Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Launches National Programs on International Women’s Day

The Alberta-based non-profit dedicated to women entrepreneurs
expands access to its flagship digital business development
courses across Canada.

March 6, 2024 (Edmonton, AB) – On the eve of International Women’s Day,  Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) is pleased to announce the national expansion of two of its marquee courses, Bold Leadership and Strategic Edge, to women entrepreneurs from coast to coast to coast.

Designed to empower women entrepreneurs ready to engage with the next stage of entrepreneurial success, both the Bold Leadership and Strategic Edge programs have proven track records within Alberta, providing established entrepreneurs with the tools necessary to adapt to the digital landscape, grow their businesses, and expand to new markets.

"The potential of women entrepreneurs for spurring economic growth is incredible. Women-owned businesses contribute $150 billion to the Canadian economy and employ over 1.5 million people. Advancing women’s equality in Canada could add billions to the GDP.”

We should be proud that Canada is a world leader in women’s entrepreneurship. AWE is thrilled to be able to share our programs with women entrepreneurs across the country and make those resources available to women-led businesses outside of our province.”

While most women in corporate positions have access to professional development courses, woman entrepreneurs often find themselves in search of women-focused learning and connection opportunities. AWE provides top-tier business development courses, networking opportunities, and mentorship programs for a community of goal-oriented women within a flexible platform that allows them to work on the business while they’re working in the business.

Aimed at established businesses ready to invest in new digital tools, AWE’s Bold Leadership Program supports women entrepreneurs who want to rethink their businesses with a digital lens and implement technology to improve their business performance.

The AWE Strategic Edge: Leadership for Growth program supports established women entrepreneurs ready to shift to the next stage of entrepreneurial success to build a growth strategy that’s relevant to their business and the increasing complexities of a digital world. Most participating businesses post annual revenue of over $500,000 and are looking to move forward toward new opportunities for growth.

In addition to the two courses, AWE offers access to capital information and strategic financing services. To date, AWE has provided loans to women entrepreneurs amounting to more than $43 million.

The nationwide Bold Leadership and Strategic Edge courses are being delivered in partnership with the Reseau des Femmes d’affaires du Quebec, British Columbia’s We-BC, Manitoba’s Women’s Enterprise Centre, the NFLD & Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs, and the Ontario-based Paro Centre.

AWE’s program expansion has been made possible thanks to funding from the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Fund. This is one of the main components of Canada’s first ever Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, which is helping thousands of women entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.  

Registration for the programs is now open to women across Canada on the AWE website: www.awebusiness.com

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About Alberta Women Entrepreneurs

Since 1995, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) has provided tools and resources to women across the province to help them achieve their entrepreneurial goals and to grow their businesses. For over 28 years, AWE has built a network of successful educational and mentorship programs built around our core values: Capital, Connection, and Capacity.

Dedicated to inclusivity and diversity, AWE plays a pivotal role in supporting women entrepreneurs, integrating them into a broad network that celebrates their achievements. This commitment is highlighted at AWE's annual awards ceremony and reinforced by the organization's delivery of over 1,500 workshops annually. Representing more than just an organization, AWE embodies a diverse and experienced community that is deeply committed to guiding and elevating women entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey.

Building A Community Around Your Business

When a customer decides to go in search of a product or service, they have a plethora of options available. So, what drives them towards one option over another? There are many factors, but a big factor is the sense of loyalty they feel. And that’s driven by the community that’s built around a business.

You can start building a community by creating opportunities for customers to get to know your business better and even a chance to find a group of like-minded people. Those interactions make people feel like they’re part of something bigger, and if that feeling is consistent, then it strengthens the connection they feel to your business.

Small business owners are in a unique position when it comes to community building because they know their customers intimately. The more you get to know who your customers are and what they like, the more value you can offer them when interacting with your brand, and the quicker you can pivot with community desires.

Here are a few ways that you can build a community around your business that customers will be proud to be a part of:

Develop a social presence

This may seem obvious, but taking the time to create good social content can be one of the cheapest and easiest ways of building a community around your business. People reach for their phones dozens of times throughout the day, which creates a lot of opportunities for you to make a connection. This is also a great place for your customers to engage with one another, turning your brand into a space where people can discuss a common interest and feel inspired by new ideas.

Utilize software to get to know your customer base

To add real value for your customer, you need to know what they’re looking for in your business. Investing in software like customer engagement platforms or customer relationship management tools can help you find patterns in your customer data. AWE’s Bold Leadership Program helps business owners figure out what digital tools are best for their business to help improve performance.

