Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Founder, Accelerate Her Future
Dr.Golnaz Golnaraghi is an award-winning Leadership and Equity and Inclusion expert, social entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and author. She is the Founder of Accelerate Her future, one of the leading career accelerators in Canada dedicated to advancing Black, Indigenous, and self-identifying women of color pursuing early careers in business and tech. She holds an MBA from the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business and a Doctor of Business Administration from Athabasca University. Her areas of research interest include racialized and intersectional identities in the workplace, women of color in leadership, Muslim women’s identity construction in North America, transformative learning, among others. Golnaz has presented her research at international conferences and published in peer-review journals and books including the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal and The Oxford Handbook of Diversity in Organizations. Her commentary has been featured in CTV News, Liisbeth Media, and Women of Influence. Golnaz was recently recognized as a top 50 Reporton Business 2021 Changemakers.
What are your thoughts on using a business growth platform to help take your business forward?
I think that entrepreneurs should use business growth platforms for a number of reasons: access, a methodology, and an approach that has been kind of perfected based on years of experience are just some of them.
Business growth platforms like Imaginal Ventures and the work they do is needed, particularly in our case, as we are seeing growth, we don’t necessarily always have the experience or expertise around all the different elements within a conscious business/social impact business that we need to be mindful of as we scale to deepen our impact and growth.
By connecting with not only the Imaginal community but the platform that they have, it’s helping us to think more holistically and more strategically around the things that we need to either consider, put in place or do more of as we scale.
It’s nice to have access to that expertise because they’ve been doing this for quite some time and they have an amazing framework in place that we’ve been benefiting from and learning about. Instead of trial and error and learning things as we go, we have access to the expertise, the tools, and the learning in order to be able to propel us towards our growth.
What are the barriers to women entrepreneurs? Have you faced any struggles or barriers in your pursuits of success throughout your career?
To answer the first question, I think there have been and continue to be many barriers for women entrepreneurs because we tend not to fit the dominant profile of what an entrepreneur is an example is the stereotype of a tech entrepreneur. First and foremost, women face barriers to funding. That’s number one. And I think for women like me who come from racialized communities, Black entrepreneurs, Indigenous entrepreneurs, etc those barriers can be even more significant. The latest stat shows that 2 to 3% of women receive venture capital, and that number is even smaller for racialized communities. So again, I say funding, even financial products, fundraising, access to financing. All of those I think can be a lot more equitable. That’s number one.
Secondly, access to influential networks within the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It isn’t always as available to women. And also access to programming, resources, and support that can be really tailored to our needs.
To answer your second question, I actually stepped into entrepreneurship later in my life, so in my 40s. I come from a background working in large corporations and then within post-secondary as a professor. And so this is really the third chapter – my legacy work that I feel very passionately about, and everything I’ve done has led me to this point. But coming into the entrepreneurship ecosystem with no experience in it whatsoever, I found that, there is a bias to tech entrepreneurs, which is fine. That’s great, and we do have a technology element to our work. That’s really important. But there isn’t as much that’s tailored to the needs of women, as well as those that have a social enterprise or a social impact connected to their work. I’ve found the ecosystem to be really fragmented and hard to figure out. I think my persistence and resourcefulness are what have brought me and the team, our work to where we are today. I just kept at it, found the right communities, found the right incubators, found the right programs that really were aligned with our values, aligned with our work and focus on social impact. And I’ve kind of cobbled together a whole list of resources, services, communities that have been essential to our work, as well as mentors that have been essential to our work. So it’s just taken a lot of perseverance.
What is the power of building a network? Do you have any success stories about finding new business through your networking?
I think networks are everything. Everything. In life, period, but particularly as a social impact entrepreneur that’s been doing this work. When I first left my full-time job, I found entrepreneurship can be very isolating if we allow it to be. As a result, I started looking into different communities, and the first one that I found was SheEO. And that was kind of my first step into a community that really is about the network and doing things differently. Over time, I’ve not only developed my own network through the work that we do at AHF, where we’re all about a community, as well. I’ve also found other communities of women, through Imaginal Venture’s Scale Up program our cohort is a community and a network that has gelled together really well. So networks, to me, are everything. Not only in terms of learning how to navigate the system, you learn about opportunities, grants, funding, learn about different programs. It’s been essential. But also just in terms of resources, supports, etc., it’s been really, really important to the work that we’re doing.
I would say really the most notable for me, and I mean, of course, my networks have connected me to different individuals, there are connections being made and it’s invaluable. But I would say the most important network has been our own community at Accelerate Her Future, where many of the women that have joined as fellows or as mentors have been phenomenal at referring us into their organization or into their connections for partnerships, for different aspects that have helped us grow. And so I think that’s been my experience.
