ocriblogs.com » Employment

Summer Company Deadline Extended

alexatocri — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:14:00 +0000

The Summer Company deadline for applications has been extended until May 24th at 11:59 p.m.

Summer Company is an exciting opportunity for enterprising students, 15 to 29 years old, to start and run their own summer businesses. Now in its ninth year, the province-wide program will help over 500 young entrepreneurs launch and manage successful summer businesses across Ontario. Participation in Ottawa increased by more than 75 per cent last year and the program continues to get more and more popular each year. Summer Company, delivered through OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre, is an initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade designed to help young entrepreneurs develop, plan and execute a successful business venture.

As a Summer Company entrepreneur, students will receive hands-on business coaching and mentoring from business leaders in the community. It could be the start of something big!

Participants are eligible for up to $3,000 to ease start-up expenses including $1,500 awarded upon the successful completion of the program and return to school. Students are selected based on the quality of their business plan and their personal commitment to their vision. In addition to the funding, these young entrepreneurs will receive strategic business assistance as well as one-on-one support and advice from mentors as part of the Summer Company Program. Carefully selected mentors work closely with each student and share their unique insight and expertise. This year’s list of mentors includes a banker, accountant, lawyer, sales professional, marketer, strategist, etiquette advisor, former summer company participant, and successful local entrepreneur.

Click here for more information about the Summer Company Program or contact Diana Martinez, Youth Business Advisory at OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre by phone at 613 580 2424 ext 22704 or via email at dmartinez@ocri.ca.

Top 7 was a team effort!

kcunningham — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:02:15 +0000

PHEW! We made it! It was quite the process. While it was certainly a shot in the arm to see Ottawa chosen as one of the Smart21 by the Intelligent Community Forum it did instil a bit of fear in me because the next round of applications for Top7 was apparently the hardest part – the really “detailed” and comprehensive part. After we sorted through all the categories, assigned responsibility for sourcing data and information and made our shopping list of best projects in town we had to get to work and prove it! The deadline for the application was New Year’s eve but with vacations on the calendar and everyone thinking of Santa and sugarplums we opted to get it in EARLY! Great.

Thanks to the great people at the City who knew where to get the most current and relevant information re: connectivity and city initiatives and all the other companies in town who are charging ahead with innovative partnerships and programs that help create skilled talent and strive to see them employed in knowledge-based jobs we were able to put together a really impressive proposal.

So, now we’re Top7, awaiting the arrival of representatives from the selection committee for a two day tour of our great city before the final announcement of the Intelligent Community of the Year in New York City in May.

Just in case you don’t know how many super projects are on the go here’s a rundown of the projects we chose to highlight – there were many more that didn’t make the cut (we were limited to 25 pages)… Ottawa’s Rural Broadband Project, Abbott Point of Care’s Microelectronics Apprenticeship Program, Algonquin’s Game Development Program, Carleton’s VSIM lab, Digital Inclusion programs at the Ottawa Public Libraries, OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre satellite kiosks, Special Education Allocation of laptops to students with Learning Difficulties at Ottawa Carleton District School Board, Lead to Win, City of Ottawa’s 3-1-1 Contact Centre, BizPal, Algonquin’s Virtual College, TalentBridge, High School Technology Program, Passport to Prosperity, Focus on IT (FIT), Wesley Clover’s Affiliate Program and Winning Innovative Networks for Schools (WINS). Like ICF said in their summary, there are almost too many programs in place to list them all! If your favourite project wasn’t on the list – let me know so we can consider it for the next time.

Regardless of the outcome of the May announcement we should all be really proud!

Local businesses get easy access to new suite of tools needed to survive and thrive in tough economic times

JeffE — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:45:56 +0000

OTTAWA, ON, July 16, 2009 – OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre has launched its latest suite of services called “Survive and Thrive” which is targeted at businesses currently in operation but in need of assistance and guidance to identify and leverage opportunities during these challenging economic times. This program is possible thanks to the support of [...]

Local student entrepreneurs launch 23 new Summer Companies

JeffE — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:19:18 +0000

OTTAWA, ON, July 2, 2009 – Ottawa-area students have been selected to participate in this year’s Summer Company Program. Now in its eighth year, the province-wide program will help over 500 young entrepreneurs launch and manage successful summer businesses across Ontario. Participation in Ottawa has increased by more than 75 per cent this [...]

Industry-Led Program Inspires High School Students Planning to Buck the Recession to Consider Careers in IT

JeffE — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:52:42 +0000

OTTAWA–(Marketwire – June 3, 2009) – Canadian information technology and communication (ICT) industry leaders are taking time out from the business at hand to provide mentorship in high school classrooms. This is to address a looming shortage of workers that could impact the tech sector and negatively affect the Canadian economy. In Ottawa, tech mentors [...]

OCRI extends benefits to qualified Lead to Win participants

JeffE — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:03:46 +0000

Ottawa, ON – Monday April 27, 2009 – OCRI, Ottawa’s lead economic development agency, is pleased to announce that participants in the reinvigorated Lead to Win (LTW) program will receive a complimentary one-year OCRI membership and be entered into the OCRI investment and commercialization intake process. LTW is a free program designed to help experienced [...]

OCRI welcomes Claude Haw as President and CEO

JeffE — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:25:28 +0000

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 (Ottawa, ON) – Today, the Board of Directors of OCRI is pleased to announce that Claude Haw has been selected to assume the role of President and CEO of Ottawa’s lead economic development agency. With over 30 years of experience in a variety of technical, general management and venture investing [...]

OCRI souhaite la bienvenue à son nouveau PDG, Claude Haw

JeffE — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:24:54 +0000

Le mardi 24 mars 2009 (Ottawa, ON) – Aujourd’hui, le conseil d’administration d’OCRI a le plaisir d’annoncer la nomination de Claude Haw à titre de président directeur général de la principale agence de développement économique d’Ottawa. Fort de plus de 30 ans d’expérience dans divers postes de gestion technique, de directions générales et de gestion [...]