Editor’s note: The following article has been revised from the version which was published in the Dec. 7 edition of The Reporter.
PORT HAWKESBURY: Changes are on the way for an office designed to help women and female-identifying business owners in Cape Breton.
Eirinn Fraser, Business Advisor for Cape Breton with the Centre for Women in Business (CWB), told The Reporter they operate through Mount St. Vincent University.
“What I’ll be doing on the island of Cape Breton will be trying to establish a separate entity here within the centre,” she said. “The way that they’ve tiered their program is that they can take you from having an idea and a concept all the way up to a multi-million dollar corporation with a series of support units.”
Noting that entrepreneurs do not have to be members to access their services, Fraser will be working as a business advisor for the island based in Sydney.
“If say, someone had a tech idea or a tech company, then I would work with them but I’d also bring them to the table with another associate of mine who specifically works within tech,” she said. “We’ve got different divisions having to do with supply diversity. In those types of occasions, I would navigate to bring in the right people into the fold so the business would be able to move ahead that way.”
Business owners can receive a one hour advisory session looking at the business structure, making sure goals have been set, and a business plan is established, Fraser said.
“If they didn’t have any of those things, we would look at doing that,” she said. “We have a series of programs that would support that… They would do our program called the ‘blueprint,’ and that would help them understand various different things, from legal obligations, how to set up their business, financials, and then if they want to take that a little bit further, they could do the ‘Workplace Education’ that’s offered through the Province of Nova Scotia, and that would be a more immersed 10 weeks, four hours a day.”
Fraser said they can also help entrepreneurs navigate the complex grant system, and said she is looking forward to collaborating with many entities in Cape Breton.
The CWB recently celebrated its 30th year supporting female-identifying entrepreneurs and business owners with a launch of a book, The CWB Way: Transforming Women’s Entrepreneurial Experiences.
According to the CWB, the book profiles a small sample of the many women served by the organization, the partners within the entrepreneurial ecosystem who helped make it happen, and the pioneering methodology they created based on their experience serving this demographic.
At the core of the methodology, are five elements female-identifying entrepreneurs need in order to succeed: women-centered learning; a dedicated centre for women in business; all-in partnerships; research, results and accountability; and advocacy and outreach, the CWB noted.
In a press release, the CWB said this is a powerful, internationally recognized system that uplifts all female-identifying entrepreneurs and weaves together a strong network of public, private and non-profit support. These elements come together to grow businesses and create a world where female-identifying entrepreneurs thrive, they said.
The CWB said its mission is to ensure every female-identifying entrepreneur in Canada has the access, resources, and support to build the business of their dreams. Since its inception in 1992, the CWB said it has championed female-identifying business owners, and in this time they’ve worked with thousands of entrepreneurial women in Atlantic Canada.
Now that public health restrictions have been lifted, and more people have internet access, Fraser said this is a good time.
In addition to free weekly “Coffee Talks,” and monthly “Power Lunches,” Fraser said she hopes to have more events on the island to create a unit and build a base.
“The hopes are to create a group of strong women on the island that support each other and work with each other,” she said. “We already have several members here and have been very fortunate to have them receive lots of accolades.”
Another goal of the centre is to support Mi’kmaw, African Nova Scotian, and immigrant business owners, said Fraser.
Fraser added that some people might not be aware that the CWB can help them.
“I think that there’s a lot of people who are operating businesses who don’t see themselves as a business; musicians might be one of those people that could definitely benefit from being able to create that formal business plan and structure,” she added. “Once you’re able to do that, you can use that for individual projects, which helps you with your projections, setting realistic goals, and then of course, once you have those elements together and you have your project management and you have an idea how to do a proposal, you can go access funds towards supporting that project.”