from Rutgers University.
Founded by Jade Choy, Keith Choy, and Lisa Tran, EPOCH was one of only six finalists drawn from a pool of 50,000 entries from hundreds of universities around the world. Their journey started with a University of Waterloo student competition last Fall, and included a victory at the London (England) Regional Final in March, as well as participating in the Hult Prize Accelerator in Boston over the Summer.
Waterloo’s dynamic innovation ecosystem has helped this venture along the way, with support coming from the Conrad Centre, School of Accounting and Finance, Velocity Garage, and, most recently, the Epp Peace Incubator at Conrad Grebel University College’s Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement.
EPOCH is a skills and services marketplace that connects refugees and community members through a mobile platform, and partnerships with agencies working to help support and integrate newcomers in Waterloo region have also been crucial.
The Centre for Peace Advancement looks forward to continuing to work with EPOCH as they inspire change and find new ways to connect the world’s most vulnerable citizens to communities willing to help them.