The mentorship easy button: Software company EnPoint celebrates fifth anniversary

Mentorship plays a pivotal role in unlocking untapped potential, and paving the path to personal and professional growth. EnPoint knows that, which is why it’s been equipping its clients with the understanding, confidence and tools to make mentorship meaningful for five successful years.This month, EnPoint is celebrating five years of changing lives and careers by providing clients with customizable and easy-to-use software to create mentorship programs at scale, in less time. Its program design services and mentorship training enhance participant knowledge of not just the value of mentorship, but how to build truly transformational mentorship relationships. “Mentorship is not networking. In our view, it’s about forming a meaningful relationship over time, which believe it or not, people aren’t always comfortable with,” said EnPoint CEO Chantal Brine. “Through our holistic approach to working with clients, we hope to set them and their mentors/mentees up for success for years to come by leveraging our software to help them grow their reach without reducing their impact.”Brine is passionate about the power of mentorship because she has lived it firsthand. At 25-years-old, Brine said she was working in an organization where she often felt she was wearing a mask, and unable to be her authentic self. After creating a relationship with a mentor, she embarked on a journey of self-discovery, which led her to create EnPoint. “Now I have a company where I help others create their best careers. I am fuelled by our work. On the hard days, all I have to do is recall the smiles and joyful tears of clients, mentors, and mentees,” said Brine.“I’ve lived the power of mentorship and am committed to bringing that power to others. Instead of wishing work days away, rather, we see a world where individuals are challenged, passionate about and fuelled by their work. Every client we work with becomes a shining example of this new world of work.”As a proud promoter of diversity and inclusion in mentorship, Brine believes more education and awareness about the industry is needed, including a more holistic dialogue about the variety of opportunities in tech. “Part of why we are such active advocates at EnPoint and why I am still hopeful for the industry is because I know that we each play an integral role in being part of the solution,” she said. “For some that means leaving the table, so to speak, to make room for others. For others, it means pulling up a chair next to you.”According to the latest statistics, women make up less than 30 percent of the Canadian tech sector workforce—an indication that “we clearly have more to do.”“Often tech is still thought of too narrowly. We need people in the industry that view technology in different ways and bring diverse points of view and experience into the industry,” she said, encouraging women in tech to reach out if they feel alone and encouraging tech employers to consider how they can be a part of the solution. With a committed team, more than 80 mentorship programs created an average client retention rate of three years, Brine said EnPoint is actively working towards its goal of reaching one million people and tripling its client roster. “There is no doubt mentorship is a transformational tool that helps people build meaningful careers, however it’s not the only tool in our toolkit. Stay tuned!” said Brine.