TalentBridge fills an essential gap in the development of young entrepreneurs in Ottawa. Its design as a business internship modelled on a technical co-op provides a unique learning opportunity for students – important especially since it is outside of your primary academic discipline. Without over generalizing, I would say that it is fairly typical of business placements for university student to be in data-processing, reception or other basic tasks. TalentBridge, in my opinion, differs and differs from that model in an unique way wherein it provided me with a high-level exposure to marketing, sales & business strategy to students that I would have had very limited opportunity to access otherwise.
So I was often asked over the course of summer about my thoughts about the program looking at it as a computer science student. I would say, TalentBridge recognizes that computer science students learn in co-op through coding, biomedical science students learn in co-op through research, so students with an interest in business should learn through active participation in business activity. TalentBridge’s position as a facilitator that is around to plan and manage the co-op student/employer relationship while ensuring that all parties goals are met helped ensure a better learning experience for myself and helped Rove Mobile (the enterprise) get more value out of my skill set. To have Manu Sharma, the program manager, as a sounding board on a regular basis (we spent one day a week with Manu at the Entrepreneurship Centre) was in my opinion a huge differentiator for the program. We had active mentoring at two levels, with Rove Mobile as well as with OCRI, and that was a huge learning opportunity in itself.
What else? I see TalentBridge stepping into the role of a key talent aggregator in the Ottawa community. SMEs often do not have the time to search for young talent that will only contribute for four months, universities do not have co-op programs for business students targeted at SMEs and students don’t have the time to apply at hundreds of small companies across Ottawa, many of which they could not have heard of unless they were already plugged in to the tech community. I believe that with time TalentBridge will emerge as the central location for students to look to gain a life experience, primarily because the structure of the program protects the interest and aspirations of the students without compromising on the degree of their engagement with the industry.
I have only two more weeks left with the program, and when I leave I will carry with me a strong message in support of the program. I see TalentBridge as the missing bridge between students and the tech community in Ottawa that will allow students to get their foot in the door with an SME, on the basis of their merit and their merit alone. As the core messaging of the program lays it out, it is a pathway to training the next generation of business leaders by letting them get a head start within the ecosystem and start contributing and building a reputation for themselves. It is great to spend time on the deep end.
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Talent, Talent Bridge
