WELLINGTON, P.E.I. — All Francophone women who are already entrepreneurs or who are considering starting a business are invited to participate in a series of informative visits to organizations that can offer them various support services.
The Francophone Businesswoman Tour will run in the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 6. It is being organized by the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI (CCAFLIPE) and the Wellington Rural Action Centre to provide businesswomen with the information and tools required for their professional and entrepreneurial development.
“We recently realized that about 45 per cent of our members are female entrepreneurs or women-led organizations, but that we have never organized activities specifically and exclusively for women,” said Raymond J. Arsenault, the Chamber’s activities co-ordinator.
“We hope that this half-day tour will help to remedy this situation.”
The tour will begin at 12 p.m. at the Wellington Rural Action Centre (48 Mill Rd.) with a lunch and a presentation on the centre’s support services. Participants will then travel by parade of cars to Summerside for a visit of the CBDC Central P.E.I. offices (11 Water St.) and a presentation by loan officer Tania Bernard.
The group will then head to Central Bedeque (106 Linkletter Ave.) for a tour of the various facilities of the new Rural Women's Business Centre. The centre’s manager, Shelley Jessop, will then explain the services offered there. Afterwards, participants will hear a presentation on the services of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) by business centre manager Nadine Leblanc and senior account manager Katelyn Godfrey. The afternoon will wrap up with snacks and informal discussions between the participants and presenters. Participants should be back in Wellington by 4 p.m.
The majority of presentations will be made in French but one will be in English only. Throughout the tour, participants will be able to ask questions in either French or English.
Note that in the event of a storm, the tour will take place Wednesday, Feb. 12.
The registration fee is $10 per person (to cover the cost of food). Those who are interested must register by Feb. 3 by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling 902-854-3439, ext. 228.
