By Desirée Timo in collaboration with Christiane Rigos
On November 16 & 18, FCBB promoted two Instagram lives with incredibly inspiring stories from Brazilian women entrepreneurs who successfully built their businesses in Canada.
In case you missed it, do not worry! You can watch them here – both lives are in Portuguese.
FCBB hosted the two sessions to celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, November 19, and the importance of female entrepreneurship.
Women entrepreneurs statistics show that women own 31% of small businesses or franchises in the USA. They also represent 50% of entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 36.1% of immigrant business owners in Canada are women.
And these figures are on the rise. “There are more than 360,000 self-employed women in Canada, with a 30% increase in women-owned businesses in the last ten years.”
There is also an opportunity cost to women-owned businesses. A potential $150 billion GDP economic gain was estimated simply by increasing the number of women entrepreneurs, showed a McKinsey Global Institute study from 2017.
After all, on average, women’s companies grow by 84%, whereas men-owned companies grow by 78% since starting.
It is pretty clear that Women’s Entrepreneurship Day deserved a worthy celebration. Needless to say that FCBB is proud to support a lot of women in their business ventures. Moreover, FCBB welcomes and supports all women who wish to start a business.
Having that in mind, we wanted to take this opportunity to share invaluable advice given by some of our Brazilian entrepreneurs on their experiences as foreign businesswomen in Canada.
“Entrepreneurship is a mindset”, Rosa Maria Troes, President & CEO of Canada Intercambio
Every human being is a potential entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship, however, requires more than potential. Indeed, it demands conviction, decision, and action.
On our first Instagram live, Rosa Maria Troes points out that being an entrepreneur is a struggle to which we must apply ourselves every day.
One of the many reasons for that is that there will be hardships along the way, for sure. Sometimes businesses will move slowly. The entrepreneur has to be able to pick themselves up time and again to start anew. A deeply-rooted mindset is the means to achieve this kind of resilience.
“You have to professionalize your business”, Raíssa Ferrari, Co-founder of Fresh & Cozy
Oftentimes, entrepreneurs are mistaken for people who only do what they like. Doing what you like is an option, as we may choose what to do when starting a business.
However, as Raíssa Ferrari observes during our live, it is not as simple as doing what you like. The entrepreneur must take a step further into very technical aspects: Is the business profitable? How much will be the return on investment? Who is the customer? Are you achieving the targeted market?
All of those aspects are challenging and will take their toll on demanding that the entrepreneur leave their comfort zone entirely. They are, even so, the competitive edge for most businesses to make it.
“Planning is paramount”, Fernanda Mendes, Co-founder of House2Go
Results do not come easily, nor quickly. That is what Fernanda Mendes advises on the path of business growth.
She recommends that, before putting any efforts into action, an entrepreneur should plan, founding it on the fair expectation of not profiting for the first year. In some cases, this could mean setting up enough savings to financially back you up for this initial moment.
It is common sense that the first year of a business can be strenuous. Some would argue that it is about survival. Having a plan in place to help with just that will go a long way.
“Surround yourself with people who are on the same boat”, Julia Falci, Digital Strategist & Business Coach
Human beings learn from each other. That is the idea behind Julia’s input on entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs can get to a point in which they feel alone, have self-doubt, question themselves. It is, therefore, vital to keep company with those who share our challenges and, of course, who celebrate our victories.
One idea in common underlines these insights implicitly: even before its adversities, entrepreneurship is a worthy fight! And coming from accomplished business leaders, who have made it, these lessons are pearls of wisdom.
FCBB is here to support you in building the mindset, planning, professionalizing, and, of course, in providing you with access to a comprehensive network of Canadian-Brazilian businesses and business people to accompany you along the way.