First LaunchRVA event matches local companies with interns

More than 50 local companies gathered in the Jepson Alumni Center Friday afternoon to participate in LaunchRVA, Richmond’s first start-up internship and job fair.

The event included speeches on innovation and entrepreneurship, a reverse-fair in which students pitched themselves to the companies and a workshop on social entrepreneurship.

LaunchRVA is a program developed by RVA Works, a public non-profit that fosters the growth of start-ups in Richmond, program coordinator Gunnar Bartels said. RVA Works partnered with University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University for the event.

“We created LaunchRVA as an internship fair that brings the interns to the employers,” Bartels said.

Reversing the traditional job fair and bringing potential interns to the companies was the most prominent goal of LaunchRVA. Many of the companies present were searching for interns, including Seasonal Roots, a local produce delivery company.

Around 15 companies, including Mortson Consulting and Mason Dixie Biscuit Co., were selected based on their ability to pay and hire interns and were allowed to participate in the reverse fair.

“[A] classical fair is the companies standing around and the interns walking around and looking [at] things,” Bartels said. “We think that the other concept, to make the interns pitch what they could probably do, is an interesting experience for the interns."

One of the ideas behind the reverse fair was that it allowed students to hone their pitching skills and practice how to impress an employer, Bartels said.

Bartels stressed that the fair was intended for companies that need interns, allowing Richmond or VCU students to grasp those opportunities and gain experience through them.

“The focus is to get internships for all of the interns we have here and just to make sure that the people at the university get this touch of reality they need to learn about their future jobs,” Bartels said.

While the event focused heavily on finding internships, it also exposed students to many start-up companies in the area, Luis Davila, one of the students involved in planning LaunchRVA, said.

The goal of the event was to provide Spiders and Rams and any student who wants the opportunity to work in a start-up, Davila said.

Sophomore Kristina Rossi said she attended LaunchRVA to see what kind of start-ups were local to Richmond, see what was in the market and start to develop some of those relationships.

Before the regular and reverse internship fairs, Eric Martin, director of the innovation and entrepreneurship program in the Robins School of Business, spoke. Virginia Secretary of Commerce Maurice Jones gave the keynote address.

LaunchRVA’s first event sought to connect companies to students because “people hire people,” Bartels said.

In the future, LaunchRVA will become much broader. The planned goal shapes LaunchRVA into a platform that connects students from all over the area to different start-ups and companies, enhancing Richmond’s business economy, Davila said.

“We’re in the capital of this state,” Davila said. “This should also be the capital of small business.”

Contact news writer Ashlee Korlach at ashlee.korlach@richmond.edu