![\"Darhlilove](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Darhlilove-Botchway.jpg\")
OPTrust offered Darhlilove Botchway a rare eight-month extension of his co-op placement, which would have otherwise only been four months. Courtesy Photo<\/p>\nWhen Darhlilove Botchway arrived in wintery Toronto in 2025 from his home in Ghana, he felt like a fish out of water. The subfreezing temperatures shocked his system, which was accustomed to West Africa\u2019s consistent heat. Canadian cuisine was also unfamiliar to him, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy taste buds did not really want to cope from the beginning,\u201d he said, chuckling as he recalled his move to pursue an information systems master\u2019s degree at Northeastern University in Toronto.<\/p>\n
But just as he did after moving to North America, Botchway was quick to adapt and excel as a co-op at OPTrust, a prominent pension fund just a short walk from Northeastern Toronto\u2019s downtown campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OPTrust, where Botchway is an IT auditor, is responsible for ensuring that about 118,000 workers employed by the Ontario government and other agencies receive retirement benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just as those public service employees rely on OPTrust to manage their earnings, the company leans on auditors like Botchway to ensure its operational security is airtight, he said. Botchway is tasked with identifying and mitigating security risks, creating processes and controls to shore up potential weak points in the company\u2019s software infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that goes wrong, especially with our critical business applications, could have a very devastating impact on our financial reporting at the end of the year, and that could really affect the organization,\u201d Botchway said. \u201cIt really puts you in a position where, even as a developer, right from the onset, you begin to think about what could possibly go wrong: how could someone break into the system?\u201d<\/p>\n
Botchway said his role is important because of the high-stakes financial landscape OPTrust occupies. By the end of 2025, the company held more than $27 billion in net assets, earning it a coveted spot among the 10 largest pension funds in Canada, which are nicknamed the \u201cMaple Revolutionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n
OPTrust offered Darhlilove Botchway a rare eight-month extension of his co-op placement, which would have otherwise only been four months. Courtesy Photo<\/p>\n
As he grew familiar with the role and its responsibilities, Botchway said he also took the initiative to think up other ways to optimize the company\u2019s workflow. He drew from his previous automation experience at KPMG Ghana, a network of audit, tax and advisory firms, to streamline two particularly time-consuming processes at OPTrust.<\/p>\n
For instance, Botchway constructed an automation tool that pings the person scheduled to host a daily meeting, shares details about the meeting\u2019s contents and provides helpful links to resources they can use to plan their presentation. He also made a previously manual task obsolete by building an automated delivery service that sends a monthly report with status updates on ongoing tickets to OPTrust\u2019s management team.<\/p>\n
Botchway\u2019s supervisor at OPTrust said that he consistently distinguished himself through \u201cexceptional initiative, a proactive work ethic, and a strong problem-solving mindset,\u201d according to Himadri Dave, a co-op adviser at Northeastern\u2019s Toronto campus. \u201cRather than simply completing assigned tasks, Darhlilove regularly seeks out additional responsibilities, volunteers for new challenges, and looks for ways to improve processes for the benefit of the team,\u201d the supervisor told Dave in a report during his co-op.<\/p>\n
Because of his exemplary work in risk mitigation and his forward-thinking implementation of automation to streamline various internal processes, OPTrust offered Botchway a rare eight-month extension of his co-op placement, which would have otherwise only been four months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best feedback we have received from any employer has been for Darhlilove,\u201d said Dave, who worked closely with Botchway on his professional development. \u201cThey were even asking us if there\u2019s a way they could keep him forever and not let him go back to the university.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Botchway, he found a way around the cold. He found an underground tunnel system that kept him warm on his route to campus and swiftly came to appreciate the city\u2019s cultural diversity, he said.<\/p>\n
Botchway also said his introduction to Toronto company culture and the ways in which teams with different responsibilities work together have been his greatest takeaways from Northeastern.<\/p>\n
The auditing and risk mitigation skills gained through his co-op will carry him forward as he pursues a Certified Information Systems Auditor certification before his graduation in May 2027, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m really proud of because I know how difficult it is, especially in my position, to extend a contract,\u201d Botchway said of his time with OPTrust. \u201cFor someone to have that level of confidence in you, I don\u2019t take that lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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