Collaborate with other businesses

Capitalize on the work that other businesses are doing with their communities by creating partnerships. Maybe making a purchase at your store means they get 10% off at the coffee shop down the street. Or maybe you collaborate on a social media giveaway. There are a lot of creative ways that businesses can cross-promote and share the community they already have.

Host events

This won’t be feasible for every business but finding opportunities to host events will help customers boost those connections with each other while making positive memories in your space. Spending an evening surrounded by your products will make them more likely to purchase something, and they’ll leave with an experience they tell their friends and family about later. 

No matter how you decide to connect with your customers, the most important thing is to be genuine. Loyalty comes from really knowing and caring about a business, so don’t be afraid to show your personality! With a little time and consistency, you’ll be able to find people who are just as passionate about your business as you are and make a meaningful impact in their lives.

2022 Awards Finalists Announced

EDMONTON, AB – A group of ten extraordinary Alberta women entrepreneurs were named this year’s AWE Awards finalists.

“These finalists represent incredible possibility, remarkable innovation, and undeniable talent,”  says Marcela Mandeville, CEO, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs. “They are moving their businesses and our province forward.”

The awards, presented by ATB Financial, recognize the efforts of women entrepreneurs in four categories. This year’s finalists include:

Emerging Entrepreneur Award – Awarded to a female entrepreneur who has built a strong, scalable business foundation and has achieved early success.

• Jennifer Schaeffer, Onlea Enterprises, Inc.

• Shannon Van Norman, Shadow Vista Productions

• Ashley Wevers, AdvancdAg Inc.

• Carey Ann Thurlow, Risio Institute for Digital Dental Education Inc.

Indigenous Entrepreneur Award – Awarded to a leading Indigenous woman entrepreneur who has a strong business concept and demonstrates plans for future growth and commitment to the community.

• Mallory Yawnghwe, Indigenous Box Inc.

• Vanessa Marshall, Jack59 Inc.

• Angie Saltman, Saltmedia Inc

Upsurge Award – Awarded to a female entrepreneur who has built a solid foundation for her business and is now experiencing rapid growth.

• Breanne Everett, Orpyx Medical Technologies Inc.

• Deanne Beis, Tenfold HR Solutions

• Jenelle Wensley, Genex Marketing

Since 2012, the annual AWE Awards have recognized more than 800 women entrepreneurs in Alberta. Previous award winners include such notable Alberta entrepreneurs as Karina Birch of Rocky Mountain Soap Co., Karen Ryan and Lara Murphy of Ryan Murphy Construction, and Angela Santiago of The Little Potato Company.

Along with the awards, AWE has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs through coaching, mentorship, leadership development, business advising, access to capital, and access to networks over the last 25 years.

To learn more about the awards, visit: www.awebusiness.com/2022-awards-celebration . Get your ticket to the in-person Awards Celebration at the Edmonton Expo Center on September 13 on Eventbrite.

Improving the Customer Experience Through Technology

The past two decades have seen the birth of an unprecedented number of new markets and technologies such as cloud services, warehouse robotics, and smartphones. These new technologies have redefined entire industries, and business owners are being forced to change their business models and embrace digital transformation in order to stay competitive.

The integration of digital technologies into all areas of a business is changing how businesses operate, and also how they interact with and bring value to their customers. Digital technology has transformed consumer habits and caused a shift in customer expectations. These days, customers often rate organizations on their digital customer experience first.

Mobile devices, apps, machine learning, automation and much more allow customers to get what they want almost exactly at the moment they need it. As a result, modern customers expect consistent access to relevant content in relation to what they’re doing at any time, in any location and in the format and on the device of their choosing. In today’s market, businesses must embrace technologies in many forms to deliver an unmatched customer experience. But, for many small businesses the options can be overwhelming. 

Alberta Women Entrepreneurs offers a series of Digital Transformation courses that explore digital transformation topics with experts. Over three sessions, two hours each, participants receive strategic insights, ask questions and talk about technology options with experts. 

For Lori Schmidt, Instructor of the Enhancing Customer Experience Through Digital course, understanding how to digitally transform a business begins with an understanding of what digital competencies are needed to improve operational efficiency as well as the customer experience.

“Our approach has been helping the entrepreneur understand that it is about the integration of digital technologies into all areas of their business. So it is much more strategic perhaps rather than jumping into all the technologies,“ explained Lori. “The course was a primer for our larger Bold Leadership Program. A component of the course is to help women identify and build competencies using digital technologies to enhance the customer experience. It involves understanding what digital transformation is.”

