At the Academy level, you’ll have the opportunity to hone your growth mindset, to deepen your leadership skills and to expand your business competencies. You’ll be introduced to advanced business ideas and concepts.

Prerequisite: Level 2 – Master Class

Advanced Business Skills I
Introduces you to business financials and accounting, including financial planning. You’ll be expected to produce a 5-year financial plan with long-term projections.

Advanced Business Skills II
Examine your company’s human resource (HR) needs and create a HR plan that adheres to Canadian regulations.

Digital Skills
Gain the ability to access the technology you need to run a business including Microsoft Office, Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, PowerPoint, social media, database management and various e-commerce platforms. As part of creating your business’ multi-phase technology and adoption plan, you’ll build out a phase one implementation plan that incorporates a database and business-appropriate social media accounts

Leadership
Review at least three successful case studies and apply their principles to your business. You’ll also evaluate your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) during a time of crisis. At the end of this workshop, you’ll be expected to:

• Design a solutions-focused team workshop to show growth pathways
• Complete a SWOT analysis
• Create a contingency (or crisis management) plan

Marketing
Develop an online profile with an identifiable logo and marketing materials. You’ll also create clear company mission and vision statements and determine your overall goals. By the end of this session, you’ll create (or update) your LinkedIn business profile as well as build a website on a free hosting platform incorporating your unique branding.

Negotiating
Gain an understanding and appreciation of the principles of negotiation in this workshop. You’ll apply what you learn through negotiation simulation in teams.

Procurement
Learn about the request for proposal (RFP) process, supplier diversity and other core procurement principles. The main aim of this session is to prepare an RFP document.

Regulations: Intellectual Property
Have you ever wondered how to secure intellectual property rights for your business? In this workshop, you’ll create a checklist of everything you need to do to trademark your business.

Securing Funding
Gain knowledge about the funding process and what you need to do to obtain financing for your business. As part of this program, you’ll need to prepare and present a pitch deck as part of a competition. You’ll also need to complete a funding application.

Self-Care
Examine the impact of trauma and mental health challenges on success. By focusing on supports you may need as a Black entrepreneur, you’ll receive information and resources to create a comprehensive self-care plan.