The Government of Canada's support will help women-led businesses and start-ups enhance productivity and increase competitiveness
December 20, 2022 - Thunder Bay, ON - Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario - FedNor
The Government of Canada understands that advancing gender equality and women's participation in the economy is crucial to all our success. This is why the federal government aims to double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025.
Today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor and Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North was joined by Marcus Powlowski, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Rainy River, to announce $8,385,309 in FedNor funding for three projects with the PARO Centre for Women's Enterprise (PARO) to support women entrepreneurs across Northern Ontario.
Of the total FedNor investment, $6,261,160 will enable PARO to extend its Women's Enterprise Centre Northern Ontario (WECNO) initiative for two three-year periods, 2019-2022 and 2022-2025. WECNO is designed to help women entrepreneurs, including Indigenous women, start and grow businesses or expand access to export markets and supports women-led start-ups and companies throughout Northern Ontario. Since 2016, this highly successful initiative has supported over 1000 women-led businesses, while helping to create or maintain more than 1600 jobs.
The remaining $2,124,149 will enable PARO to implement the Enterprising Indigenous Women (EIW) initiative, a pan-Northern project that supports Indigenous women in their efforts to develop the knowledge and skills to start and grow successful businesses or social enterprises in Northern Ontario.
