The Scotiabank Women Initiative™ has announced its commitment to allocate $3 billion in funding to women-led business in Canada over its first three years. The investment was announced at its fourth Un-Mentorship Boot Camp for women entrepreneurs held today in Toronto.
“We are committed to strengthening equality for women-led businesses and that includes providing equal access to capital and to our full suite of financing solutions,” said Gillian Riley, President and CEO, Tangerine, and executive sponsor of The Scotiabank Women Initiative™. “We use a holistic and grassroots approach that provides tangible benefits to help women grow and sustain their business. In addition to providing access to capital, our program also offers mentorship from Scotiabank executives on our Advisory Board and education tailored to the needs of women entrepreneurs – both through an online self-directed knowledge centre and in-person sessions.”
Central to the program’s education pillar are the Un-Mentorship Boot Camps – a series of half-day sessions that help women increase their business savvy by networking and exploring business challenges together. Since the inaugural boot camp in May, more than 600 women business leaders have participated in boot camps and mini sessions across Canada and participant feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Three boot camps were held earlier this year in Montreal, Vancouver, and Waterloo, with the final session of 2019 hosted today in Toronto.
“Our boot camps help to ‘un-teach’ those traditionally-held ideas about how women can succeed,” said Riley. “They’re a place where women entrepreneurs come to learn about business-focused issues and topics, hear about real business challenges women face, and network and build skills to move their business forward.”
“We, at Scotiabank, are focused on our clients’ future success and we aspire to be the lender of choice for women-led businesses by 2021,” she said.
In December 2018, The Scotiabank Women Initiative™ was launched to help women take their business to the next level through access to capital, support from senior business leaders and education tailored to their needs.
For more information on The Scotiabank Women Initiative™, visit scotiabankwomeninitiative.com.