Last Friday in London, the Honorable Mary Ng — Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion — made a an exciting announcement: the federal government is making a $3.6 million dollar investment in the creation of a Women Social Enterprise Network in Ontario (aka WOSEN).
WOSEN builds upon CSI’s last two years with the O.N.E. Social Enterprise Partnership, enhancing social enterprise supports across the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs.
This investment in diverse women social entrepreneurs in Ontario is part of the Federal Government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy. Other partners in the project include Pillar Nonprofit Network, NORDIK Institute, Okwaho Equal Source, Lean4Flourishing, Eve-Volution Inc, plus The Social Enterprise Institute and the SVX.
The WOSEN project aims to support 150 new and expand 75 existing women-led social enterprises, offer 10 Women-Centered Innovation Training to 250 people, and training for 35 business coaches and connect to investment opportunities through the Women Impact Investor Network.
“CSI has been female-led for 15 years and we know first hand the challenges of getting the support to be able to grow our businesses. With 58% of our members being women, we are ecstatic to be able to serve women entrepreneurs through the WOSEN partnership.” Tonya Surman, CEO Centre for Social Innovation.
A sample of the reaction from Twitter:
ICYMI: Gov't announced $3.6M for a Women of Ontario Social Enterprise Network! CSI is proud to be part of it. “CSI has been female-led for 15 years. We know first-hand the challenges of getting support to be able to grow our businesses." – @tonyasurman. https://t.co/aQRKjyPv9n
— CSI Toronto (@csiTO) August 12, 2019
ICYMI: @PillarNN is partnering with @NORDIKInstitute (Northern Ont), @OkwahoEqualSrc (Eastern), and @csiTO (Central) to better support and invest in our province's women social entrepreneurs! 👩🦰🧕👩🔬👩🎨👩💻👩🌾@AM980News: https://t.co/MVIf9egn6C@CTVLondon: https://t.co/kM02xgAxHP
— VERGE Capital (@VergeCCapital) August 12, 2019
DYK that advancing gender equality has the potential to add $150 billion in incremental GDP to the Canadian economy by 2026? We are so proud to be participating, along with our partners, @OkwahoEqualSrc @NORDIKInstitute & @csiTO in growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women pic.twitter.com/bFCJMTHbVY
— Pillar Nonprofit Network (@PillarNN) August 9, 2019
Why is @csiTO involved in WOSEN? Because woman-identified and Indigenous entrepreneurs build businesses that put people and planet first.
— Rachel Berdan (She/Her) (@rachelberdan) August 9, 2019
If you have an idea that could change the world, become a CSI member today.
