Ellie and I officially graduated from Harvard College last Thursday, taking VertiGrow along with us :P This means more time to devote to VertiGrow, such as planning our pilot project 2 back in Kibera this summer to test out the newest round of prototypes.

I just want to take a moment to thank Harvard, especially the Idea Translation Lab, SEAS and Medicine in Need, on behalf of the whole VertiGrow team, for believing in us and supporting us from day 1. We hope VertiGrow will always remain part of the amazing Harvard-born NGO community and will make Harvard proud!

~Tina

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of representing VertiGrow as one of six panelists for the event entitled "Social Enterprise 101: Get it Started", hosted by the Harvard College Social Enterprise Association. This event was directed at Harvard undergraduates interested starting or getting involved with social enterprises, and stimulated great discussion on some of the most thought-provoking issues surrounding challenges and opportunities in this relatively new sector.

The panel featured some of the most inspiring leaders in the field:
Sutton Kiplinger, Executive Director of Project Health (Boston)
Matt Joyce, co-Founder of Philly Fellows
Scott Warren, Executive Director of Generation Citizen
Amit Garg, Founder of Hospitals for Hope
Shalaka Joshi, Vice President of CSO Partners

Next week, Ellie will be leading a workshop on social entrepreneurship at the finale event of the InFocus-Nonprofit Program hosted by Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business.  Stay tuned for more updates!

~Tina

Kibera has long been known for it's "flying toilets," or, plastic bags filled with human waste thrown into street corners or wherever there is space for them.  A recent invention is an eco-friendly version of the flying toilet, which takes the standard plastic bag, adds a biodegradable, odor-suppressant coating, and ties in fertilizer creation capabilities.  This new iteration of the flying toilet can actually create wealth from waste!
Check out the BBC article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8594972.stm

Vote for VertiGrow!  We need your help!  Please click on the link below and visit the Ashoka Changemakers competition page.  You have to register with an account, and then you can vote for your three favorite projects.  We are 1 of 13 finalists (chosen from over 200 applicants!) 
http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/nutrition

This past weekend, I represented VertiGrow at the Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights in Evanton, IL. The focus of this year's conference was "Urban Slums: the Shadow of the Humanitarian Generation," and the conference served as a great learning and networking experience. Distinguished panelists included Robert Neuwirth, author of Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World and Katherine Sierra, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.

Furthermore, all delegates at the conference participated in a case study competition where each delegate group investigated different urban slum scenarios  and submitted proposals of solutions developed in response to their urban slum scenario. Casy study cities  included Kibera, Beijing, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Dharavi, La Courneuve and  Casablanca. I am happy to announce that my team (Team Kibera) was chosen as the overall competition winner based on our written proposal and final presentation!

~Tina

We have been working closely with Medicine in Need to design the next version of VertiGrow.  This means talking to designers, manufacturers, and potential users. 

We are currently conducting a market survey with college students and recent graduates in the Boston area.  If you would like to participate or know someone else who would, please let us know!  You can email vertigrowteam@gmail.com. 

~Ellie

Season's greetings from the VertiGrow team!

It is certainly a busy time of the year, and we at VertiGrow have been working hard on the project's next phase back home in Cambridge. We are extremely excited to announce our partnership with Afya, the newly formed social enterprise branch of Medicine in Need.

VertiGrow will be Afya's first project "adoptee," granting us access to their office spaces in both Cambridge, MA and Pretoria, South Africa, as well as expertise and guidance in business planning, prototype and commercialization support. This is such an honor and tremendous opportunity for VertiGrow; certainly the best holiday gift ever!
 
With Afya's support, we have been designing an initial US market survey and are in negotiation with local manufacturers to produce our new Vertigrow (beta) prototype.  We hope to gather as much info as possible from potential Vertigrow users in the US in order to better tailor the development of our new prototype. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

~Tina

Thank you for visiting our new and improved site! Please check back often for updates from us as we work to move VertiGrow beyond its pilot stage and into the market.

As always, please contact us with any questions at vertigrowteam@gmail.com. We'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for our project.

For previous updates on VertiGrow, please visit our old blog at vertigrow.blogspot.com.