Thursday, November 20, 2014
St.
Paul’s
GreenHouse
innovator
Alisha
Karmali
and
her
team
at
BabySteps
Academy
have
won
the
first
round
of
the
coveted
Hult
Prize
and
will
represent
the
University
of
Waterloo
at
the
regional
level
next
March,
competing
against
universities
and
teams
from
around
the
world.
The
2015
Hult
Prize
comes
with
US
$1
million
in
startup
funding,
and
each
regional
champion
will
get
to
spend
the
summer
inside
of
the
Hult
Prize
Accelerator,
an
innovative
incubator
for
social
enterprises.
BabySteps
Academy
is
made
up
of
Alisha,
a
third-year
Psychology
and
Business
student,
Fardeen
Khan,
a
third-year
Nanotechnology
Engineering
student,
Shafaq
Zakir,
who’s
studying
Economics
and
Finance,
Katerina
Szkolka
in
Psychology,
and
Osama
Sidat
in
Computer
Science.
The
team’s
goal
is
to
provide
quality
early
childhood
education
to
children
under
6
years
old
in
urban
slums
and
create
job
opportunities
for
women.
Pictured
above
are
(l
to
r)
Shafaq
Zakir,
Alisha
Karmali,
Fardeen
Khan,
and
Katerina
Szkolka.
"I
became
a
GreenHouse
innovator
merely
3
months
ago
and
the
inspiration
and
support
I
have
received
in
this
short
amount
of
time
is
astonishing,”
said
Alisha.
“My
mentors
at
St.
Paul’s
GreenHouse
have
been
very
proactive
in
assisting
me
with
my
research
and
guiding
me
through
the
steps
of
building
a
startup.”
Alisha’s
startup
is
also
a
finalist
for
the
St.
Paul’s
GreenHouse
$5,000
Social
Innovation
Fund.
The
recipients
will
be
announced
at
a
Social
Innovation
Showcase
on
December
3
in
Alumni
Hall
at
St.
Paul’s.