In addition to building a tech solution for Helen's Acres Community Farm, Shiven Vinod Khera (centre) and Dr. Eric Li also regularly volunteer there.
In 2023, Helen’s Acres Community Farm in Kelowna faced a serious operational hurdle: an inefficient and error-prone tracking system.
“We were tracking our produce manually,” explains Farm Ambassador Dan Connolly. “This had negative ripple effects on our financial and grant reporting, and our staff were spending valuable time on basic inventory tasks instead of serving the community.”
With food donations valued at an estimated $3.58 per pound, even small errors had costly implications for the non-profit organization. Seeking a solution, the community farm approached UBC Okanagan and Dr. Eric Li in the Faculty of Management.
“We knew Dr. Li had expertise in this area,” Connolly says, “and, more importantly, we knew the university genuinely wanted to help us find a solution to our challenges.”
That’s where undergraduate student Shiven Vinod Khera entered the picture. An international student from New Delhi, India, Vinod Khera came to UBC Okanagan with a clear goal: to gain hands-on business experience while making a meaningful impact in his community.
“Shiven came to me for advice on a venture idea, and I said to him, ‘You seem like you understand software and code. I’m working with Helen’s Acres Community Farm—can we work together on an inventory management system to track donations?” recalls Dr. Li.
Shiven Vinod Khera wanted to gain hands-on business experience during his time at UBC Okanagan as a means of positively impacting his community.
That conversation launched Vinod Khera into a project that would not only transform operations at Helen Acres, but also shape his academic and professional path.
Tackling food bank challenges with technology
The project began with an important question: how can technology better manage produce and improve reporting for Helen’s Acres, as well as other non-profits?
Rather than work behind the scenes, Vinod Khera engaged directly with Helen’s Acres’ staff and volunteers from the beginning. He and the UBC Okanagan project team met with Connolly and his team to better understand daily operations, identify pain points and continuously adapt the system based on real-time feedback.
“This is a not-for-profit environment, so I knew it had to be easy to use,” explains Vinod Khera. “This was about more than just building software—it was about understanding real needs and designing something that could easily be used daily. For instance, Dan and his team are extremely busy during harvest, so I knew a user-friendly design and setup were key.”
While the project has evolved since its inception, the final result has been the creation of a student-developed “smart” inventory system that streamlined non-profit operations and improved how donations were tracked and distributed.
The product – in this case, zucchini – is weighed on a scale.
Data is then inputted into the smart inventory system quickly and easily.
Built using Microsoft Power BI, the system also gives Helen’s Acres access to real-time visual reporting, significantly reducing administrative work and supporting stronger grant and funding applications.
“The result wasn’t just a new tool—it was a shift in how we operate. Now we can pull detailed inventory reports for our accountants in just two minutes,” says Connolly. “It used to be a labour-intensive process because everything was manual.
“The tool Shiven and the team built gave us time back and reduced errors, and my team just ran with it. It was such a gift.”
The system has since expanded to other non-profits in Kelowna, with plans to support additional groups in the Okanagan region and beyond.
For Farm Ambassador Dan Connolly (left), the UBCO tool “gave us time back and reduced errors….It was such a gift.”
Hands-on undergraduate experience leads to successful start-up
For Vinod Khera, the experience has been transformational.
“Working with Helen’s Acres gave me experience that textbooks can’t,” he says. “It taught me how to adapt technology to real-world needs and lead a project from start to finish.”
The hands-on technical and project management skills laid the groundwork for LinkBase, the tech company Vinod Khera co-founded after graduation.
Even as he grows his company—which now serves clients in Canada, the U.S. and Australia—Vinod Khera remains closely connected to UBC Okanagan. As an alumnus, he continues to volunteer his time to maintain and improve the inventory system he helped build as an undergraduate student.
Dr. Eric Li and Dan Connolly both believe in the power of community-university partnerships to inspire positive change.
“UBC Okanagan gave me opportunities that shaped my future,” he explains. “Giving back—whether through mentorship or technical support—is my way of staying connected.”
Connolly says the relationship with UBC Okanagan has been invaluable. “Students like Shiven bring fresh perspectives that make our organization better. Their work doesn’t just stay inside a classroom—it lives out in the community.”
Today, the system Vinod Khera helped build continues to grow beyond its original purpose—streamlining operations, strengthening community support and inspiring a new generation of students to see technology as a force for good.
“It started as a question about managing donations,” says Dr. Li, “but it became a lesson in leadership, empathy and real-world results. That’s what we hope for in every student project.”
