Three stories, one path
Three people with diverse backgrounds from three different continents meet in Europe. Their common goal is to find a job. They all met at one place: The Shortcut.
When Mingmei Li left her tiny city in China, maybe Abdi Muleta was still living in his hometown in Ethiopia, Africa. And perhaps Patricia Iglesias from Mexico, America, wasn’t even thinking about crossing the Atlantic Ocean. These three people are now part of the Social Impact Bond — SIB programme at The Shortcut, situated in one of the biggest startup hubs in Helsinki, Maria01.
What is The Social Impact Bond (SIB)?
The SIB is one of several integration programmes in Finland which “aims to reduce unemployment among immigrants in Finland. The Shortcut is a service provider for Epiqus which is run by the Kotoutuminen scheme in Finland”, says Hanna Smorodinzeff, Talent and HR Lead at The Shortcut.
This programme has had four marvelous groups so far. It started last autumn with 4 people in the first round. In December 2017, the second cohort was run with 7 participants. The third group started in February this year with 12 people, and the fourth in April, the current cohort, has a total of 13 participants, me included.
During my conversation with Hanna, she explained that the main purpose of the SIB is to permit participants to acquire new skills, execute a project, get significant and concrete work experience, and discover the startup ecosystem.
Hanna expresses that The Shortcut wants to provide “an understanding to people that are new to the startup ecosystem, what is needed in a startup, what is the mindset, and for them to find out if working for a startup is for them”,
I met Mingmei Li for the first time at a weekend event at The Shortcut. We talked briefly during one of the breaks; she has lived in Finland since 2006. Last year in November, she moved to the capital area looking for a potential job.
“Before I came to The Shortcut, I didn’t know anything about the startup ecosystem here in Finland. I enrolled in the SIB programme and started to get to know its sister organizations like Slush, Startup Sauna as well as Maria 01”, said Mingmei.
Three stories, three passions
The SIB programme is a multicultural platform that brings people together from different continents, professional backgrounds, interests, and hobbies. But who are they, what are their professions, achievements, and pastimes?
Mingmei Li, describes herself as a life learner, she continuously pushes herself to acquire more skills. She loves to play mobile and play station video games. Another thing Mingmei likes to do is to be with her friends, visit different restaurants, and go to the gym.
Perhaps, Mingmei’s passion for mobile led her to study a master’s degree in Mobile Technology and Business at the University of Jyväskylä. Her previous career was in Logistic Engineering, but she said that she wanted to change her professional path because she didn’t imagine herself-working in this field in the future. Her real passion is Internet Technology.
When I asked her about her accomplishments, she humbly said: “I got the best international student award when I was studying for my master’s degree in the University of Jyväskylä”. The prize was a 1,000€ scholarship based on her academic records and a recommendation letter from her supervisor. She was one of the 7 students that won it.
At the same event where I encountered Mingmei, I also met Abdi Muleta. He is a quiet person who describes himself as enthusiastic, realistic, and adventurous. He likes to cycle, walk, watch Netflix shows and dance.
His professional career started with his bachelor degree in Computer Science and Statistics he then acquired his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Turku in 2016. He worked at the biotechnology centre at the university running different academic research; for example, examining a molecule in Finnish berries that can help cancer patients to not develop resistance to the drug and in order to have a longer period of life.
Patricia Iglesias is another SIB programme trainee along with myself. We both come from the same continent and also have skills that link us.
She is an observer, learner by trying, and an active person. She practices extreme sports like parkour (climbing, jumping, and running) and martial arts. “It makes me feel good about myself and it is good for my physical fitness”.
With a smile on her face, she told me that she likes to experiment and learn new things.
Patricia’s hearing is sharp for sounds. Her background is in recording audio, mastering, DJing, and doing music production. She had recorded metal bands at her school and has also done some live sound. She considers this last one as one of her proudest achievements and she learned a lot.
One path, one place
The Shortcut Lab is a place to experiment, discover and learn.
Our characters never knew how they would meet in Finland at the same place and with one same goal: to find a job or become a co-founder of a startup.
Mingmei and Abdi are planning to become entrepreneurs. Mingmei would like to develop a mobile application because that is what she loves. Her plan is rough but she knows that it can be accomplished.
Because he likes to take risks in life, Abdi resigned from his full time job last autumn as a postdoctoral academic researcher. He is currently working as a software developer and consultant at a software development company and at a venture capitalist firm. In addition, he is building his startup to bring scientific research to the wider community in an easy-to-understand way.
Sounds drive Patricia, so her plans are to do film scoring, record bands and try to so some sound production for videos or documentaries.
They got to The Shortcut by networking. Now they are experimenting with new ideas, learning and setting goals for their startups, or working for one. These three stories which are happening at a same place become one story.
If you were inspired by this story and would like to apply for our talent programme, join us at our info session 18th June at 2pm @The Shortcut
Alternatively click on the following link for more information: http://theshortcut.org/sib/
