The future CEOs of Manitoba

BCM kicks off Youth CEO program

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This article was published 10/07/2018 (2655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

There was a lot of cheering at the Old Exhibition arena on June 28, and not because of a game.

There was a lot of cheering at the Old Exhibition arena on June 28, and not because of a game.

 

Photo by Ligia Braidotti
Youth CEO participant Shaylee Quill (right) will be working with Andrea Carlson, vice president of finance and corporate responsibility at Investors Group.
Photo by Ligia Braidotti Youth CEO participant Shaylee Quill (right) will be working with Andrea Carlson, vice president of finance and corporate responsibility at Investors Group.

On that day, the Business Council of Manitoba kicked off the second year of the Youth CEO summer internship program at the arena (80 Sinclair St.). Sixteen students were selected to work with some of the biggest companies in Manitoba.

The Youth CEO program started in 2017 as a way to provide highly underrepresented youth job opportunities that exist in the business industry. Participants are trained and get work experience by working closely with businesses leaders.

According to BCM vice-president Kevin Chief, inner-city youth face many barriers to finding a promising career because they don’t know how to access the opportunities.

Last year, all 18 participants left the program with summer jobs, some of them with the companies that trained them.

“Because they got work experience on their resume, and then they got a network of some of the biggest companies and two non-profit organizations, now they have access, because they know about it, to incredible jobs and opportunities,” Chief said.

Anaka Sandhu was one of those 18 participants from 2017 and now works as the Youth CEO co-ordinator. The 18-year-old young woman was trained by Richardson International’s Amy Cundall, the senior learning and development co-ordinator and said she gained more confidence through the experience.

“They took me through pretty much every aspect of what goes into running a business, marketing a business,” Sandhu said. “(Cundall) taught me that no matter what, you need to do something that you’re going to love. She showed me that she genuinely loved her job and that you need to enjoy and really love what you’re doing to have pride in it.

“We don’t always have the confidence that we need to pursue what we actually want to do, but it’s important to know that the things that we love are valid, and the things that we love are the things that we should pursue.”

Photo by Ligia Braidotti
Saije Catcheway greets Jamie Brown, CEO at Frantic Films, where she will be trained this summer.
Photo by Ligia Braidotti Saije Catcheway greets Jamie Brown, CEO at Frantic Films, where she will be trained this summer.

Steve Kroft, owner and chief executive officer of Conviron, a controlled environment systems manufacturer, said the Youth CEO program is a win-win program because the companies are building their future colleagues who are going to help businesses grow.

“We know what the demographics are in our province and great employees come from everywhere. It doesn’t matter how you’ve grown up, it doesn’t matter where you live, and all of our businesses and our province, to succeed, are going to need great employees and future leaders of communities, where it’s a business community of their own networks,” Kroft said.

At the event, there were hundreds of younger kids celebrating those who were called to meet their CEOs on the stage. Chief said it means a lot to them when CEOs take the initiative to go into their communities to present these employment and training opportunities and that he hopes one day, these kids are inspired by the Youth CEO participants and become junior leaders in their schools and neighbourhoods.

“It’s irresponsible of us to ask any young person to overcome hardships unless we can show others who’ve done it. But when CEOs show up in the North End of Winnipeg, at the Old Exhibition Arena, they are not just telling them, they are showing them how important they are to the potential and the future of our province, so when a CEO says that they need them to do well for their companies to do well, that’s really empowering.”

The participants spend the first week in orientation receiving training and certifications, the second week touring the companies and seeing the opportunities available, the third week in their work placement, and three weeks giving back to the community working at the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre’s summer camp.

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