Today, Visa Canada announced the recipients of its She’s Next Grant Program, aimed at uplifting women-owned small businesses (SMBs). The program awards $10,000 CAD grants to 10 winners and access to an accelerated mentorship program through York University’s YSpace. Since its inception, the program has awarded a total of $700K CAD to women-owned small businesses and countless hours of mentorship.
According to data from the latest Visa Small Business Pulse Report, Canadian SMBs showcase a positive outlook for the future despite economic concerns.1 Almost half (47%) of surveyed Canadian SMBs expressed optimism for the future of economy and 68% are projecting revenue growth.2
“Visa is dedicated to supporting Canadian businesses. Recognizing the unique challenges women entrepreneurs face, we’re thrilled to support this latest group of recipients on their road to success,” said Sarah Steele, Senior Director, Small Business Product at Visa. “We know it isn’t easy to own and run a business, especially in this economic climate. We want to help reduce the barriers many entrepreneurs face and support them whether it be through funding, training, tools, or resources and fuel their growth—uplifting everyone, everywhere.”
The recipients of this round of the She’s Next Grant Program span industries from healthcare to education and inclusive food products to cutting-edge technology:
- Flourish Kitchen (Chemainus, BC): Flourish Kitchen makes travel-friendly meals for women with a busy lifestyle. They are low-FODMAP, gluten-free and dairy-free, to make wellbeing easy for women with dietary sensitivities.
- Habetin Homes (Sechelt, BC): As a Licensed Residential Builder, Habetin Homes specializes in new construction, renovations and additions of all sizes, and custom millwork creations – using industry-leading software to deliver project schedules and clear communication throughout.
- Magnestar Inc (Toronto, ON): Magnestar’s 24/7x software maps and monitors all communications between Earth and space, predicts interference, and prescribes interference mitigation tactics to ensure signal resiliency for space operators.
- Material Futures (Toronto, ON): Material Futures transforms dairy waste into sustainable colourants, offering an eco-friendly solution that adds value to the dairy industry and reduces environmental impact.
- Myni (Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC): Myni creates household and personal care products that are concentrated into small tablets or fine powders to eliminate plastic and offer products without toxicity.
- Peekapak (Toronto, ON): Peekapak is an award-winning digital, literacy-based social-emotional learning (SEL) platform designed for K-12 students.
- PragmaClin (St. John’s, NL): PragmaClin’s Parkinson’s Remote Interactive Management System (PRIMS) is an innovative digital platform to manage Parkinson’s Disease, offering real-time monitoring, rating and personalized care.
- SERAY (Vancouver, BC): SERAY offers innovative cooling sleepwear designed for women’s 8pm-8am. The sustainable sleepwear ensures comfort, regulates body temperature, and promotes quality sleep.
- Stellar Eats (Toronto, ON): Stellar Eats is a unique line of grain-free & refined sugar-free baking mixes using 8 (or less) real food ingredients.
- The Plant Based Workshop (Vancouver, BC): The Plant Based Workshop creates Asian-inspired, innovative, plant-based products. The diverse product lines offer plenty of variety from noodles and broths to mochi cakes.
Supporting small business growth
In Canada, 61% of SMBs are planning to launch a new product or service and 55% plan to sell products or services in a new province or country. 3 To help entrepreneurs grow their business, Visa has revamped and relaunched Visa SavingsEdge® to support smarter spending and find savings. The improvements introduce a more dynamic platform with new offerings and features which include:
- Hundreds of merchant offers in categories, including travel, electronics, business services, and more.
- Real time email notifications when Cardholders with linked cards earn cashback on qualifying transactions.
- A Cashback Tracker to enable Cardholders with linked cards to see savings they’ve received through the Program.
To find out more, visit Visa SavingsEdge® and link your Visa Small Business card for free to start saving today.
To learn more about the She’s Next Grant Program and recipients, visit Visa.ca/grantprogram. For small business resources, including advice and tools to help run and grow a small business, visit the Visa Small Business Hub.
