Federal government drops 307 big ones into the lap of HalTech: earmarked for female entrepreneurs.

News 100 yellowBy Pepper Parr

September 5th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

 

HalTech Regional Innovation Centre, based in Burlington, Ont., will receive around $307,000 from the federal government to create an accelerator for women entrepreneurs.

The goal of the new accelerator at HalTech will be to help women entrepreneurs scale their businesses and reach new markets. The program will provide mentorship, skills training, and programming to help women grow their businesses. The government said final funding, which is being provided through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), is subject to negotiation of the contribution agreement with HalTech.

Haltech group 307 thousand

Can’t name them all – on the left Karen Grant Executive Director of Angel One; three to the right Shann McGrail , Mary Ng, minister of small business and export promotion, Anita Cassidy Interim Executive Director of Economic Development Corporation, and on the far right MP for Oakville Burlington North Pam Damoff.

“The women entrepreneurs and business leaders of Burlington and southwestern Ontario make outstanding contributions to our economy and communities every day,” said Pam Damoff, member of parliament for Oakville North–Burlington. “Today’s investment by our government will create and support jobs in southern Ontario and help more of our women-owned and women-led businesses grow, innovate and export to new markets. These investments are good for our community, good for Ontario and good for Canada.”

Damoff has been assiduous in advocating for women – this grant has her fingerprints all over it.
Granted (no pun intended) there is a federal election looming and Damoff is not the shoo in that her colleague Karina Gould of Burlington is; all Damoff needs to return as an MP is a visit from the Prime Minister – providing he manages to clean up his act.

Women gossiping

Women getting caught up at a Tech Place event. HalTech shares office space with Tech Place and Angel One.

HalTech offers free business advisory services, learning workshops on entrepreneurship and commercialization, and for assistance with corporate innovation programs. Its verticals of note include digital media, advanced manufacturing, cleantech, health tech, FinTech, and EdTech. Haltech is a member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs, a program that includes 17 Regional Innovation Centres.

This women’s accelerator is not Haltech’s first initiative to support female entrepreneurship. HerHalton is HalTech’s peer-to-peer initiative for women who live and or work in the Halton Region. Members of HerHalton can empower each other through discussions, collaboration, and networking opportunities.

Shann Mcxxx

Shann McGrail, the HalTech Executive Director – pleased with the federal grant.

 

The government’s investment was made as part of the WES, which is looking to improve access to financing, talent, networks, and expertise through an investment of nearly $2 billion. The goal of the strategy is to double the number of women-led or women-owned businesses by the year 2025. Today’s announcement was made by Mary Ng, minister of small business and export promotion, as part of a cumulative $507,000 investment through the WES, which included other organizations.

Shann McGrail, the HalTech Executive Director and xxx of Angel One can certain deliver the support services budding female entrepreneurs need. A good first step – seeing some gender balance in the distribution of federal funds is a welcome change.

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5 comments to Federal government drops 307 big ones into the lap of HalTech: earmarked for female entrepreneurs.

  • Eve St Clair

    One term MP will realize that her constiiuents don’t give a darn about her gender spewing propaganda and will vote for another party come October . MP Damoff has spent most of her term whining about feminism ad nauseam

  • Don Fletcher

    Justin Trudeau’s feminist agenda continues to blindly roll-out, with little consideration for an individual’s merit or character. Then again, what would he know about merit or character?

    • Phillip Wooster

      Don, I would call it a “faux” feminist agenda. In 2015, Dan McTeague, a Liberal MP, described Trudeau as an “unserious mind”, “given to selfies, socks, and sobbing”, “who surrounds himself with YES men and YES women”. And what the past 4 years have shown is that McTeague’s description was extremely accurate. Two of the strongest and capable women in the Trudeau cabinet were Wilson-Raybould and Philpott who stood up to Trudeau to defend the rule of law and their reward was to be removed from the Liberal caucus. They put integrity ahead of politics unlike the other cabinet members who stood before the cameras and mindlessly repeated Liberal talking points. Some feminist—NOT!!!!!

  • Stephen White

    So Pam Damoff thinks that the determining criteria for funding of entrepreneurs and start-ups should be based not on the soundness of their business plan but rather, their gender? Really?

    It’s no wonder this community is sadly lagging in its ability to attract new businesses and promote employment if this is the kind of distorted policy-making and twisted funding model that is being used. If past practice is any indicator of future behaviour though I’ll bet a good chunk of that $307K gets eaten up in networking meetings, open houses, luncheons, guest speakers, and other superfluous nonsense.

    Damoff is in tough with Sean Weir who is light years smarter and far more capable. The GTA has enough Liberal MPs who are nothing more than “one trick ponies” and pocket puppies for special interests. The sooner Damoff gets dispatched to the sidelines the better.