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The Federal Minister of Labour and the Status of Women was in Kelowna on Tuesday to announce funding to reduce barriers for women in the province.
Minister Leitch meeting with women entrepreneurs in Kelowna (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
Dr. Kellie Leitch was joined by Kelowna-Lake Country MP Ron Cannan to announce $200,650 for Women’s Enterprise Centre to work with its partners in regions across the province. The funding will help the Centre with regional consultations that will ensure that women entrepreneurs and professionals have support and an opportunity to find solutions to barriers.
Laurel Douglas, CEO of Women’s Enterprise Centre said the funding will go towards hosting regional BC Economic Forums. In October, 2014 the forum was held in Vancouver and was designed to highlight opportunities to support women in business.
Laurel Douglas, CEO of Women's Enterprise Centre (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
“This funding will be used to put on regional forums similar to the one that was held in Vancouver (in October),” explains Douglas. “In the Southern Interior, Fraser Valley, Northern BC and Vancouver Island to make sure women have the chance to participate in the discussions and then once we find out what rural women need, we can make sure that those action plans are put into the overall document.”
The discussions will result in a report with ideas for action by government, corporations and individuals in three key areas; growing women in senior leadership, growing women entrepreneurs and growing women in non-traditional jobs.
The forums and data collection is expected to take about 30 months to complete. The Women’s Enterprise Centre was established in 1995 and since then it has worked to provide resources for women in the province to start, purchase and grow small businesses.
Kelowna business women in attendance for the announcement (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
“It costs lots of money to put on an event that people will come to, that will add value to them and it also costs a lot of money to develop resources and initiatives that will be a benefit in the long run to grow more women entrepreneurs,” adds Douglas. “This funding is extremely important because we don’t have the resources to do that important advocacy and community building work.”
Barriers that face women in the province when looking to move into business or non-traditional roles include a lack of resources, awareness to programs and available opportunities.
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