Ontario Black Entrepreneurs’ Empowerment to Access Available Success Supporting Resources (E/SI)
April 24, 2023 | 9:45 am - 10:45 am
This research project focuses on how Black entrepreneurs (BE) might be empowered to access available success-supporting resources and develop a ‘Best Practices Guide for BE, Training Curriculum, and Mentoring Program’ to help build their business capacity. Access to funding and economic stability are some of the biggest challenges faced by BE in Ontario, which have been heightened during the COVID pandemic. The research initially started in 2020 as a partnership between Sheridan’s Pilon School of Business (PSB) and the Afro-Caribbean Business Network (ACBN). The research holds excellent significance; however, it was not allocated funding and continued to move forward depending on the generosity of PSB. A proposal to support the recruitment of student research assistants would contribute to bringing this research to completion. Entrepreneurship is playing an increasingly important role in helping individuals achieve social and economic success in Canada. While the country has enjoyed a high rate of entrepreneurship, the Black community continues to lag behind in the attainment of success. The research recommends the need for Black entrepreneurs to have mentorship. It notes that mentors provide valuable experiential knowledge as they tend to be familiar with the struggles black entrepreneurs face in the business sector. This research deserves prominence because its major focus is on empowerment to access available success-supporting resources by Black entrepreneurs and the development of Training Curricula and Mentorship Programs to help remedy the challenges.