For more than 10 years, technology education company Vretta has been supporting innovation and entrepreneurship at Seneca. Through HELIX, Seneca’s innovation and entrepreneurship incubator, Vretta has played a vital role in providing resources for students, alumni and community members to develop an innovation mindset as an intrapreneur and launching a start-up as an entrepreneur.

HELIX offers workshops, networking and experiential learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring, co-working space and funding. Vretta has helped to make this wide range of supports available for HELIXers to strengthen their skills in business, finance, health sciences and technology mathematics.

Vretta has been instrumental in sourcing funding for HELIXers. Students receive financial aid through Vretta’s Rewards for Excellence in Mathematics. In April 2021, Anand Karat, President, Vretta, founding member of the HELIX Venture Fund Sub-Committee. With a focus on removing fiscal barriers faced by HELIXers, one of the sub-committee's recommendations led to the establishment of the HELIX Catalyst Fund. Through this funding initiative, HELIXers receive microgrants to take their business venture to the next level.

Vretta has provided experiential learning opportunities to Seneca graduates, such as designing and developing mathematics-based technology solutions that are being used in the real world, including at Canadian educational institutions.

“Seneca is positively impacting the lives of students,” said Mr. Karat. "It is an honour of ours to contribute to this transformation.”

The ongoing partnership with Vretta has allowed HELIX to provide cross-disciplinary supports to aspiring entrepreneurs. This includes the Entrepreneurial Numeracy Skills (ENS) platform, which help HELIXers build financial literacy skills, such as managing cash flow, credit and loan management and understanding interest rates and taxes.

The ENS platform also identifies skills gaps and highlights opportunities to upgrade skills through HELIX’s financial support sessions and Seneca’s Faculty of Continuing Education and Training (FCET).

“Collaborating with the passionate team at HELIX for yet another year has been an eventful journey,” said Mr. Karat. “The focus on identifying effective ways in which Seneca can support not only the success of students but also the larger community of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs is inspirational.” 

To learn more about how you can support Seneca students, contact Seneca at advancement@senecacollege.ca.