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By: Krista Henry
Small-and-medium-sized businesses reap the benefits of digital transformation from tech-savvy young talent. Through the Digital Main Street program, students assist businesses with digital tools to help them transform.
Working with Communitech, Arts and Math students from the University of Waterloo find creative solutions to help businesses stay competitive in a virtual world. “Communitech focuses on supporting and growing the tech ecosystem,” says Stacie Dunlop, head of people and culture, Communitech. “We use Waterloo Arts and Math students as the foundation for creativity for everything from design to software development.”
Students work in teams that consist of a digital marketer, copywriter, UX/UI web designer, graphic designer, web developer and business analyst. The projects take place over four weeks with businesses such as retail shops, independent restaurants and cultural organizations.
In under a year, the Digital Main Street program (primarily
ShopHERE and Future Proof programs), have supported more than 5,000 of these businesses. Students have spent half a million hours in the program being coached by experienced team leads.
These talented co-op students play a key role in transforming revenues, strategy and online presence.
“Our students have reached new and existing customer bases through digital channels which helps grow revenue,” said Mustafa Nabelsi, DMS program manager, student operations at Communitech. “They refined business models, created marketing strategies and enhanced digital assets.”
- CHERYL COTTRIL, co-chair of Huron Shores Hospice
Communitech values the incredible analytical and technical skills of these students as well as their creativity and agility. “We work with hundreds of different businesses and each one has its own set of challenges. The students’ ability to understand the problem and contribute to the solution is a major benefit,” Nabelsi said.
“The businesses each have different levels of digital maturity which requires the teams to be creative. They bring fresh perspectives that the business owners wouldn’t have considered,” Nabelsi added.
For example, Arts student Dana Grace MacMillan brought new ideas when she both worked as a graphic designer to re-brand a music store and then helped to promote and refine a sugaring hair removal business. As a web designer, Math student Devin Zhou transitioned a music shop’s website to accommodate online sales. He also worked with a wellness coach to optimize her social media channels.
“The team listened to our business needs and brought their expertise to help our business. They took our content and ideas and presented them to customers in new ways I never would have thought of,” she added.
Since Fall 2020, Communitech has hired approximately 80 University of Waterloo co-op students for three-month contracts, some of which are being extended due to their high-tier skills and talent.
As Generation Z enters the workforce, they bring communication, technical skills and marketing talent that will drive further change in the digital space. Here are four tips our co-op students learned about managing transformation:
- Justin Chik, digital marketer and Economics student.
- Justin Chik, digital marketer and Economics student.
- Devin Zhou, web designer and Math student.
- Dana Grace MacMillan, graphic designer and Arts student.
Read more about the students’ perspective of working on this project in this feature from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Toronto’s newsletter.
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The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.