Enhancing Customer Experience Through Digital was designed to be a course that would help businesses shift from pandemic survival strategies, to focusing on long-term implementation of digital technologies for continued growth in their markets. Participants were not only able to identify areas of digital competencies that they needed to acquire, but were also able to apply the technologies with a strategy and valuable feedback from other professionals.

“Everyone got what they needed out of the course in a different way, and the opportunity to work continuously with AWE is huge. It has completely transformed our business and our direction and where we are going, and that gave AWE a lot of value to us.” - Amaris Gamache, Course Participant.

An aspect of the Enhancing Customer Experience course was learning to prepare and execute a customer experience digital strategy by developing an implementation plan. For Jody Craig, mapping out her customers' journey was a valuable exercise. Since applying strategies learned in the course, she has been able to increase her exposure to new markets by using marketing techniques to let people know what she is working on, and inviting new collaborations.

Participants of the course learned how to identify their current level of digital maturity. The course also explored customer engagement through the use of social media, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and multiple digital channels from their first connection with your brand, to following up with customers well after the purchase of a product or service.

According to Jody Craig, “staying in touch with your customers is important.” How a company does that is an equally important part of the customer experience. “Feedback from clients is important to ensure that you are providing a service that is of value. Keeping the lines of communication open is essential to understanding what your clients changing needs are,” she explained.

Staying on top of communications is another area in which digital transformation can assist with improving efficiencies and quality of customer service. Implementing simple automations can help businesses stay in contact with their ever growing customer base. This includes marketing automation such as email, chat and sales support, as well as operations automation including fulfillment, shipping, tracking and bookkeeping. 

Introducing digital strategies means replacing cold calling with social selling. Customers are already active in social media and that’s where businesses need to be in order to engage. Instead of waiting for the customer to establish contact, businesses today need to reach out to them, build a relationship and help educate them about their product or service.

Customer service teams are no longer restricted to phone and email communications. Digital transformation is not just about being reactive, it’s about using a wide range of channels to provide support. Social media, reviews sites, forums, and communities are all now part of the customer service ecosystem. 

Regardless of what technologies businesses choose to implement, one thing is certain: the companies that do make the choice to transform to digital operations and processes are creating highly engaged customers.

Interviews:

Lori Schmidt - Business Advisor and Coach

Jody Craig, Viewpoint Executive Solutions

Amaris Gamache - The Chic Studio ( Chic and Company Inc., La Seda Silk, Magnifiquely Lashed)

How Incorporating Technology Can Improve Operational Efficiency

Technology can play an important role in creating lean and efficient processes. It helps to reduce or eliminate duplications and delays in the workflow, as well as speed up operations by automating specific tasks. It can also save businesses a significant amount of money and time. Businesses are investing in digital technologies in order to leverage the numerous benefits they bring to the table, for both the organization and its employees. 

Part of Alberta Women Entrepreneurs’ “Digital Transformation” series, the course “Creating Efficiencies Through Digital Operations” helps business owners discover, streamline and remove repetitive operational tasks within their organizations, allowing them to free up more time. The purpose of the course is to help women entrepreneurs  take the first and most important steps in order to embrace digital tools, and as a result - become more efficient in their operations.

 “I liked the conversations with the other business owners, comparing some of their struggles and things we had in common,” Jennifer Nielsen reported. Her company, Iron Hide Woodworks, saw exponential growth in 2020, and have since expanded to a new 3300 square foot shop. However, even though this was great news in 2020, she expects to see some changes in the months to come, and she and her partner are taking a proactive approach to any foreseeable challenges.

The course included three sessions for a combined six hours of live, interactive learning with access to a network of experts and coaches. The session topics included process digitization, enabling team collaboration, and optimizing with meaningful data. 

Claire Montgomery, Owner of Claire’s Cleaning Services, found value in the way the sessions were delivered. “I was so impressed with how the session was laid out. If you had questions you were welcome to chime in, and there were opportunities to be separated into smaller groups so that you could actually have conversations and get feedback from other businesses. So, it was a really great networking opportunity, without feeling like you have to force yourself upon other businesses and push network marketing. I felt you were able to connect with the presenter and there were opportunities for discussion and questions.”

Claire began her residential cleaning service in 2012, at that time she was the only employee. Since then, she has grown her fleet to a team of  nine employees serving over 100 clients in Edmonton. She discovered many of the digital tools that were applicable to her business within the course, and she implemented them right away. She was able to increase efficiency in her operations as well as improve communications between her team members and their clients instantly. 

