- BACEL will provide access to skills, networking and mentorship for 500 Black entrepreneurs over the course of 20 months to strengthen the Black business community while providing support and approaches to address identified barriers.
- These barriers include access to capital, access to networks, and skills gaps, among others, backed up by an abundance of data showing that Black Canadians have been disproportionately economically impacted by the pandemic, whether in terms of employment or entrepreneurship.
- Even prior to 2020, minority and newcomer populations faced structural barriers to starting a small business or pursuing self-employment.
- This project will meet the emerging training and skill development needs of Black businesses across Canada.
- The project will develop a robust entrepreneurship training and skills development programme with courses aimed to close the gaps and assist Black Entrepreneurs (BE) overcome challenges to business growth and success
- The BBPA will then run the training program online with skilled course facilitators and develop and conduct thorough evaluation to measure satisfaction of the program
