Icon Talent Partners: Bridging Canada's Talent Gap

Derrick Raphael, co-founder of Icon Talent Partners

Black entrepreneurs have a remarkable talent for recognizing community needs and crafting solutions to address them. These solutions not only benefit the Black community but also contribute significantly to building a stronger Canada. Take Derrick and Marilyn, for instance. They launched Icon Talent Partners to help Black and visible minority communities find industries that best suit their talents. While the federal government grapples with the dual challenges of building the country’s population and creating a more competitive, skilled workforce through strategic immigration pathways, private organizations like Icon Talent Partners are addressing one of Canada’s most crucial problems—aligning homegrown talent with high-impact industries.

A skills mismatch occurs when employers' needs don't align with job seekers' skills. This can manifest in various ways: overqualified individuals working outside their fields, job seekers whose skills fall short of job requirements, or professionals with obsolete skills. Recognizing the talent in Black and minority communities and the challenges Black professionals often face with a lack of connections in key sectors like tech and innovation, Derrick and Marilyn launched a non-profit dedicated to mentorship, training, and exposure for high school students through mid-career professionals. Their mission is to empower individuals in fields such as investment banking, asset management, management consulting, corporate law, venture capital, and tech start-ups—areas where Black professionals are often underrepresented.
 
Derrick Raphael, a Princeton and Duke alumnus and a U.S. licensed attorney with a diverse background in banking, compliance management, and artificial intelligence in the legal realm, is an exceptional talent with a passion for guiding others towards career growth. Having moved from the US to Canada, Derrick observed a lack of similar programs in Canada compared to the US. " There are several programs similar to an Icon Talent Partners, but obviously serving in an American market," Derrick noted. " And when I was visiting my wife, I would share about different programs in the US that existed. She was like, ‘That sounds amazing. We have nothing like this in Canada.’ At first what we were thinking was that someone eventually is going to start something like Icon... We should just help them whenever they do it.  But no one did it and I said, you know what, let's do it and you know, I actually built out Icon while alongside my wife during my time at Fasken."

The non-profit is run by a team of twenty volunteers, with Derrick as its first full-time employee. At the start of Icon, Derrick and Marilyn, often with their baby in tow, went door to door visiting corporations in search of mentorship opportunities for their fellows. Many of Icon's corporate partnerships were forged through cold outreach, diligence, and perseverance.

Now in its fifth year, Icon Talent Partners is known among its fellows as the "best kept secret" in talent development. In addition to essential skills training and career guidance, Icon provides each fellow with a mentor from their extensive network of corporate partners. Collaborations with industry giants like L'Oréal, KPMG, Fasken, RBC, and numerous tech companies create prime career opportunities for its fellows.

Mentorship opportunities like these are invaluable to minority communities who often lack the chance to explore career opportunities and receive guidance from industry professionals. Mentorship plays a pivotal role in addressing the gap between education and industry requirements. Icon's programs not only open doors to industry exposure and internship opportunities but also provide crucial insights into organizational culture and workplace dynamics. By breaking down barriers to entry, mentors offer crucial support and guidance, promoting diversity and inclusion within their respective domains. The mentorship process becomes a powerful tool for connecting mentees with industry professionals, creating a network that fosters collaboration, opportunities, and exposure to diverse perspectives. Additionally, it gives existing employers the opportunity to scout much-needed talent and shape the future of the labor force.

In a similar fashion, the BEKH has developed BEEM, the Black Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Map, to show the links between Black-owned businesses and the organizations that support them. This resource is designed to help Black entrepreneurs find valuable mentorship and support, ensuring they can take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. Black entrepreneurs looking for opportunities like these should add their business to the map to see the support available to them.

As the country welcomes new skilled immigrants, it's essential not to overlook the wealth of untapped potential within our existing communities. With some guidance, BIPOC communities, who traditionally miss out on these types of opportunities, can be a wellspring of talent used to meet labor market needs. Icon Talent Partners and BEEM are the blueprints to tapping into the existing talent in underrepresented communities and fitting those talents with the right opportunities. By cultivating a space for guidance and mentorship, these support systems offer tangible and immediate solutions to bridging the skills gap for job seekers and entrepreneurs. In doing so, organizations like Icon Talent Partners aren’t just addressing the nation’s challenges; they are helping to transform lives and shape Canada’s future.
 
To learn more about Icon Talent Partners, you can connect with Derrick Raphael on LinkedIn.