Each session explored new technologies and compared processes which could be automated to increase efficiency. Throughout the course, participants also had an opportunity to connect and network with like-minded women entrepreneurs. 

“It gave me a different viewpoint on what an online presence can look like and what digital communication means. I think the assumption is that digital communications and online operations is something that is just applicable to companies that are retail or do a lot of their sales online, and I found quite the opposite in terms of tools that you can use to make sure that your team is communicating effectively with each other,” she explained.

One of the focuses of the course was learning to identify gaps in operational effectiveness, and how to build a digital workforce by mapping a team’s current needs. Participants also explored technologies such as Customer Relation Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

To create efficiencies in operations, businesses also need to know how they are doing, and be able to measure their performance against an established benchmark. Establishing appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the overall company and for each business function is an important step in this process.

While gaining insight from industry experts and each other, the group explored data management strategies and established data goals, including learning about data collection tools such as: Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Google Analytics and Harvest. Other reporting and data visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI and Domo were also discussed.

As a Marketing Manager, Jennifer Neilson was interested in learning how to streamline processes for the real estate firm she works for, so that each year their business could potentially take on a new city. Jennifer is also a mom, and the co-owner and marketing manager for her own company Iron Hide Woodworks. So, upgrading some of her own operational processes to digital platforms and automations has helped to save her a lot of time.

Jennifer’s  biggest takeaways from the course were learning the Microsoft suite in more depth, and the introduction of “power apps” which have helped Jennifer make communication easier between her team members.

“One of the things my partner and I talk about all the time is our ability to recognize a problem before there is a big problem.” Jennifer explained, “For example, we had great growth in 2020, but we are also expecting that when people get vaccines and things open up again we will probably take a bit of a hit, because people will be spending their money on travelling instead of on their homes.” 

The second session in the course was about team collaboration. This included finding ways for team members to work better together, and even ways in which the business can interact better with their customers and suppliers. Team collaboration tools like Slack were introduced and were compared to Microsoft Teams and Google suite. 

“Slack was absolutely amazing for us.” said Claire, “We could maintain everybody’s confidentiality, it kept things really professional, we could have specific group chats for supply pickups, discuss if someone was sick or if there was a Covid situation. All your information is organized and your conversations are saved.”

It is important to know what areas of your business are doing well, and what could use some extra help. Looking at data visualizations and analyzing it can help when creating a strategy. The third session in the Creating Efficiencies Through Digital Operations course was about data management. “Most people don't realize that they have a lot of data”, said Cailtin Lopez, course Instructor. “We ask, ‘what kind of data do you have?’, and ‘what kinds of things would you like to know from your business.’” 

Collecting consumer data helps businesses to gain a much better understanding of the way their consumers behave online. It also helps to define their overall demographics, and identify the ways in which they can improve the overall customer experience.

Claire Montgomery was able to put her data to work for her right away. “I am now so much more focused on the data and how that affects operations. We discovered through just analyzing data and looking at previous operations that we were finding most of our clients through word of mouth. We know how long our clients stay on for, and we figured out what the sweet spot is in terms of how often we see our clients. So we were able to make some good changes that will bring us to the next level of growth, based on being able to look at the data and know what it is telling us.”

The course is delivered in an interactive, applied learning approach. Business owners are encouraged to actually build a plan around their company. Because the course is not lecture style, the participants have found real value in discussing available options, challenges with current processes and successes with specific platforms. 

These digital technologies have been around us now for some time, and they have been evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Today, almost every company is investing in technologies to scale up their operations and achieve better results. The organization that manages to maintain a right balance of these technologies can increase their efficiency and conquer their respective markets quickly.

Businesses with more than two employees can  benefit further by joining the Bold Leadership program which takes an in-depth and comprehensive look at digital transformation.  This online program, which is led by experts will help you create a digital strategy, learn essential leadership skills, and actually implement one area of your strategy.   

“I am continually blown away with AWE. There have even been some sessions and workshops that AWE has started offering that I know I am not quite ready for, but it's great to know that as you continue on with your steps in your small business and you reach new levels of growth and new setbacks there always seems to be something that AWE offers that is applicable and affordable.” - Claire Montgomery, Claire’s Cleaning Services

More information about AWE’s Bold Leadership programs can be found here.

Interviews:

Caitlin Lopez - Instructor, Go Productivity 

Jennifer Neilson - Iron Hide Woodworks, Real Estate Marketing Manager

Claire Montgomery - Claire’s Cleaning Services