“Tunup” team, winners of Open Start up Tunisia (OST) of the third edition of the Fostering Entrepreneurship in Tunisian Higher Education project participated in Columbia’s Venture Competition in New York City 3-12 April 2019. The team composed of cross-disciplinary students, as well as their two coaches, pitched their idea of transforming the waste from harissa factories into a pepper seeds oil, solving an environmental issue and offering an additional revenue to producers. The Tunisian team had the opportunity to experience a full immersion in the Columbia University entrepreneurial ecosystem, meeting with American student entrepreneurs, faculty, agricultural experts, angel investors and discovering how Columbia university has become an strong actor in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. Since 2015, the US Embassy in Tunisia supports OST in facilitating dissemination of entrepreneurship culture and cross cultural fertilization through student exchange.
