Innovate Inclusion is a Canadian not-for-profit organization that promotes the financial success of disadvantaged entrepreneurs by promoting access, doing diversity research, and raising awareness. The founder, Sarah Juma, encountered the inclusion barrier when building her first software firm and navigating the entrepreneurial scene as a Black woman. She was able to create instruments and advancement-supporting tactics because of the shortcomings.
Founded On The Grounds Of Promoting the Underrepresented
She discovered the necessity for creating an accessible network and welcoming locations from conversations with other minority entrepreneurs who had shared similar situations. Innovate Inclusion is a nonprofit organization that promotes the achievement of underrepresented communities in technology and business. Sarah Juma and a team in the spring of 2017 founded the company.
The inability to empower some of the most creative thinkers led to the creation of Innovate Inclusion. They get together with neighbourhood stakeholders and community groups that assist black business owners. With regard to problems, plans, and solutions involving underrepresented entrepreneurs, Innovate Inclusion is dedicated to educating people and fostering awareness.
Programs for Black Entrepreneurs
As the founder of the organization, she has a higher purpose in bringing forward the deprived and disadvantaged people of various communities. She had personally witnessed various restrictive processes during her initial entrepreneurial days, and she made it a point to change the dynamics.
For the purpose of empowering underrepresented tech talent and businesses, Innovate Inclusion forges deep connections with people and partners. They created their programs for underrepresented Canadian IT talent and entrepreneurs.
Equipment Assist
Innovate Inclusion provides access to a variety of tools, including laptops, tablets, podcasting mics, and cameras, with funding from Unilever Canada.
By giving underrepresented populations access to programs and services that foster personal and professional development, Innovate Inclusion is dedicated to assisting underrepresented communities. Two programs created to provide equity for the Black community are Equipment Assist and Conference Connect, a program that aids entrepreneurs in attending crucial conferences for their business growth.
BEMHI
The Black Entrepreneur Mental Health Initiative (BEMHI) was founded on the principle that everyone should have access to mental health treatments. As a result, BEMHI provides entrepreneurs and other key workers with free access to wellness programs and supportive actions that are culturally relevant to their needs.
Conference Connect
Due to financial constraints, minority communities far too frequently lose out on networking opportunities. An exclusive program called Conference Connect gives access to people who might benefit greatly from attending. In addition to offering a free ticket to remove financial obstacles, they also want to build a community that will support one another.
The Operation of Conference Connection:
- Decide the conference you want to attend
- Make sure you have the required credentials
- Complete the relevant form
Co-Create
Their Board of Directors meets annually to talk about the programming requirements of their members. Reviewing the most recent research and analyzing member insights help the dialogue. Innovate Inclusion is aware of the remarkable progress certain community organizations are making because of innovative programming. By promoting activities that have been effectively carried out, they hope to work together. Any new initiatives created by Innovate Inclusion are predicated on community gaps that already exist.
Work on Diversity
Innovate Inclusion has been working extensively on diversity issues as well. They have found that currently, Incubator services made for radicalized entrepreneurs are severely lacking in Canada. Ontario’s top four government-funded entrepreneurship incubators: Communitech (Kitchener), DMZ (Toronto), Invest Ottawa (Ottawa), and MaRS (Toronto), do not represent African/Caribbean Canadian, Latin Canadian or Indigenous communities on any of their Board levels, as their mentors or executive professionals. With programs focusing on diversity (mainly addressing gender equality) being present in these organizations, they did not point to racial issues or various other aspects of underrepresentation.
Innovate Inclusion has built a report on the current status of Diversity and has major goals in working on this. Their report was aimed at recommending actions that support the underrepresented entrepreneurs as they face challenges, besides supporting them in growing their businesses with technology support.
Visit their website to learn more about their actions and programs: https://www.innovateinc.co
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