Earlier this month, the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and entrepreneurship@UBC co-hosted “BIPOC Leaders & Entrepreneurs in Tech: Voices of Change.”
The evening of networking and community building among industry innovators was keynoted by Lekan Olawoye, founder of Black Professionals in Tech.
In addition to empowering rich networking opportunities, the event celebrated an emerging partnership between entrepreneurship@UBC and the Casa Foundation for International Development, a Canadian nonprofit founded in 2011 to advance minority groups through economic and entrepreneurship initiatives.
A newly established collaboration will see entrepreneurship@UBC become the delivery partner for the first Black Advisory Hub in Western Canada.
“The Casa Foundation is an exceptional partner to strengthen the ecosystem of BIPOC entrepreneurs and business leaders in BC,” stated Dr. Sean Lumb, Associate Director of entrepreneurship@UBC.
Since 2013, entrepreneurship@UBC has supported well over 700 UBC-founded ventures by providing a range of services including entrepreneurial skills training and mentorship and advisory services among other resources.
“We are thrilled to be advancing the supports provided to BIPOC founders who are members of the UBC community, and by extension, helping them connect to the broader regional ecosystem,” Lumb said.
Casa Foundation launched the first Black Advisory Hub, part of a national program to support Black entrepreneurs, in Ontario in 2021.
“The Casa Foundation is so pleased to partner with the University of British Columbia in our efforts to bring the BAH to Western Canada,” stated Dr. Olutoyin Oyelade, CEO of Casa Foundation.
The goal of the BAH program is to deliver national services over four years to support 8,500 entrepreneurs and 750 Black-led businesses, while creating 175 new businesses and an estimated 1,000 jobs, according to Oyelade.
“Our mission of sharing scalable, innovative approaches and resources to supporting economic integration of Black entrepreneurs will be furthered through this collaboration,” she said.
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