uOttawa Enactus Champions Sustainable Innovation
by Takwa Youssef, The Green Academy Coordinator
This past Friday, I had the chance to attend a quiet but powerful kind of celebration: the send-off for uOttawa’s Enactus team, who are heading to the 2025 Enactus Canada National Exposition in Calgary from May 6–8. It was a final rehearsal, an exchange of ideas, and a proud moment for everyone who’s been following the journey of these student changemakers.
Out of the eight projects the team worked on this academic year, two have been selected to represent the university on the national stage: Nupacko and Aqua Grid. Each initiative addresses a deeply rooted social or environmental challenge with purpose, data, storytelling, and an entrepreneurial mindset, all within a tight 12-minute pitch they’ll be delivering among 70 other university teams at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre.
The send-off allowed students to test their presentation in front of an engaged audience made up of fellow uOttawa students, faculty, and mentors. The feedback they received was sharp and honest, especially during the Q&A portion, which pushed them to defend their financial models, clarify their impact, and think on their feet.
The first pitch was for Nupacko, a social enterprise built to combat the alarming rise in food insecurity, a crisis that has worsened alongside a 26% increase in grocery prices over five years. Today, 23% of Canadians experience food insecurity, and 87% fail to meet the minimum nutritional baseline for a healthy diet.
Nupacko offers a simple solution: nutrient-packed cookies sold through a one-for-one business model. For every $2 cookie purchased, another is donated to someone facing food insecurity. The cookies are designed to address five key nutritional deficiencies, and target communities struggling to make healthy choices on a budget. Video testimonials from one of their partners, and photos from their Enactus Moi Eax collaborators, underscored the project’s potential to expand internationally and adapt to different community needs.
Aqua Grid: Cleaning Oceans, Growing Solutions
As The Green Academy Coordinator, the project that resonated most deeply with me was Aqua Grid, an environmental innovation responding to the sharp rise in ocean acidity, which has increased by 150% in recent decades. This chemical shift is destabilizing marine ecosystems, threatening fisheries, and pushing up consumer seafood prices. Shellfish populations, in particular, are struggling to survive. The team’s solution lies in kelp : a natural, abundant resource found across Canadian coastal waters. Aqua Grid proposes deploying modular systems that use kelp to absorb excess CO₂ from the ocean. Once the kelp has served its purpose, it can be harvested and repurposed as fertilizer in land-based agriculture and in the future, possibly even as a form of biofuel.
It’s a beautifully circular model: kelp cleaning the ocean, then regenerating the soil. The project involves partnerships with agricultural technicians, private fisheries, municipal actors, and provincial authorities. It’s also supported by the NRC and the Ecology Centre, and is eyeing a September 2025 launch. The students shared their six-month product design process, their hopes to patent the system, and projections showing that one deployed unit could generate $3,000 in revenue. Even more compelling: Aqua Grid aligns with 13 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The innovation is grounded, native to Canadian coasts, and safe with no ecological risk, only potential. And more than a tech solution, it’s a mindset shift: toward restoration, regeneration, and long-term resilience.
More Than a Pitch
At the event, Professor Eric Nelson, Telfer faculty advisor to the team, took the stage to reflect on the team’s growth this year. “A lot was learned,” he said. “There’s been real progress in corporate memory and engagement. These are the kinds of social enterprises that can outlast a pitch season.” I couldn’t agree more. These projects go beyond business plans. They are grounded in systems thinking, collective problem-solving, and a refusal to settle for surface-level solutions. What impressed me most was how the students carried their ideas, not just confidently, but with care.
They weren’t just pitching; they were owning the stories they’re trying to change.
As someone working every day to embed sustainability across programs and student experiences, I left the send-off reminded of why this work matters. Because when you put curiosity, rigour, and a sense of purpose in student hands, they don’t just rise, they lead.
So to the uOttawa Enactus team: wherever the rankings land in Calgary, know this : you’ve already shown us what responsible, courageous leadership looks like. And we’re proud to be cheering you on.