Women Shining Magazine Women Shining Spring 2018 | Page 43

Women’s Enterprise Centre
2016/17 Highlights
By the Numbers
In 2016/17, Women's Enterprise Centre continued to help women achieve and share their success in business. Here we
present the highlights for the year April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017.
6
FINANCING SUCCESS
>$2.1M
approved and disbursed in loans ($2,119,957), which
translates into over $54 million in direct and
leveraged financing – creating over $1.6 billion in
economic activity in BC since 1995
• Supported growth-minded entrepreneurs with
growth financing (73% of our loan portfolio)
and assisted with import and export activities
• Filled gaps in the lending landscape with our
Equal Access to Capital (EAC) Loan Program,
which accounted for 27% of our loans
• Created or maintained 389 jobs (3,344 since
inception) as a result of our loans and services
DEVELOPING ESSENTIAL
BUSINESS SKILLS
PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL
GUIDANCE & RESOURCES
78%
increase in participants in our Starting Your Business
Info Session – we helped 347 aspiring women
entrepreneurs navigate the startup stage
• Provided 2,244 business advisory sessions to
almost 477 clients on various aspects of their
business
• Responded to over 7,974 requests for
business information – a 21% increase
• Delivered 5,580 online resources
• Since inception, over 23,900 women have
benefited from more than 61,500 business
advisory services
MENTORING SUPPORT FOR
LEADERSHIP AND GROWTH
1,782 28
participants from 99 unique communities hosted in
56 workshops women business owners matched with experienced
entrepreneurs for a six-month One-to-One mentoring
relationship to grow their skills and confidence
• Introduced the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile®
Assessment to 65 participants at the “Mindset
Mastery for Growing Your Business” workshop
• Partnered with 5 organizations to deliver 8
workshops to help entrepreneurs develop key
business skills
• Since 1995, we have helped 26,034
participants gain essential business skills in
over 1,875 workshops
• Hosted 877 participants in our 11 Mentor
Advisory Forums, supported by volunteer
subject experts. They continued to grow in
popularity this year – we saw an 84% increase
• Trained 14 new One-to-One Mentors from a
variety of regions and industries
• Hosted 28 participants in 3 communities in
our PeerSpark and Taking the Stage® programs
41