Damilare Odumosu remembers the hardships of harvesting palm fruit as a child on his family’s farm in Lagos, Nigeria.
Twenty years later, these problems are the seeds of Odumosu’s latest startup.
CropMind is an Alberta and New Brunswick-based agritech company that automates manual processes in orchards and has a growing number of customers across North America.
The company expanded with support from a federal funding program designed by the Edmonton-based Black Business Venture Association.
“BBVA can help BIPOC founders like me leverage resources to overcome cultural barriers when meeting clients in Canada and North America,” said M.A., Fredericton, New Brands. said Odumosu, who started the business while he was a student on the course and where he currently resides. In Calgary.
This is what the federal government had in mind when it launched the Black Entrepreneurship Program in May 2021. The program partners with Black-led business organizations and financial institutions across Canada, where he invested $265 million.
Funding for most organizations in Alberta has ended or will end in the coming months.
The Black Business Ventures Association is one of six Alberta-based organizations that formed the Alberta Black Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Alliance. Together, they received about $15.5 million under the Black Entrepreneurship Program to get Black-owned businesses off the ground.
A spokesperson for federal Small Business Minister Recy Valdez said Valdez is considering how Ottawa can continue to support Black-owned small businesses.
Meanwhile, the Ecosystem Alliance is calling on the state government to provide new funding to continue its work.
AfriFest is an event in Edmonton that showcases Black entrepreneurs and business owners. (Africa Center)
The Alliance’s success has spawned hundreds of new and diverse startups, while many existing businesses have also experienced significant growth in a wide range of sectors including technology, energy, agriculture, finance, real estate, immigration, and healthcare. He states that he has a blueprint for this.
Businesses will have access to tens of millions of dollars in equity capital and loans, and Alberta is expanding its international trade with the United States, Africa and the Caribbean, the alliance says.
This initiative is designed to help entrepreneurs hone their business acumen in a variety of areas including creating business solutions, accessing resources and credit, networking, practicing pitching, growing your customer base, and coaching. It has been.
Samuel Jull, executive director of the Africa Center, an Edmonton-based nonprofit organization with operations in Calgary and Winnipeg, said the new initiative would allow major banks to offer specific capital business lines to support Black entrepreneurs. He said the financial markets had been opened up inadvertently.
We think it’s time for the state to get in the game. – Samuel Jull
“This is what we think [framework] “It resonates with the current Alberta government’s core mission of economic development, economic, trade and job diversification,” said Jull.
“It’s great that the federal government has provided resources to facilitate this effort, and we think it’s time for states to get serious.”
The coalition, which obtained the data and also includes the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council, Black Canadian Women in Action, Canadian Imperial Advantage and the BIPOC Foundation, asked Prime Minister Daniel Smith on February 15 to We made a sales pitch.
In a post to X after the meeting, Smith said he was “really impressed with this organization’s drive to help build businesses across the state.”
Asked by Diversity Magazine whether provincial funding would be included in the alliance’s framework, Smith said each organization would apply to Alberta’s Ethnic Culture Grant Program, which provides up to $50,000 in funding. Proposed.
“It creates an opportunity to celebrate diversity and an opportunity for cross-cultural connections,” Smith told reporters in early March.
In an emailed response to CBC, Sam Brackett, a spokesperson for Smith, did not say whether the province intends to fund the ABEEA program. Blackett listed a wide range of non-Black-specific supports available to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Alberta, including BizConnect.
Jull said the $50,000 grant is about the amount needed to start one small business.
“We need to move to a serious pool of capital to look at what funding for entrepreneurs looks like so they can do what they need to do,” he said.
Alberta’s black population is rapidly growing
Jull said decision-makers need to look at funding allocation differently, as Canada admits nearly half a million new entrants each year, primarily to address a skilled labor shortage. Ta.
“These are highly educated, entrepreneurial, highly skilled immigrants that our country needs,” he said.
Alberta has the third largest black population of all provinces, after Ontario and Quebec.
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta’s black population nearly quadrupled between 2006 and 2021, from 46,965 to 177,940. As of 2021, 64 per cent of Black Albertans were first-generation newcomers.
Dipo Ali, who oversees the seed technology accelerator program as executive director of the Black Business Ventures Association, said new entrants may not have the collateral or networks needed to start up.
Ali said specific black business programs are essential to improving this.
“These are Canadians who want to contribute to our economy,” he said.
“That’s what we’re trying to do here: take advantage of undercapitalized, underutilized, underrepresented, underinvested and underemployed people and have them contribute to Canada’s growth.”
Dunia Noor said the efforts by Alberta organizations are consistent with the province’s goals of economic growth and diversification. (African Canadian Civic Engagement Council)
Dunia Noor, executive director of the Civic Engagement Council, said the six organizations have developed a framework to “promote the creation and expansion of Black businesses in line with the Government of Alberta’s economic growth and diversification goals.” Ta.
Given Alberta’s rapidly growing Black population, it makes economic sense for the province to ramp up new policies and resources, she said.
Graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit
On February 24, a fourth group of Black entrepreneurs received their diplomas on stage at Edmonton’s Metro Cinema in front of an audience that included provincial politicians from all walks of life.
The graduates were completing the 25-week ANZA Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Program with the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council.
This program is featured in a new documentary called. I’m following Ubuntu. The film tells the story of marginalized black youth who rise above racism, the criminalization of poverty, pre-migration trauma, and the legacies of slavery and colonialism to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. It shows how it is.
Ahmed Dubow launched clothing brand Friends You Know through the ANZA Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Program. (Robinson Kani/Ahmed Dubow)
One of those dreams belongs to clothing brand CEO Ahmed Dubow A friend of mine, something with embroidery Tove, Or a long Lake Louise blue shirt.
“Thanks to @startupedmonton @Anza for taking this idea and making it a reality,” Dubow wrote on Instagram in March.
“The only way I can thank them for giving me this amazing opportunity is to work hard to succeed.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians, from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community, check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
(CBC)
