Province Provides $100,000 To Help Women In Small Business Throughout B.C.

Premier Christy Clark announced today $100,000 in provincial funding for the Women’s Enterprise Centre (WEC) to continue and expand its mentoring programs, helping women throughout British Columbia learn indispensable business skills.

 

The announcement was made today at We for She: Championing the Next Generation, one of North America’s largest gathering of women’s organizations, companies, experts, business leaders, advocates and young women with the goal to advance gender equality and grow the provincial economy by giving students and young women a greater understanding of their career options and potential, expanding their confidence in what they can achieve, and giving them a chance to meet dynamic and successful role models.

 

 

WEC will provide three different mentoring formats to ensure accessibility and relevance throughout the province that include:

Five new one-to-one mentors;

 

Peer mentoring that will include 40 new women mentees; and

 

Deliver six mentor advisory forums to 300 more participants.

 

In addition, WEC is partnering with the Certified Professional Accountants of BC to develop and deliver five peer mentoring groups in five separate communities of the province with the goal of increasing women business owner’s financial literacy. 

 

A minimum of 30 small business owners will get six months of peer mentoring that will help them better understand financial statements, cash flows, the impact of price changes on overall profitability, and more.

 

With the financial support from the Province of B.C., WEC has been able to offer a mentoring program to women in the early stages of their business since 2007. This year’s funding comes from a partnership between the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training (JTST), which is contributing $50,000, and the Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction (SBRT), which is contributing the remaining $50,000. The program will run from Nov. 1, 2016, through Oct. 31, 2017.