About SOLVIT Canada · Ottawa

Built to Close the Gap Between Learning and Real Work.

We sell technology. We launch careers. SOLVIT Canada is a small technology services company in Ottawa where every paid project becomes a real, supervised start of someone's career.

Talk to us How the model works

Joseph Semafara

Founder · Managing Director · Ottawa

Built the first version of this on the strength of one paying customer and a lot of late-night whiteboard sessions.

Backed by personal savings, one early customer, and the conviction that this gap is real.

Our story

Technical knowledge alone doesn't open the door.

SOLVIT Canada was created around a simple observation: technical knowledge alone does not guarantee access to work. Employers want evidence that someone can deliver in a real environment: communicate with clients, follow scope, solve problems, document work and finish what they start.

SOLVIT Canada brings that transition inside a commercial technology services model. Clients buy real technology outcomes. Emerging professionals gain supervised experience on appropriate projects. Employers and partners gain better evidence of readiness.

Ottawa is the proving ground: a city where federal mandates, post-secondary talent, technology employers and newcomer communities intersect. The goal is to validate a reproducible Ottawa model before expanding nationally.

Learners become earners, by working on the same kinds of problems real companies pay us to solve.

How the model works

Customers pay us. Real work gets done. People launch careers.

1
Pay arrives
A customer (a household, a small business, an organization) pays us for real technology work.
2
Work gets done
A participant joins the team, with a supervisor, and ships actual work, not simulated work.
3
Skills grow
Real work builds a Skills Passport: what they delivered, and what they're now ready to do.
4
Companies hire
Local employers meet the participant through their work, not just a CV.

Earned revenue is the foundation. Grants and wage subsidies are the accelerator.

Why Ottawa

Ottawa is uniquely positioned to prove the model.

Federal mandates, post-secondary talent, technology employers and newcomer communities all meet here. We're proving the model in Ottawa first.

01
Federal capital
At the seat of policy.
Ottawa places SOLVIT close to federal workforce, immigration, innovation and procurement ecosystems, as well as contractors and national program offices.
02
Talent supply
Continuous inflow.
Carleton University, the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College contribute a steady pipeline of students and graduates seeking meaningful project experience.
03
Newcomer pipeline
Settled and seeking work.
Ottawa's established newcomer and settlement ecosystem includes skilled professionals who may need Canadian project evidence and references.

Ottawa first. National expansion only after Ottawa shows a reproducible model.

Leadership

One founder, for now: looking for the next five.

The first cohort is hiring alongside the company. Whatever your capacity (a coffee a month, a half-day a week, or paid work) there's a place.

Participant
Canadian youth, a recent graduate, or a newcomer with the right to work.
Capacity: Paid, full project commitment.
Mentor
An experienced operator willing to spend an hour a month telling us what we're doing wrong.
Capacity: One hour a month, asynchronous.
Operations
People who can run scheduling, invoicing, customer relationships, hiring and finance.
Capacity: Part-time, paid, grows with the company.
Volunteers
People who care about the mission and want to help shape what this becomes.
Capacity: A few hours a month, whatever fits.
Professor
Someone at an Ottawa university or college who'd love to see one more student get a real start.
Capacity: Referrals and a conversation.
Customers
An Ottawa household, small business or nonprofit with one piece of real work to do.
Capacity: One engagement, whatever the size.

Come say hi. Coffee, a fifteen-minute call, or a project: whatever works for you.

Get in touch

Governance

One company, clearly distinct.

SOLVIT Canada, SOLVIT Africa and SOMA Foundation Rwanda are distinct organizations, with separate governance and finances.

SOLVIT Canada draws on lessons from years of technology talent development experience in the broader SOLVIT ecosystem. Where we cite a figure or project from another organization, we attribute it to the organization and geography that produced it.

How we keep it straight

Claims on this site refer only to SOLVIT Canada's own operations.
Figures from other organizations are attributed to them, by name and geography.
Organizations are named as partners only once an agreement is in place.
We publish statistics only when we have dated, internal evidence for them.

Built to Close the Gap Between Learning and Real Work.

Technical knowledge alone doesn't open the door.

Customers pay us. Real work gets done. People launch careers.

Ottawa is uniquely positioned to prove the model.

At the seat of policy.

Continuous inflow.

Settled and seeking work.

One founder, for now: looking for the next five.

Come say hi. Coffee, a fifteen-minute call, or a project: whatever works for you.

One company, clearly distinct.

Built to Close the Gap Between Learning and Real Work.

Technical knowledge alone doesn't open the door.

Customers pay us. Real work gets done. People launch careers.

Ottawa is uniquely positioned to prove the model.

At the seat of policy.

Continuous inflow.

Settled and seeking work.

One founder, for now: looking for the next five.

Come say hi. Coffee, a fifteen-minute call, or a project: whatever works for you.

One company, clearly distinct.