Blog

We’ve all heard the expression: “It’s like riding a bike!” The phrase is often used to describe something that once you’ve learned it, you’ll never forget.  Over the past year, however, Connie Melidy and her capstone team of fourth-year mechanical engineering students discovered that learning to ride a bike in the first place is hard for some people, and decided to turn that challenge into their own challenge.

It’s very easy to recognize what people with disabilities may not be able to do, but Logan Gillingham wants people to see what they can do. That’s what prompted the local grade 12 student to start the Different Abilities project, a project she brought to GreenHouse’s Youth Innovation program this winter.

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.

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.