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emerge
WECAN
WECAN President and
Executive Director Narissa
Singh always knew she would
end up an entrepreneur.“It
runs in my family,” laughs
Narissa whose grandmother
and mother each owned and
successfully operated
businesses in Trinidad, from
where she hails.
The acronym for Women Entrepreneurs Connecting
and Networking, WECAN’s target was originally
mompreneurs and women with home-based
businesses looking for the flexibility to earn extra
income while still able to be with their children.
But this passionate group has now aligned with a
broader approach, building a membership-based
organization that is focused on uniting all
professional business women, whether small
business owners, startup founders or corporate
executives under Narissa’s leadership. “We want to
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continue building a diverse cross-section and
leveraging the variety of strengths among our
members,” says Narissa.
The eclectic assortment of members in WECAN are
not defined by motherhood. “You can be a mother
and a business owner, but we prefer to lead with our
business foot. We have built a supportive
community of women at all levels of life and
business.” Narissa has found that each woman has
her own personal motivations to get involved. “I
have been a business owner for a long time,” she
says, “I network and am able to share experiences to
help each woman succeed a little further through
mentorship and all the value we pack into our
organization.”
WECAN has also found that every woman in
business experiences struggles, no matter how
unique her background is. “I hear about their
challenges and that drives me to keep doing more to
build WECAN as a robust resource that can inspire
and empower more women.”