Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub Empowers Passion-Driven Businesses
Thi Hoai Thu Tran (left) and Jolanda Thomas are participants in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub and were vendors at the Riverside Common Market on July 9, 2023.
On a bright Sunday morning in July, white tents filled Riverside Common Park in Toronto. Under the tents, tables displayed colourful creations, clothes and food. A singer and acoustic guitarist filled the area with music as vendors prepared for visitors to wander into the market. One vendor was Jolanda Thomas, whose table held an array of speckled plant stands, earrings and incense holders on small wooden shelves. Thomas, the founder of Terra Tempora (external link) , is a newcomer to the market scene. She’s a past participant of the Women’s Entrepreneur Hub (WE-Hub), an initiative of the Diversity Institute (DI) and the Scadding Court Community Centre (external link) designed to nurture and guide women in creating flourishing businesses.
“I’ve always been creative and driven to work with my hands. I’ve been making jewellery as a hobby for about 10 years now,” Thomas said.
Terra Tempora products handmade by Jolanda Thomas include colourful plant propagation stands, incense holders and jewellery.
The Women’s Entrepreneur Hub has been empowering women entrepreneurs for five years. To date, more than 340 women have graduated from the WE-Hub program and it’s resulted in more than 140 of them starting their own businesses. While research from DI’s Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (external link) shows women still face barriers to success, like access to funding, systemic racism and a lack of networking opportunities, mentorship and training, entrepreneurship continues to be a path to financial stability for many. Funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (external link) , WE-Hub embodies DI’s mission for action-oriented research and provides over 40 hours of comprehensive classroom learning, mentorship and crucial wraparound support to participants.
For Thomas, who said she often feels limited in the jobs she does, entrepreneurship offers flexibility. “I have a wide variety of interests, and I want the freedom to follow those in whatever direction I need to go,” she said.
The primary material Thomas works with is a concrete-like material called jesmonite. She said using it has opened up a lot of creative possibilities. “I hand mix all the colours myself and the patterns are from how I pour it,” she said. And while Thomas has been making goods for years, she said she’s learned a lot from the program.
The classroom sessions delve into essential topics like social media marketing, accounting and effective marketing strategies. After the classroom sessions, entrepreneurs then have access to mentorship where they have one-on-one meetings with business experts and other entrepreneurs.
Veronica Antipolo is a mentor with the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub who specializes in social media marketing. (Credit/Mai Tilson)
"I think having a program that’s structured, has better information and has people to talk to—experts—it catapults you into getting the process going,” Thomas said.
One-on-one mentorship
Veronica Antipolo (external link) , a mentor and successful entrepreneur who founded a virtual events production business during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasized the program's focus on storytelling, from social media content to engaging marketing campaigns.
Mentorship sessions take place virtually one-on-one, and while they always involve questions and guidance, they’re not all the same. “Sometimes it's honestly asking questions that help them tease out what they need to need to know first before they dive into it,” Antipolo said, highlighting the significance of a clear focus for successful business communication.
Beyond the practical business insights, the program also acknowledges and addresses the unique barriers that women often encounter in their entrepreneurial journey. Antipolo was a participant in the program before she was a mentor.
“I loved the atmosphere of WE-Hub when I was part of it,” she said. “Just being around women was a different environment. It was more supportive, too.”
Antipolo highlighted the program's thoughtful approach of sending craft kits to participants and how it made class participation possible for her as a single mom and emphasized the importance of women supporting and inspiring one another within a community. “You all know you're all facing similar challenges, and that's important because if you don't see yourself represented even in a cohort or a classroom, then how do you know that that opportunity is for you?” she said.
A passion for the environment
For Thi Hoai Thu Tran, a WE-Hub participant and the founder of Eco Net (external link) , the motivation to start her business sprang from her deep passion for the environment. Eco Net aims to promote sustainability through the use of bamboo straws, manufactured in Tran’s home country of Vietnam. Concerned about future generations inheriting a damaged planet, she merged her love for the environment with a practical product.
"They provide a solid foundation to run a business, from the model to the financial aspects."
Explaining the superiority of bamboo straws over their plastic and paper counterparts, Tran said bamboo straws take only a maximum of two years to decompose, making them 100% biodegradable and more durable than paper straws that tend to become soggy quickly.
The Women’s Entrepreneur Hub has been instrumental in supporting Tran's business vision. She said, "They provide a solid foundation to run a business, from the model to the financial aspects."
Thi Hoai Thu Tran, founder of Eco-Net displays bamboo straws in front of her handmade sign promoting sustainability through the biodegradable product.
For Thomas, the program has been an enlightening experience in her pursuit of transforming her creative interests into a sustainable career. Looking toward the future, she envisions attending larger markets and establishing a strong online presence with consistent online sales. Tran, on the other hand, is eager to work with a mentor to connect with the right businesses and expand the presence of Eco Net in Toronto stores.
Antipolo highlighted that entrepreneurship is hard work and the mentees she’s worked with want to be in control of their own fate. She added that with entrepreneurship, “What you put into it is what you get out of it.”
