Our Chief Student Entrepreneur
The University of Adelaide has recently appointed our Inaugural Chief Student Entrepreneur, Sam Messina.
The role has been developed in order to raise awareness of programs designed to support current students with developing their innovation skills and building entrepreneurial capacity. Our Chief Student Entrepreneur will assist students with support in navigating the start up eco system and inspiring students to consider an entrepreneurial path, one that will in turn enhance future career prospects.
About Our Chief Student Entrepreneur
Sam Messina is the co-founder and CEO of Ortomi, an Adelaide company based at ThincLab, designing and manufacturing robot companions. Ortomi have now sold in over 13 different countries around the globe, and primarily exports to the US and Europe.
Sam is a final year Electrical/Electronic Engineering student at the University of Adelaide, alongside his fellow co-founder Christian Alexandru. They have been innovating at ThincLab since 2020 on a number of different projects, and also were winners of the international Gravity 02 Space Innovation Challenge.
Sam and Christian are building the Ortomi robot pets from their home and demand is growing rapidly, so much so, they are looking into local South Australian manufacturers to take over operations. The duo plan on working on the business full time after they graduate.