Atlantic Canada Women in Growth Partnership Project
The Atlantic Canadian Women in Growth Partnership (ACWGP) is a project between four Atlantic women’s business organizations – Nova Scotia’s Centre for Women in Business (CWB), the Prince Edward Island Business Women’s Association (PEIBWA), Women in Business New Brunswick (WBNB), and Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs (NLOWE) as the project lead. It is a three-year project funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) through the Federal Government’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy Ecosystem Fund to address gaps and build capacity in the entrepreneurship ecosystem for women.
Goals
ACWGP’s has two main goals. One goal is to increase each organization’s capacity to support women in start-up and growth phases. The other goal is to increase participation of under-represented women such as, newcomer women, women with disabilities, indigenous women, rural women, as well as women in non-traditional trades and in STEM related fields in the women’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in Atlantic Canada.
Gaps
There is a lot of information and resources in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We want to ensure we do not replicate existing programming and services, but through a jurisdictional scan of each province, we can learn what is out there and identify where this project can fill some of the gaps. It will allow us to position ourselves to enhance and support existing programs and services within our provinces through partnerships and collaboration.
Barriers
Research shows that women face barriers starting and growing businesses. These barriers and more exist for under-represented groups. Through consultative needs assessments with stakeholders, we want to learn what these barriers are and how we can support these women through partnerships, and tailored programming that will break down those barriers and empower more women to realize their entrepreneurial potential in Atlantic Canada.
Connect
Connecting with service organizations and meeting with a diversity of women throughout each of our provinces will help us better understand the challenges and opportunities these women face and how we can move forward together to support, start, and grow their businesses in Atlantic Canada.
By connecting with support organizations and through consultations with women business owners throughout Atlantic Canada, we will devise a plan to fill identified gaps by providing resources and making supports accessible to under-represented women in the entrepreneurial eco-system to further advance start-up or growth businesses in the region.
Watch
The Atlantic Women’s Business Series is a webinar series that will feature interviews with entrepreneur women leaders from Atlantic Canada who will share their personal stories – how they started, what barriers they faced, what they’ve learned along the way, who supported them, and their best advice for new start-ups and businesses ready to grow.
