AI to enable a dynamic workforce

Friday, January 27, 2023

Esteban Veintimilla, co-founder of 1Mentor and MBET '22 alumnus
This is an excerpt from an opinion article written by Esteban Veintimilla (BMath '18, MBET '22) for the University of Waterloo's 2023 Global Futures publication.

Entrepreneurship is about solving complex problems, and in a world of rapid technological advancement and unpredictable change, we need to reimagine how we prepare emerging talent. 1Mentor partners with higher-education institutions to better serve their students by providing tools to prepare future-ready talent.

When I started my undergrad in math and business at the University of Waterloo, I thought I wanted to go into finance. I discovered co-op and immediately saw how valuable these work experiences would be to my professional development. It allowed me to explore different careers while expanding my skill set. I did my first work placement in finance, then others in actuarial science, business analysis, project management, and finally in entrepreneurship where I found my passion.

The vision for my company took shape when I was working at Waterloo supporting students in finding co-op placements. I realized how difficult it was to equip students with evolving industry demands and that there was a need to create agile partnerships between industry, government and academia to prepare students for the future of work.

The 1Mentor platform is designed to equip students with the insights to understand what skills and competencies to develop to achieve their career objectives. Through support and investment from the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and Velocity, as well as the ability to leverage guidance from a world-leading institution in co-operative education, we have grown rapidly in a short period of time.

Read the full story in the 2023 Global Futures publication.