Blog

For the last seven years, GreenHouse has offered a place for students in the UWaterloo community to receive support on starting and launching ventures that have a social impact. On November 26, 2019, GreenHouse went out into the community instead in an effort to offer an opportunity to newcomer youth from across the region who might not otherwise have the chance to learn from the incubator.

Ever since GreenHouse alumna Aileen Agada began her venture BeBlended – a company focused on the black hair care industry –  she has kept a notebook in which she jots down every idea and possibility that occurs to her. But soon, Aileen might need to add a few extra pages to that notebook.

On October 2nd, #movethedial, which is dedicated to increasing participation of women in tech brought its event series to Waterloo. Held at community partner Vidyard, #movethedial brought together community members and supporters in a fireside chat setting.

Congratulations to GreenHouse alumni Aileen Agada and Lucas Moffitt.

On September 9th, the first day of Enterprise Co-op both Aileen and Lucas were each awareded $5,000 in funding to support their ventures: BeBlended and Tic Toc Go. BeBlended is an online platform that connects black women with hairstylists and beauty resources, while Tic Toc Go is a venture creating resources for children with Tourette's syndrome, including a soon to be released book.

On September 20th, GreenHouse hosted an ecosystem tour for St. Paul's staff, exposing them to organizations that support social innovation in the region. The tour was the second installment of a professional development initiative aimed toward improving all employees' understanding of subjects central to the college mission. 

GreenHouse Alumni Pablo Amaya and Karina Gonzales are off to the University Start-up World Cup (USWC) in Denmark this October. The USWC focuses on the best 40 University Start-ups worldwide and the impact these start-ups have on the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Participants pitching have the chance to win $15,000 USD in funding to support the advancement of their start-ups. 

For many black women, simply walking into a hair salon to get their hair done is not an option. This was the experience that Aileen Agada had in Ottawa while away on a co-op term. It turned out, she had to ask community members where they got their hair done and the same response always happened, “a friend of a friend, of a sister in their basement.” 

I describe this week as my dive into the startup world. Not only was I working on my own startup, I was also training as a social entrepreneur to work for other local enterprises through the GreenHouse co-op program.