Wilfrid Laurier University's Mentoring Program links Staff and Students with the Entrepreneurial Business Community
Continuing with their strong community involvement, Virtual Causeway's COO and co-founder, Rick Endrulat, has lent his business and entrepreneurial expertise to the Mentoring Program at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU). "This is a great opportunity to give back to the school that helped develop my entrepreneurial spirit," commented Endrulat, who holds a Masters in Business Administration from WLU.
The Mentoring Program, which is run through the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship at WLU, aims to accelerate students' learning about owning, operating and leading an entrepreneurial business. The goals of the program are to provide students with insight, direction and professional advice about their career development. It also provides them with exposure to an entrepreneurial atmosphere - experience that is invaluable to a developing young business student.
The program, which is in its inaugural year, is offered to second-year business and economics students at WLU. Interested students fill out an application, in which they are asked questions about their expectations, career goals and what they hope to gain from the experience, and are then interviewed before being accepted into the program. After this process, they are matched with volunteer entrepreneurs from the local area, such as Endrulat, based on their career interests. Since its launch in September, 2003, students have been participating in all sorts of entrepreneurial experiences - from company tours and job-shadowing to attending conferences and staff meetings.
From a student's perspective, the program offers a chance for the students to gain insight into entrepreneurship that no classroom can teach - experience! Endrulat's protégé, Carolina Yang, joined the program to gain experience and social skills in a business environment. To date, Yang has had an opportunity to participate in a networking session with some of the other participants as well as a chance to sit in on some of Virtual Causeway's client meetings while job-shadowing. After 4 months of being involved, she feels the program has helped develop her interpersonal skills as well as meet many new contacts that could help further her career after graduation. "A mentor, I believe, is a person you can learn from who can learn from you as well!"
From a mentor's perspective, it is clear that the students aren't the only ones learning from this experience. The mentoring volunteers get a chance to pass their skills on to the young, vibrant youth who will undoubtedly someday become powerful entrepreneurs themselves. The students give the mentors a fresh perspective on business, communication and life itself.
For information about the Mentoring Program or other activities that the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship is involved in, please visit www.schlegelcentre.ca. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, or would like further information about the Mentoring program, please contact Steve Farlow at 519-884-0710 x2615 or sfarlow@wlu.ca.
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