Women Supporting Women- The Scotiabank Women’s Initiative

“There was a noticeable difference in the barriers that women were facing, being women entrepreneurs. They were different from what men were facing.”

— Chris McMartin

Get ready for an inspiring episode! My guest Chris McMartin is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to empowering women and nonbinary entrepreneurs and business owners. Chris leads the Scotiabank Women Initiative Small Business Strategy across Canada. This is a powerful program that helps women and nonbinary people overcome the many challenges that they face along their path to success when starting, sustaining, and growing a business.

Chris has gained a wealth of absolutely incredible insight through her experience helping her program’s participants access the funding, education, and support they need to achieve their business goals.

In this episode, Chris and I discuss the need for women-focused support and networking, the women-led partnerships and sponsorships that the Scotiabank Women Initiative undertakes, and the unbeatable joy of entrepreneurship. Listen now!

You’ll discover:‌ ‌

The three pillars that The Scotiabank Women Initiative focuses on in terms of helping women entrepreneurs
The free events, support, and resources that are available through the program
Who is able to access to the program — and why YOU want to sign up right now!

Guest bio: Chris McMartin leads The Scotiabank Women Initiative Small Business Strategy across Canada, leading many national events and partnerships such as the Master Class Series, The IWD: She Shoots She Scores, StrikeUP Virtual Conference, and the mentorship program. Chris has a passion for people which has led her to champion equity initiatives through many diversity, equity, and inclusion roles within the bank. She currently sits as the Co-Chair for the National Allyship Council, a Stream Lead for the Women in Leadership Employee Resource Group and a participant on the Employee Pulse Committee.

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:50 Intro

01:57 Meet Chris McMartin

03:20 Why focus on women entrepreneurs?

04:24 The 3 pillars

08:54 Program cost

10:01 Joys of entrepreneurship

11:43 Scotiabank Women Initiative events

13:56 Spreading the word

15:06 Who can access the program?

17:09 Scotiabank

19:40 Takeaway