Pier Five announced the ten recipients of their Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund yesterday and two women-owned B.C. small businesses received cheques.
Created in 2022, the Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund provides ten women-owned businesses with $10,000 in funding each. The recipients can use the capital to help grow and scale their business.
Victoria’s Linda Biggs of Joni, Vancouver’s Kate Bouchard of Loba, and Kelowna’s Crystal Wood & Leha Marshall of U Grow Girl were selected from over 1,600 applications.
In addition to the $10,000 in funding, Linda and Kate will receive a Priceless Experience in Toronto – a unique opportunity to connect and network with the other Fund recipients, subject matter experts at Mastercard and other industry professionals – which will take place in 2024.
Joni is building an ecosystem of accessible period care. While reusable products are incredible, not everyone can use them or wants to use them. Therefore, disposable options will always be needed. Knowing this, Joni set out to make the most sustainable disposable option on the market and launched bamboo pads that are plastic-free packaged in a certified compostable wrapper.
To-date, Joni has also donated over 120,000 period care products and supported over 80,000 people who menstruate with access to a product they might otherwise go without.
Kate Bouchard, founder of Loba, started the business as she began her own health journey, a naturopathic treatment plan, which included vitamins and supplements. When looking for a way to organize her pills, monitor her intake and set reminders, Kate noticed that there were no products that suited both her needs and her aesthetic.
So, Kate developed a beautifully designed, modern pill box and built the Loba app to help herself and her now thousands of customers stay on top of their health regimen with products that look great and are easy-to-use.
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