Blink Equity regroups Intuit’s TurboTax event featuring Toronto Raptors Fred VanVleet and Derek Foil.

How Top Tech Employers are Partnering with Entrepreneurs to Create a More Diverse Talent Pipeline

More employers than ever before are partnering with entrepreneurs to drive growth for the tech talent pipeline.

From the basketball court to the boardroom, an All-Star Toronto Raptors player is helping the community by bringing people together for a shared mission.

Blink Equity regroups Intuit’s TurboTax event featuring Toronto Raptors Fred VanVleet and Derek Foil.

Toronto, ON, September 20 - Toronto has 52% diverse representation and is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Yet, if you go into many of the tech companies that are putting Toronto on the map today, multiculturalism is not always represented.

More and more, companies like Intuit Canada are leveraging brands such as Turbo Tax and Quickbooks to partner with like-minded corporations, community organizations and startups to address underrepresentation of BIPOC Talent within tech, fintech, and the financial services industries. The twist? They want to do it by increasing their support of BIPOC entrepreneurship through partnerships and collaborative industry-wide initiatives.

On September 21, 2022 Intuit Canada will be hosting an event in support of growing the Talent Pipeline in Tech through entrepreneurship. The event will be headlined by Toronto Raptors’ Fred VanVleet (pictured above) and his partner Derek Folk. The two influential entrepreneurs will gear up to announce season 2 of their “Bet on Yourself” podcast.

To make this event happen and jumpstart the initiative, the firm reached out to a former employee, Pako Tshiamala, Founder and CEO of Blink Equity who understood the challenge and exactly how to hit the ground running. Tshiamala, recently left a corporate job to solve a problem he deeply cared about; the lack of representation of BIPOC talent in the tech and related industries, and even more specifically, with senior leadership roles.

Paso Tshiamala (left)

“It was very important for us to program the event along a much larger initiative so the interaction with the BIPOC community is NOT episodic. Which is a pitfall of many well intended corporate initiatives start and drop. 

A number of community partnerships will be announced to solve the talent pipeline problem”, said Pako Tshiamala, Founder of Blink Equity.

The event will be taking over Toronto’s Rendez Views restaurant on September 21st and will transform the space into different experiences for the participants. There will be pop-up shops where team members of employers and the general public can purchase items such as jewelry, handmade soaps, and apparel from local BIPOC owned vendors from 11AM-8PM. Two open court basketball courts will be accessible for a little fun and play and will feature performances by BIPOC artists on the main stage. 

The event will also host a courtside chat on the subject of advancing the talent pipeline from an organizational perspective, as well as with the help of entrepreneurs in the community. That is, before VanVleet and Derek Folk take over the stage to drive the point home- Always bet on yourself!

About Blink Equity

Blink Equity is a one-stop shop for business equity solutions. Through their flagship programs, and initiatives Blink Equity transforms workplaces and produces equitable, success-focused opportunities for diverse candidates.
By embedding themselves in an organization, they develop customizable, comprehensive approaches to create scalable, sustainable, and replicable equity solutions

To learn more about Blink Equity: www.blinkequity.ca

-30-

For further information / media inquiries:
Pako Tshiamala
Founder / CEO
Email: pako@blinkequity.ca
Tel: 647-802-8117

Sent by:

Craigg Slowly

Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships

Matrix Mortgage Global

Lic: ON #11108  |  BC #X300671  |  AB #6401473 

Canadian Administration of Private Lending Admin Lic # 13069

Direct: 647.572.2314  |  Fax: 1.888.833.4804

Email: Craiggs@mmgb.ca

Head Office: 100 Consilium Place, Suite 200. Toronto, ON. M1H 3E3

distributed by

STEPHEN WEIR