STEMMING THE BRAIN DRAIN: MEET THE DUO BEHIND THE NEW START-UP HUB FOR INTERNATIONAL TALENT

To stop a leakage of bright, entrepreneurial minds from Australia, chartered accountants Domenic Saporito and Gerard Holland have partnered on a venture that makes it easier for international students and graduates to break into the local start-up ecosystem.

Holland has previously worked with middle-market and early-stage companies as a business advisor, while Saporito has a c-suite resume and has founded multiple businesses including Cadence Recruitment, which he owned for 14 years. In early 2016, the duo co-founded Outcome.Life. The Melbourne start-up provides internationals with independent advice around transitioning from study into a career plus help securing ideal employment, through professional year placements and internships, paid for by education providers, with established businesses as well as innovative, early-stage companies.

According to Holland, Outcome.Life is not only placing more than 50 internationals in internships per month, it has directly assisted many into paid employment, either as their internship or after their internship. As well as investing their own funds into the business, Saporito and Holland have attracted $550,000 in seed capital from their network connections plus private investors, with the first couple of hundred thousand coming out of the USA. In addition, they have received a $94,000 grant from LaunchVic, the independent agency tasked with overseeing the allocation of the state government’s $60m innovation fund. Read more

James Harkness - Dynamic Business - 12 May 2017