TMU students win big at regional and national competitions for social innovation

This month, Enactus TMU (external link)  extended its winning streak. The Ted Rogers School of Management’s largest social entrepreneurship group was named one of the country’s top four social innovators at Enactus Canada’s National Exposition for its two pioneering projects. 

In March, Enactus TMU’s Project BITS, a financial literacy program designed by and for students, was named Regional Champion in Enactus Canada’s Desjardins Youth Empowerment Challenge. Project Terra-Plast, a revolutionary biodegradable polymer made from potato starch, was the Runner-Up in the Canadian Tire Corporation Environmental Sustainability Challenge. 

“The spirit and energy at Enactus competitions are unmatched,” says commerce student and Enactus TMU president Kareem Hamid, who leads a team of 70 students equally passionate about making a difference. “Joining the group was the best decision I’ve made in my undergrad.” 

Enactus Canada (external link)  is a social entrepreneurship network with chapters in universities and colleges across the country. The student-led projects operate like business startups innovating solutions to the world’s biggest problems.

Project BITS

Project BITS got its start in 2018 when two Enactus students identified a pressing need among students for fundamental financial literacy education. “Students didn’t know what a Tax Free Savings Account was, how to save, to invest, to navigate the Ontario Student Assistance Program,” says Hamid. “They were experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety around finances.”  Enactus TMU decided to create a curriculum to fill this knowledge gap. 

Team members reached out to the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education  (external link) (CFEE) to co-develop a 10-week workshop series. Each year the team at Enactus TMU delivers 30 workshops attended by more than 1,500 students from across the university. “We have distributed thousands of dollars in grant funding from our operating budget to alleviate financial pressures and help students get started on their financial journey,” says Hamid. 

Enactus TMU is now expanding the reach of the program to the University of Waterloo, Pearson Canada,and Vanier College and others. “The curriculum is always being updated based on what students need help with the most,” says Hamid. “We recently launched an open door consultation program for TMU students who want one-on-one guidance and support. They can come to our office and we offer that as a service.” 

Project Terra-Plast 

Project Terra-Plast has gone through a few iterations since it launched in 2019. At that time, it was called Project Secure and the initial idea was to tackle food insecurity but quickly pivoted to putting food waste to work. “Potatoes are the second cheapest wasted produce after carrots.,” says Hamid. 

The product development team – in this case, biology and chemistry students – spent thousands of hours in the lab experimenting and discovered they could turn potato starch into a polymer with very similar properties to plastic. The use cases for a natural biodegradable polymer alternative to plastic are as vast as the many ways plastic is being used today. 

That potential piqued the interest of Amy Tran, a creative industries student, and ultimately led her to join Enactus TMU, where she now serves as vice-president of marketing. “I became passionate about the idea and the innovation,” she says.

A potato starch-based polymer can help limit greenhouse gas emissions and microplastic pollution and reduce the growing problem of food waste. For its first use case, the team at Enactus TMU has used Terra-Plast to develop The Good Pod, an alternative to plastic detergent pods. “In Canada alone, more than 976 tons of polyvinyl alcohol or PVA plastics enter our water because of laundry detergent pods. They are not biodegradable despite claims otherwise,” says Hamid. “We wanted to educate consumers about the effects of these products and provide a solution.”

While The Good Pod is Enactus TMU’s first consumer product to come from Terra-Plast, it won’t be the last. The team is in talks with a local Toronto startup to commercialize an alternative to plastic bags. They are also seeking a patent. In all cases, sales will be reinvested in Enactus TMU to maximize impact.

Both Tran and Hamid say their experience with Enactus TMU has provided critical skills, important hands-on learning and a guiding motivation for their future careers: To impact the world in a positive way.