My Start Up Program
My Start-Up is a self-employment training and support program for women who want to start their own business. The program is offered in partnership with Rise, a national organization dedicated to empowering people with mental health and addiction challenges to achieve greater social and economic inclusion through entrepreneurship. Through training, mentorship, micro-financing, and other customs supports, Rise helps individuals build the skills and access the capital they need to launch a small business that can improve quality of life and enable them to support themselves, their families, and communities.
My Start-Up serves women of colour, Indigenous women, women living in poverty, single mothers, newcomers, criminalized women or those who’ve experienced trauma, mental health and substance use struggles. These women are often quite resilient, resourceful, and throughout their lives have had to find creative solutions to earn an income- the very qualities that make successful entrepreneurs.
Historically, the women that My Start-Up serves rarely have the opportunity to gain the networks, support and resources needed to start their own small businesses. The My Start-Up: Women’s Entrepreneurship Program strives to help alleviate this deficit.
Participants of the My Start-Up Program learn foundational skills and techniques that will benefit their employment, self-employment and personal endeavors, and gain a range of small business training that includes marketing, customer analysis, financial management, legal considerations, pitch delivery, creation of a business plan, connection to small business networks, and financing information.
Each cohort, up to 25 women will be accepted into this inspiring and distinguished program.
To explore entrepreneurship and your own small business ideas, come to one of our Idea Generator sessions, or contact an employment coordinator to learn more about the program at mystartup@efrytoronto.org