How can women entrepreneurs maintain wellness and achieve work/life balance?
This is a big one. So I’m not sure work-life balance is possible daily, right? Each day I’m going to balance my life. I kind of navigate different circles or aspects of life. There’s work and entrepreneurship. There is family, as a working mom, there’s family – and there’s me in the center of all this. I think, for me, it’s ensuring that I just take time for myself to integrate. I’m prioritizing myself. There are pockets of time where I’m fully working with the team on work, but then being mindful when those sprints kind of come to a slow down and making sure that I take time.
One of the things that I’ve been really prioritizing is going for walks regularly to clear my head. I think walking and fresh air are so important. I have a mindfulness and meditation practice, which I have been pursuing for many, many years. When it comes to my chapter of entrepreneurship, they have served me really well. Making sure that I take downtime over the weekends, to be with family, to look after myself, to look after my wellbeing. So I don’t know if I have the perfect recipe. I think for each person, it’s very individualized, and each entrepreneur, each woman needs to kind of figure that out for themselves based on what works best for them, quite frankly.
I find that when I’m really feeling really exhausted, if I take the time for self-care, for rest, to nourish myself, to integrate, to pause, when I come back to the work, I’m actually even more effective because I have clarity and I have rest. So I don’t think there’s a formula to it. I think each person sort of needs to figure out what works for them based on their lifestyle and their needs.
Reflections on a journey, important moments, and realizations.
One of the realizations I’ve had is that community is everything. My team, the team that I work with, is everything. The people that we work with within our ventures, so important. And really choosing to do things differently as a team. So being very collaborative, creating an environment together, co-creating an environment that’s psychologically safe for everyone to contribute. And that goes from an intern to those that may have more experience. The one thing I’ve learned, and I really, truly prioritize, is that the team is critical to all of this.
Secondly, I think the community is important. This work can feel very isolating, and I know many entrepreneurs talk about this. So connecting to the right communities and creating our own community within the work that we do has been huge. I don’t believe in the “hero” mentality of the “entrepreneur that did it all”, that’s never the case, and I think it’s so important to celebrate, recognize, and honor every single person that has played a role in getting us where we are – and there have been so many people.
Thirdly, co-creation. It’s so important with the work that we do, and I would say for any entrepreneur or venture to center the voices of those that they serve. Whether it’s their customers, their beneficiaries, their community, whatever it may be, to center the voices and co-create with them.
And lastly, I would say this journey is not for the faint of heart. It can be very challenging and it can be very rewarding. And it’s not a straight path or a straight line. There are so many curves, and good days, bad days, all kinds of experiences. And so keeping the mission at the center of everything you do, really just one step at a time, being resourceful, being determined, knowing your “why”. And again, co-creating with a group makes it all easier to navigate, I would say. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever pursued, and also one of the most rewarding paths I’ve been on. Make sure that you’re tapping into expertise because we’re not going to know it all! And different stages of a business or a venture will require different things, skills, priorities, etc. So tapping into programs, resources, supports that can help at kind of each stage, as well as mentors, has been really critical. Making sure that as a founder, I’m honest with myself around my strengths and areas where I may need support to kind of move us through the things that we’re prioritizing has been also essential. A healthy sense of self-awareness and honesty about what the business needs or the venture needs is really important, too.
Encourage others: Share your know-how on developing a female-led enterprise
Trust your own knowledge with what you want to do. If you have an idea or if you’re looking to launch or if you have already launched, first and foremost, trust your own inner knowing and do things on your own terms. That said, couple it with accessing the resources and programs and opportunities that are available. When I first set out to do this work, one of the first coffee chats that I had with someone that has expertise in my area, her advice, at the time, was, “Stick to your day job. This will never work.” And they had the best of intentions, but I remember walking out of their office and thinking, “That doesn’t resonate for me. I really do believe in what I’m doing.” And had I listened, I wouldn’t be here with the team doing the things that we’re doing. So I think that’s partially why I say really listen to your own intuition and inner knowing and do things on your own terms.
Couple this with surrounding yourself with great mentors and access to resources that are available. Take advantage of them. And just go for it. If you see a funding opportunity, don’t talk yourself out of applying. Just apply. Or whatever the opportunity may be, take advantage and apply and just keep at it one foot in front of the other every single day. Again, as I said, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done, but it’s also one of the most rewarding, and what keeps me going is the why and the mission, and the impact that we hope to have.
