Female entrepreneurs and mentors are invited to prepare for the second year of SheEO’s An Act of Radical Generosity, an initiative that last year raised half a million dollars to fund five female-led Canadian enterprises.
The brainchild of serial entrepreneur and SheEO founder Vicki Saunders, the initiative invites women to contribute $1,000 (plus a $100 program fee) to support female entrepreneurs.
The donors, or activators, can also act as mentors to the fledgling entrepreneurs.
Women supporting women is necessary, according to Saunders, because although Canadian women begin two-thirds of small businesses, they receive less than seven per cent of venture capital funding.
“The five companies that were funded last year have seen an average of 30 per cent revenue growth,” said Atlantic Canada SheEO lead Judith Richardson, the Halifax-based founder of PONO Consultants International.
“The founders are feeling more confident in their skills; they have hired, made introductions. Many of us activators became clients of these companies.”
When activators contribute, they choose the companies from across Canada that receive the money.
A possibly surprising detail — the founders themselves decide how to divide the funds.
“They each have to make the case for their business,” Richardson said. “They are not allowed to divide the money equally.”
Richardson, who has 20 years’ experience in organizational development, said the chosen entrepreneurs are given coaching that allows them to understand their own and other’s business styles.
“Women have to understand their behaviour and decisions so they can ask for what they need. Often, entrepreneurs are so busy they don’t know what they need.”
Richardson always stresses the importance of sales.
“The first thing I ask any young woman looking for funding is, what about sales? You have to know, and believe in, and get your product out there . . . Develop that mindset. I can’t stress sales enough.”
None of the five companies that received investment last year are based in Atlantic Canada, although several made it to the final 25 and 22 local women contributed funds.
The recipients pay back the loans over five years at zero-per-cent interest. The returned money goes into a pool to help other entrepreneurs.
The call for new applicants and activators will go out Sept. 1.
“I’m hoping some of the local companies will re-apply,” Richardson said. “They might be ready now, although some of last year’s applicants have grown past this point.”
Now in its second year, the model is being refined. Richardson said organizers are asking themselves how to engage with women who have mentoring skills but who don’t have $1,000 to spare.
“I’d like to see as many activators as possible re-activating and giving another $1,000 as well as new activators engaging. I’d love to see more mentoring,” she said. “We have to ask — how can this generation of women support the next generation?”
Read our Report from Last Year's Fundraising Event
The initiative is also expanding outside Canada and is about to start in Colorado, San Francisco, Los Angeles and India.
Richardson said entrepreneurship is about creating new models and disrupting systems that need to be disrupted.
“It’s all-encompassing; it uses every facet of your being,” she said.
“Even companies that fail produce better leaders . . . The entrepreneurs know more about themselves . . . They think about how to minimize risk to avoid failure.”
Richardson said all ages of women are attracted to the idea of women helping women.
“Seniors like my mom, Dorothy, get behind it. My mom was successful in real estate in Kentville. She and my dad, Jack, a tech-minded veterinarian, inspired me.”
Richardson believes Atlantic Canada is full of entrepreneurial talent, and that a great deal of innovation is already happening.
“I get bored with hearing about the potential of Atlantic Canada,” she said.
“I think we’re potentializing all over the place. There’s more going on here than people realize. Halifax is booming. We’re here, doing it. An Act of Radical Generosity aims to accelerate that process for women.”
