The impact of Intact: Windmill partner strongly supports mentorship of newcomers

Since 2019, Windmill Microlending partner, Intact Financial Corporation, the largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada, has been a supporter of our innovative Community Bond Program.  

At the time, Intact invested $200,000 in the program to help skilled immigrants and refugees find work in Canada that matches their skills, experience and education. The organization also committed to have its employees volunteer their time as mentors in Windmill's Mentorship Program.  

Since then, a dozen Intact employees have mentored Windmill’s newcomer clients in areas such as law, marketing and public relations, information technology and data science. 

We connected with Intact mentor, Véronic, based at the organization’s Montreal office, working as an Operational Performance Analytics Specialist. We also reached out to her Windmill mentee, Tosin, an IT professional looking to restart his career in Canada.

While rewarding, Véronic feels her experience mentoring Tosin benefited her as much as it did him.  

“It was so fun and inspiring to see Tosin’s dedication, openness and commitment to hard work,” she says. “I was always looking forward to our mentoring sessions, as he would often share good news about his work progression or achieving new milestones. It made me happy and proud that I could, in a small way, help him on this journey.” 

Tosin indicates the benefits he gained from Véronic’s advice and guidance went beyond job search and networking tips, particularly, as he navigated the challenges of learning about life and work in his new country. 

“Things could be a little tough for a newcomer to figure out but having someone who can help chart a decisive path to get you on your feet is greatly rewarding,” he says. “Beyond academic skills, this relationship helped me to develop the required soft skills needed to succeed in any organization.” 

Tosin adds that he looked forward to every meeting with Véronic. He says based on his personal experience in the Windmill program, and thanks to her support, he was able “to recreate” himself. He further credits the program with helping newcomers prioritize actions and goals needed to achieve career success and establish themselves in Canada. 

You can find more stories of Intact employees sharing their Windmill mentorship experiences, below.

• Cynthia 
• Laetitia 
• Puja  
• Victor