first day at Eye Check
I could not have had a more stunning first day here at Eye Check, the team had conveyed such bright smiles, excitement and just incredible enthusiast in welcoming me, Rumina the new Marketing and Communications intern for the Summer. I had travelled over seven hours overseas from the tiny island that is the UK, the size of a speck in comparison to the monstrous Canada right? Thus, upon arrival at 9am, I was thirty minutes early due to nerves and also navigating round a new city amidst heavy construction was bewildering, especially as the locals were just as disorientated.
The first phase of easing me into the team was the usual introductions of the environment that EyeCheck is based, so that I would feel comfortable of the place I would be spending my next ten weeks. This workspace is called The Velocity Foundry situated in the Tannery District of Kitchener, Ontario. Their program is targeted towards budding startups such as EyeCheck in developing their ventures with the support of the Velocity ecosystem. Most of these businesses specialise in either nanotechnology, mechatronics, mechanical and chemical engineering and so forth, how tech-tastic! I could only describe this space as an incubator for innovative talent and ideas to expand, collaborate, share knowledge, and contribute towards a grassroots community.
As I was acquainting myself with the creative and friendly entrepreneurs and their startups, I was in fact overwhelmed with the vast dedication expressed behind each team for success and it had just struck me of EyeCheck’s potential impact on society. Their low costing technology in the form of the modern app to detect refractive errors, and the creation of a mobile proprietary hardware would enable optometrists to provide prescriptions to those who are under cared for in their region. For developing nations, EyeCheck’s technology brings objectivity, speed and mobility to vision testing - as this process has not been changed nor challenged for years. It would allow caregivers the time to focus on eye care rather than the optics. To be a part of this phenomenal idea gives me goose bumps!
My mentors Rachel, Ashutosh and Daxal had invited me to their weekly sync up meetings at the boardroom in which they discussed all the vital events and information gathered during their individiual week. The idea is that everyone is concisely updated of all the happenings around Eye Check and explore the issues, targets and the next steps for the business to thrive. From the beginning till the very end of this hour-long sync up, I was thoroughly confused, information had just flown over my head. However, it was important for me to see the way Eye Check co-operate with one another and the process of each member exploring possible ideas and solutions to a problem as a group. It was the first time I had experienced this, and I must admit the team collectively mesh together so well. From this short observation, I realised this young and unique bunch of individuals are whom I will be collaborating with for the common interest of Eye Check.
After the sync up, I had discussed with Rachel who specialises as a social impact analyst of my goals from this internship. I’m part of a program called Students for Social Impact otherwise known as SSIM. I was reiterating our mission in connecting students with organisations and foundations to learn, contribute and build the knowledge, human and financial capital of social entrepreneurship.
We had managed to list my goals in terms of studies and career and devised a Summer action plan. Rachel assigned me to report fortnightly blogs for Eye Check. This would enable me to sharpen my journalistic skills and contribute towards the company. This platform of a blog will enable audiences to identify and gain a better understanding of Eye Check, from its humble beginnings, its mission, its team players, and so forth.
But I emphasized of what I wish to gain most from this placement which is experience. I want to make most of my time with Eye Check before they seek world domination. I would like to familiarise myself with the business, support them as much as I physically can before my time with this enterprise and of Canada expires. The team agreed for me to shadow and participate all their meetings, conferences and other media or business related events. So to conlcude this accidently on purpose long post I would just like to point that this to me feels more like an unmissable opportunity, to taste a little of what the world of social enterprise is all about, to promote the idea that you can mix business for social good, especially business that consists of ever evolving technology. I’m looking forward to what these upcoming weeks have in store for me with Eye Check, and I’m pretty chuffed that this Brit right here has managed to land an internship for such a great, world improving cause.
