– A comprehensive program empowering women
to take their businesses to the next level –
TORONTO, Dec. 5, 2018 /CNW/ - Scotiabank today launched
The Scotiabank Women Initiative™, a comprehensive
program that will advance women-led businesses in Canada through access to capital, education
and mentorship. Academic research and Scotiabank's own exploration
has shown that women business leaders face significant challenges
in achieving growth. Scotiabank is confronting this issue by
offering meaningful support to female entrepreneurs in order to
help them take their businesses to the next level.
The Scotiabank Women Initiative has three core pillars,
including:
- Access to Capital: Scotiabank has deployed financing to
support the growth of women-led small and mid-market businesses. In
addition, Scotiabank will ensure equal access to its full suite of
financing solutions. Female business owners/leaders can leverage a
financial partner to help support their growth.
- Mentorship: An advisory board, made up of men and women
with deep experience in financial services, has been created to
help women grow their business through facilitated small group
membership sessions. These sessions will cover pre-identified
topics and complex business problems. Clients will have the
opportunity to interact with senior leaders as well as other
like-minded women in business.
- Education: Through Un-Mentorship Boot Camps™,
Scotiabank will provide access to a series of sessions that
"un-teach" traditionally-held ideas about how to succeed; explore
business-focused issues like governance, adopting technology, and
recruiting and retaining employees with Scotiabank executives and
other experts; and hear from other successful women and
advisory board members.
"To help shape this program, Scotiabank consulted with
customers, researchers and industry leaders to understand more
fully the challenges women business leaders face," said
Gillian Riley, Executive
Vice-President, Scotiabank. "Specifically, we learned about
unconscious bias and its effects on women business owners and their
ability to access financing. For example, the ratio of requested
versus approved debt for women is significantly lower than for men.
Through The Scotiabank Women Initiative, we will better understand
and serve women business leaders, and be a valued partner in their
success."
To celebrate the launch of The Scotiabank Women Initiative,
Scotiabank hosted a panel discussion this morning at the Scotiabank
Centre. The event featured a panel of female business executives
who discussed their challenges in owning and leading businesses.
Keynote speakers at the event included Gillian Riley and Sarah
Kaplan, Professor and Director of the Institute for Gender
and the Economy at the University of
Toronto.
"The Scotiabank Women Initiative is being piloted in
Canada with Commercial Banking
clients, with an eye to future expansion," added Riley. "However,
we don't see this just as a business opportunity, but also as our
way of helping address an important social challenge."
Women business leaders can visit
www.scotiabankwomeninitiative.com to learn more about the
initiative, including details on each of the three
pillars.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a
leading financial services provider in the Americas. We are
dedicated to helping our more than 25 million customers become
better off through a broad range of advice, products and services,
including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and
private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital
markets. With a team of more than 97,000 employees and assets
of $998 billion (as at October 31, 2018), Scotiabank
trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please
visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter
@ScotiabankViews.
SOURCE Scotiabank