MONTREAL, Nov. 18, 2020 /CNW/ - In collaboration with
Disruption Ventures, The Scotiabank Women Initiative™ today
announced its premiere RAISE & RISE event – a virtual
pitch competition and conference that offers women entrepreneurs
the chance to win a cash investment of $25,000 and more.
RAISE & RISE Pitch Competition
Until December 2nd,
eligible entrepreneurs can submit their applications to
the pitch competition online via the following link:
https://bit.ly/3lnIdRV.
A panel of judges will evaluate the applications and select the
six strongest to move forward for the final round. The top six
finalists will be announced on Tuesday,
December 8th at 11:59 p.m.
ET.
RAISE & RISE Conference
The conference portion of RAISE & RISE will be led by
top industry leaders and offer meaningful discussion to women
entrepreneurs about how to "raise" capital and "rise" as successful
entrepreneurs.
"We are dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs and closing
the gender gap in Venture Capital," says Maria Mangiocavallo, Vice President of
Commercial Banking, Scotiabank, and Advisory Board Member of The
Scotiabank Women Initiative. "By providing access to Capital,
Mentorship and Education, we are committed to giving women
entrepreneurs the knowledge and confidence they need to break down
barriers and access the funding they need to achieve the goals they
set out for their businesses."
The virtual conference takes place on December 15th from 9 a.m. to Noon ET and is free for anyone to
attend. For more information and to register, please visit:
https://bit.ly/2UkZL5j
The pitch finale will be hosted virtually, by invitation-only on
December 16th. Six
finalists will compete for the Grand Prize in front of the panel of
expert judges, which include successful entrepreneurs and business
executives, as well as Gillian
Riley, President & CEO Tangerine Bank and executive
sponsor of The Scotiabank Women Initiative.
The winner of the Grand Prize will be announced December 17th on the RAISE &
RISE webpage.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive:
- A cash investment from Disruption Ventures for a minimum of
$25,000 (CAD) subject to standard
terms and conditions
- Six months of free working space at 1Chabanel courtesy of JANT
Ventures and Hive MTL
- Featured article on Scotiabank's Perspectives, and one-year of
mentorship from Scotiabank and Roynat Capital executives
- Three-hour workshop with members of MNP's Assurance and
Advisory team
- Eligibility for Fasken's fee deferral program
All six finalists will be awarded a Finalist Prize Package
consisting of:
- A series of three workshops (75 minutes) facilitated by The
Scotiabank Women Initiative in partnership with Scotiabank and
Roynat Capital
- Free entry into Fasken's Startup program
- A series of three workshops (90 minutes) from MNP on topics of
interest to startups, such as SR&ED, tax matters and corporate
finance.
"Access to capital is the number one challenge for women
entrepreneurs," says Elaine Kunda,
founder and managing partner of Disruption Ventures. "With RAISE
& RISE we hope to provide women founders in Quebec, with a platform to access credible
investors and meaningful feedback to help them prosper."
For more information including submission eligibility and
criteria and how to enter, please visit the RAISE & RISE
webpage. Submissions can be done directly following this link:
English: https://forms.gle/yYSYz9Ky7k9DLe9F6
French: https://forms.gle/vRoDUdNkhntmyCb9A
About The Scotiabank Women Initiative The Scotiabank
Women Initiative is a comprehensive program to help advance
women-owned and women-led businesses
across Canada through three key pillars: Access to
Capital, Mentorship and Education. Since launching in December
2018, The Scotiabank Women Initiative has achieved several notable
milestones. In September 2019, the Bank
committed to deploy three billion dollars in
capital to women-led businesses in its first three years. The
program has engaged more than 1,900 women through our Boot
Camps and group mentorship sessions across Canada. We
formed The Scotiabank Women Initiative Advisory Board of
Scotiabank executives, who provide expertise to help women grow
their businesses through facilitated small group mentorship
sessions and we developed an online Knowledge Centre for
self-directed learning. For more information on The Scotiabank
Women Initiative, visit scotiabankwomeninitiative.com.
About Disruption Ventures Disruption Ventures is the
first private Canadian female-founded venture capital fund that
invests in businesses founded or managed by women. Recognizing that
women-led companies are underfunded, despite their ability to
perform and grow successful businesses, Disruption Ventures is
committed to being the starting point for the very best female
founders when early stage capital is required. For more
information, please visit www.disruption-ventures.com and connect
with us on Twitter @Elaine_Kunda and @DisruptionVC.
About Scotiabank Scotiabank is a leading bank in the
Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our
customers, their families and their communities achieve success
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 over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately
$1.2 trillion (as at July 31, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto
Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS).
For more information, please visit our website and follow us on
Twitter @ScotiabankViews.
SOURCE Scotiabank