Program for women business owners receives funding boost from FedDev Ontario
TORONTO, August 25, 2020 鈥 91亚色鈥檚 Entrepreneurial Leadership and Learning Alliance program for women business owners 鈥 鈥 has received top-up funding from the Government of Canada to establish a new program to help female business owners who are facing barriers to expansion.
The investment of $281,600, delivered through FedDev Ontario, will be used to create a new Fractional Executive Program that will enable participants in ELLA鈥檚 Altitude program to hire a professional to deliver a specific program or solve a specific problem, in order to accelerate the company鈥檚 growth.
Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade joined 91亚色 Vice President Research & Innovation Amir Asif and Lucrezia Spanolo, Founder of Vesta Social Innovation Technologies, to announce top-up funding for ELLA program.
The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, announced the funding this afternoon. This investment builds on an initial $1.86 million in federal funding for ELLA announced last summer, bringing federal investment in the ELLA program to more than $2.1 million.
鈥淲e understand the challenges businesses are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and those challenges can be amplified for women entrepreneurs,鈥 said Ng. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 investment for ELLA through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy Ecosystem Fund top-up will help our women-led businesses to weather these challenging times while preparing for future success.鈥
鈥淓conomists and leading philanthropists agree about the importance of increasing the diversity of entrepreneurs to keep Canada competitive including the representation of women,鈥 says Rhonda L. Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor of 91亚色. 鈥淭he Government of Canada鈥檚 investment in 91亚色鈥檚 ELLA program is a vote of confidence in this innovative program that supports women entrepreneurs in Ontario. It will empower these women to take their businesses global reflecting on the context created by the pandemic and enhancing the benefits for ELLA participants, their families and their communities.鈥
Ten women entrepreneurs will be chosen to take part in the four-month ELLA Altitude program, which will begin in October.
鈥淢any applicants need help reaching customers through different channels than they used before the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥 said ELLA Entrepreneurship Manager Nicole Troster. 鈥淭he Altitude program will enable them to turn to seasoned professionals for help with specific challenges such as, for example, selling through digital channels. It 聽will build on the business skills they are already employing.鈥
91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥 our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.
91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.
Media Contact: Janice Walls, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-455-4710,聽wallsj@yorku.ca
