Sprott student sets out to grow entrepreneurship centre’s reach and impact
Kirsten Josling, a fourth-year Bachelor of International Business student at the Sprott School of Business, is the new director of Hatch – Carleton University Students’ Association’s entrepreneurship centre. As director, Kirsten’s main focus is to attract students from a range of different programs and disciplines to entrepreneurship.
“Making entrepreneurship available to the mainstream is the way we’re going to grow Hatch beyond what it is now,” Kirsten said. “We want to introduce entrepreneurship to students who aren’t in programs like business or engineering, for example, through things like social enterprise which is really near and dear to my heart.”
Hatch supports Carleton students interested in entrepreneurship. They run an incubator program where they work with undergraduate students to flush out their business ideas and models, network with professionals and build their companies. Hatch also organizes events, workshops and networking opportunities through the school year to drive innovation and creativity in students.
“All students are welcome to come to Hatch events,” Kirsten said. “Many have this impression that Hatch is only open to those who have a business or are thinking about starting a business, but Hatch is open to all those who are creative, innovative and interested in finding out-of-the-box solutions for real-world problems.”
Furthermore, Kirsten, who also serves as the vice-president of finance for the Sprott Business Students’ Society is working to grow the relationship Hatch has with other groups on campus.
“We are really excited to partner with the Sprott Student Consulting Group. They have invaluable services and bringing those [services] to the Hatch cohorts is something we’re going to try and initiate,” she said. “On top of that, creating a really strong relationship with Carleton University’s Innovation Hub is something I’ve started working on.”
While details of the partnership with the Sprott Student Consulting Group are still being finalized, the collaboration between Hatch and the Innovation Hub will see – amongst other things – a range of events designed for students interested in entrepreneurship, such as innovation bootcamps, workshops and networking opportunities.
With her father being an entrepreneur, Kirsten has long had an interest in entrepreneurship.
Following her first year at Sprott, Kirsten secured an internship with an e-commerce company based in Vienna – Indeco Design – as a front-end web developer. She is working with Indeco Design again, through the BIB internship, and is collaborating with startups. (BIB students spend the third year of their program completing an international internship and/or study abroad.)
“Seeing founders develop and start from nothing into something that’s 10 times, or even 100 times, bigger than it was a year ago is really inspiring and very incredible to see.”
During her time at Sprott, Kirsten’s passion for social entrepreneurship grew through her involvement with Carleton’s chapter of Enactus – an organization that uses the power of business to address social issues. Her time with Enactus also provided her with her first introduction to Hatch.
“If any of this speaks to you or inspires you, we’re always open to having conversations with you,” Kirsten said as a message to students, re-emphasizing that they don’t need businesses to collaborate with Hatch. “I don’t have a business and I am the director of Hatch, which shows that we’re open to everything.”