Land Trust Graduates New Crop Of Entrepreneurs

And Rasha Abuhatab, a 17-year-old senior at Metropolitan Business Academy, started a business called Hot Hoops, where she used PVC pipes, plastic, and Velcro to build sloping walls that convert gardens into mini-greenhouses. She said designing and building the greenhouse hoops required a lot of work, and difficult math, but she persevered, and is so pleased with the end result.

“It taught me that it was easier to do hard work in the moment,” she said about her experience at the Growing Entrepreneurs program, then to keep delaying and delaying until the work has added up to something insurmountable.

She said no one in her family in West Haven gardens or taught her how to garden, so there was a steep learning curve when she started working with the Land Trust. But she caught on quick, she said, and now feels confident growing a range of vegetables she never thought she’d be able to grow.

As for the mini-greenhouse business? She’s not sure how long she wants to keep up the business, but she knows at least one customer looking to benefit from her newly forged gardening, carpentry, and design skills.

“My mom really wants me to make her one,” she said with a smile.

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