Ginette Abeus provides colourful jewelry, handbags and clothing in her African apparel store on Saskatoon’s Broadway Avenue. 

She also provides much-needed guidance to other Black entrepreneurs.

“I really want to show the way to my Black African entrepreneur,” said Abeus, who started her storefront last summer.

“I always invite them to come, to pass the day, to see how to talk with the customer, how to make the price, because I learned all this by myself. It took me a lot of time.”

After struggling with securing loans as a French speaker and navigating expensive rent, she hopes new federal funding will help others have an easier time getting started.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced $2.3 million to train and support Black Saskatchewan entrepreneurs. 

The Black Professionals and Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan (BPES) will receive nearly $1.4 million to provide services to at least 300 businesses. The Coalition of Black Small & Medium Enterprises (CoBSMEs) will get more than $925,000 to help at least 120 businesses.

The money will come through two federal programs: PrairiesCan and the Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP), and will focus on networking events, mentorship pairings and training on procurement and AI.

Rechie Valdez, the federal minister of women and gender equality and secretary of state for small business and tourism, announced the funding at an event she hosted at Abeus’s store, Ginette Luxury Crafts.

“In order for us to build the strongest economy in the G7, we simply can’t build it without the full and equal participation of all entrepreneurs. These supports are going to help Black entrepreneurs get the support they need,” she told CBC Saskatchewan.

Working with others

Dr. Somto Ibezi, the executive board chair of BPES, said she experienced herself how businesses can thrive with support from others.

Since she became co-owner of the clinic where she worked as a family doctor in 2019 two years after moving to Canada, she’s leaned on the network to learn all the little things about running a business, including IT and payroll services, she said.

“I’ll go to the African saying that if you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together,” she said.

A main challenge for the entrepreneurs she works with is people challenging the authenticity of the products they offer, she said.

“You’re going to Walmart to buy coffee. You don’t really question is it really from this particular country, but you find that with Black businesses … You have to prove yourself over and over again, and that’s valuable time that you could apply to other things in running your business.”

Most people using BPES’s services were born in Canada, but many are newcomers who struggle with navigating the country’s financial system and a lack of community support, Dr. Ibezi said.

“A good number coming are immigrants to Canada, supposed to come and build ‘Canada Strong.’ But they don’t have the resources.”