Northeastern held its annual NEXPO event as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week this past Thursday night, featuring IDEA ventures, as well as available entrepreneurship programs and resources for both students and alumni.
IDEA, Northeastern's student-run venture accelerator, held the event in Cabot Center, enabling student and alumni entrepreneurs to showcase their ventures and ideas, as well as connect with one another.
John Lloyd, DMSB'17 co-founded Idyoma, a mobile app connecting those learning a new language with others nearby, an idea that came to him while working on global co-op in Seville, Spain. After visiting hostels and nearby places with his friends, speaking the local language with those from the area, he realized how much his Spanish had improved, and knew it could work for others as well.
Many other ventures were present as well, including 3DFortify, which was just awarded a $50,000 MassChallenge Award, and The Compost Project, co-founded by alumni Eli Brown, E'16, Alex Vipond, DMSB'16, and Harrison Ackerman, SSH'15, which takes organic waste and turns it into fertilizer.
Northeastern graduate, Sarah Merion, DMSB'10, was also at NEXPO, as founder and CEO of EthosWell, an online platform giving visitors access to complementary healthcare and providers. She said she received advice from the Venture Mentoring Network, as well as support from IDEA, reconnecting her with Northeastern and her alumni network.
“I'm really impressed by what Northeastern is doing,” Merion said.