Tiffany Callender - Building Bridges: Empowering Black Entrepreneurs in Canada

Tiffany Callender joins us to discuss her efforts to help deliver economic empowerment to Black Canadian entrepreneurs. Callender is co-founder and CEO of the Federation of African-Canadian Economics (FACE). