Sofifran supports Black entrepreneurs and their businesses

During the last week of April, the organization Solidarité des femmes et familles interconnectées francophones du Niagara (Sofifran) launched the project “Community of practice in entrepreneurship for Black communities”.

Hosted by Fété Kimpiobi, the organization’s executive director, the online event brought together about thirty people. To help Black entrepreneurs and their businesses perform better, Sofifran chose a three part format: setting the context and explaining the theme, advice from experts, and a question and answer period.

The first presentation came from Ntunga Mazoresa. For about fifteen minutes, the expert from Innovative Consultants spoke to participants about the issues and the challenges facing Black entrepreneurs.

Starting a business is not the problem in Canada, but Black entrepreneurs run into cultural barriers, systemic racism and a lack of financial and management support.

To meet these challenges, Ms. Mazoresa suggests setting up a community of practice for Black entrepreneurs, a space where they can share their experience. She points out, however, that “the effectiveness of a community of practice depends on its level of activity and interaction, on mutual engagement and on member satisfaction”.

Through this project, Sofifran will offer “an online support platform open only to participants with business projects at different stages of development, whether that is the idea stage, start-up or expansion”, she adds.

To sign up for the program, visit the Sofifran website. What sets it apart is the way it is adapted to culture, to the path francophone immigrants travel, to their economic integration and to dealing with systemic racism.

The importance of communication

Rhodie Lamour explained the importance and the impact of communication in business. Her presentation, Communication and Connection, had three parts: the importance of knowing yourself, communication and entrepreneurship, and the impact of communication in business.

According to Ms. Lamour, “it is important to know yourself before becoming an entrepreneur, to know your strengths and to know where to ask for help”. That means doing a SWOT analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to discover your passions while staying true to who you are.

As for entrepreneurship, it is about picturing yourself clearly, knowing the reach of your product or service and making sure your message gets through to potential customers. The impact of communication in business lies in opening up to the world and knowing what you are looking for.

“Anyone who does not know what they are looking for does not know what they have found”, says Ms. Lamour. The goal of communication is always to make yourself known.

Later in the gathering, Emmanuel Mompongo shared his own experience before the question period, the final segment of the webinar.

Photo: Rhodie Lamour (Photo: RhodieLamour.com)

Source: https://leregional.com/author/denis/