There are two billion people with diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease worldwide. About 80 million of that study are individuals within the United States.
Despite these drastic numbers, the learning curve for healthy eating was too time consuming or expensive for the average person. Hospitals began to lose money due to patient’s lack of adherence and increasing readmission penalties.
At the age of 14, Rafaela Frota began to take notice of all this after watching a documentary called “Food Inc.”, from there she knew she had to do something to raise public awareness about nutrition. Despite her young age, Frota’s persistence and innovative ideas got the attention of the Founder and then CEO AisleFinder.
Frota has since then taken the advice from her mentor to create WAWWE (We Are What We Eat), a hospitalized solution tool for patients and physicians. Frota said she has worked on her dream by using online templates, researching business plans, pitch decks, NDAs, wireframes and competing in competitions like the UCF Joust New Venture Competition.
Frota pitched her company by herself in front of a panel of judges for the Shark Tank-Style competition. As experienced leaders, the judges voted for Frota to make it to the final round. Winning the UCF Joust New Venture Competition in 2019, the company was able to take a $12,000 check, provided by Echelon Fitness, and more than $25,000 in business services.
“I think UCF has an incredible, comfortable and highly impact-driven entrepreneurial hub that every single student at UCF should take advantage of,” Frota said. “Not only entrepreneurs but also other students should take advantage of the mentorship that people like Dr. Cameron Ford and Dr. Mike Pape about the entrepreneurial world.”
Dr. Michael Pape is Professor of Practice in the Department of Management within the College of Business at UCF where he teaches entrepreneurship. UCF Center of Entrepreneurial Leadership Director and Associate Professor, Dr. Cameron Ford also leads student founders.
Both Ford and Pape were necessary for the creation of WAWWE, said Frota and that they were very influential in any success that the company has. Their mentorship helped Frota establish her victory in the Joust.
Ford said after Frota’s victory, “It’s really rewarding for someone like me to see her grow as an entrepreneur over a two- or three-year period. I don’t think people in the community get to see that personal development that we get to see teaching students on campus.”
Since the competition WAWWE has been distributed to 46 hospitals across 10 US states. They have formed a contract with AdventHealth that deals with a 6 month study with 500+ patients and are currently working on deals with Nemours, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Frota said that the company has pivoted as they are in the process of restructuring the business model to better accommodate hospitals after the pandemic. During this reconstruction period, Frota now works at International Business Machines Corporation as an optical engineer.
Frota said that the Joust gives you two different kinds of awards, one that is surface-level such as the competition money and one that is deeper, where you are able to make relationships within the entrepreneurial hub.
The competition gives students the opportunity to work with people who are well-versed in their craft, Frota said and that it provides resources that they may not have access to as a college student.
“My advice would be to; do your research and be passionate about what you are doing,” Frota said. “I think those two things allow you to be successful. If you are passionate about something you never notice the hours you put into researching it… Start with the end in mind.”
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