Earlier this year, the Central Okanagan was ranked as the second best entrepreneurial area in Canada.
It could be the hot summers, great skiing weather in the winter, but also the support from the local government and businesses. Whatever the reason the Okanagan is home to lots of great entrepreneurs, both with experience and funding to share with new startups.
As they say, like attracts like, which is one of the reasons more startups and entrepreneurs are choosing to build their business in the Okanagan valley. In fact, the Thompson-Okanagan has seen the highest growth percentage of small business in all of BC. And a lot of that growth has been in the tech startups — from animation studios, to apps and websites.
With more and more tech startups settling in the Okanagan there’s an increased demand for talented developers and software engineers. You only need to look at the Kelowna tech job boards to get an idea. Which is great news for the developers in the valley – no more moving to Vancouver or Toronto. As one of the highest growing in-demand jobs there’s now plenty of people looking to grow their skills here in the valley.
To help grow our tech community co+Lab is excited to welcome another startup to Kelowna: Lighthouse Labs, a bootcamp for developers. Lighthouse Labs has had amazing success helping tech communities in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary build their developer talent and now will be turning their focus to Kelowna. They’ll be joining the co+Lab in 2016.
What are you waiting for?! Sign up here: https://lighthouselabs.ca/okanagan
Shane Austin and and Chris Gliddon are interviewed by Ryan Donn for Castanet What’s On
