The students of NCSU and Peacework's Beth Wright (Front Row, Second Left) are pictured with uSTART entrepreneurs; members of the UTT Department of Environmental Studies: Hema Baboolal (Front Row, Far Left), Anwar Baksh (Front Row, Far Right), Dr. Samantha Chadee (Third Row, Second Right); and the staff of UTT's Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialisation Unit/uSTART: Ermine Christopher-Salino (Third Row, Third Right) and Inshan Meahjohn (Last Row, Far Right)

On March 14^th2019, The University of Trinidad and Tobago's (UTT's) Business Incubator/Accelerator - uSTART together with UTT's Department of Environmental Studies hosted a group of twenty-five (25) students from North Carolina State University (NCSU) who were accompanied by Beth Wright - the Director of Community Engagement & the Greenwork Initiative at Peacework. 

The students are a part of NCSU's Goodnight Scholars programme which is designed to develop scholars into leaders within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and/or education fields through service learning. Crucial to the programme's success is its partnership with Peacework, a global nonprofit organisation started in 1989 that engages communities, academic institutions and corporations in innovative cross-sector solutions for sustainable development around the world. Hence, over the past five years, Peacework and the NCSU cohorts have visited Trinidad and Tobago where they contribute primarily to conservation efforts at the Asa Wright Nature Centre. In the last two years, UTT has facilitated the students in order to further build their knowledge on key issues and enrich their learning experience.

This year at UTT, they were able to connect with two uSTART companies with leading-edge projects as well as learn from presentations given by UTT's subject matter experts in Environmental Studies, namely, Dr. Samantha Chadee - Assistant Professor, Muhammed Anwar Baksh - Research Assistant (Outreach) and Hema Baboolal - PhD student. The presenters provided insights into their research at UTT and imparted information on the green economy, environmental health and ecosystem management. Through additional Q&A sessions, the students were able to explore practical solutions to environmental problems they face at home and discuss ways in which they can enforce positive environmental behavior. The students even obtained tips on conducting environmental education outreach that would guide their scheduled visit to local primary schools the following day.

The visit concluded with breakout group activities which challenged the students to brainstorm ways in which entrepreneurship could be used to advance environmental sustainability. The exercise demonstrated the importance of ecopreneurship to social and environmental change and at the same time, it alluded to uSTART's critical role in promoting such entrepreneurial thinking across all industries. The theme of this session is also consistent with UTT's interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurial education - one that supports creativity, innovation, knowledge conversion and enterprise creation which positively impacts individuals, communities and the wider society.