Women Founders Investment Preparedness program is starting next week April 21st! I’m very excited about this program, since it’s been a long time coming, and it’s in collaboration with the Canadian Women’s Foundation. As we’re preparing for the first session, Gurbeen Bhasin and I are working on session planning.
We are aiming to have a more conversational style session, where I’ll be asking Gurbeen a few questions surrounding a sustainable and circular economy. I shared the google doc with her, including a few questions, and she kindly reminded me we should start from the beginning.
What is a social enterprise? What is a circular economy?
As Gurbeen put it, it feels like we’re learning and teaching at the same time. Fundraising has been a core part of my work over the past 10 years, and I feel like I’m constantly learning new things, especially during shifts in the economical landscape.
It’s hard to define these concepts in isolation. They’re often shaped by the economic, social, and environmental realities we’re operating in.
For many of us, when it comes to investment readiness, while accessing financing and funding is one of the core goals, value alignment often is a primary one. Finding investors who are aligned when it comes to your organization’s mission, vision, and values is a huge challenge, and one that many women founders who run social enterprises grapple with.
During these economic times, I’m seeing that investors are more cautious, more so, many of them have paused their investments and are looking at aligning with a new long-term strategy for their organizations. Something we should also do, before we seek investment.
Who am I fundraising from, and why?
I’m looking forward to having these conversations with women who are going through similar experiences. The learning and teaching aspect simultaneously provides us all not just knowledge, and insight, but also a sense of empowerment that we all come together as group going through this, not alone in isolation.
Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing takeaways from the program weekly right here.
If you’re a women founder reading this, and are looking to join the upcoming program, in partnership with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, register here.
Inclusive Entrepreneurship 