Sefunmi Osinaike (BASc '17, electrical and computer engineering) and Helen Huang (BSc '17) co-founded Co.Lab in 2022 to help people who want to get into tech but aren't sure how to do it.
The company is a mentorship-based program for people from all walks of life — its motto is “you belong in tech” — and has helped more than 1,000 people in 50 countries switch careers and land roles at Apple, Google and Amazon, among others.
Co.Lab works by bringing together teams of product managers, designers and software engineers to help participants develop their collaborative thinking skills and create a tangible product.
Huang and Osinaike met through Waterloo’s co-op program and credit those work experiences for helping them break into tech. These experiences underpin the design of their tech talent training program which focuses on experiential learning.
“Going through co-op was an interesting experience for me,” said Osinaike. “I worked really hard to land my first tech job, and Waterloo already had that brand to give me a significant push. I’m super grateful for that. Not everyone has that community around them to really push them forward in their goals.”
Osinaike and Huang were named to the impressive Forbes 30 Under 30 lists for 2023.
Go to Training the tech talent of the future for the full story.