Ope Thomas is a University of Baltimore student, entrepreneurship fellow, and the founder/CEO of Roadi, a solution that promises to change the landscape of urban commuting. Roadi is a mobile app that uses a mixture of crowdsourced data and machine learning to help users save time whilst searching for a parking space. The solution is to tackle a core issue and what Ope calls “a problem of information.”

Ope Thomas has been selected by Highlandtown incubator, Emerging Technology Center, to be apart of its Pioneer Baltimore program. This program is a nine-week course that provides early-stage businesses with insights, networking opportunities, and tools to move from the idea stage into sustainable activities.

Ope and his team have built a core culture at Roadi that is one of collaboration, inclusion, and thoughtfulness to align themselves with the problem they wish to solve. They have already made substantial growth in the 2 years since the founding of Roadi, but he says that this Pioneer program will provide several opportunities for improvement including developing a monetization strategy, solidifying their business model, and continuing to build their vision to support their solution.

Ope is to join another UB student, Stuart Tweedie, at the Pioneer Baltimore program in the coming weeks. Both students are members of University of Baltimore's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and have used the space to develop their concepts. We look forward to seeing what is in store for the two of them.

By Nicholas V. Whited, Student Marketing Intern at Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.