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Kirsten Josling, a fourth-year  student at the Sprott School of Business, is the new Director of – �Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s Student-Led Incubator and Service Centre. As the 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 �Ӱ�ԭ�� 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 throughout the school year to drive innovation and creativity in students.

Furthermore, Kirsten, who also serves as the vice-president of finance for the  is working to grow the relationship Hatch has with other groups on campus.

“We are really excited to partner with the . 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 �Ӱ�ԭ�� 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 �Ӱ�ԭ��’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.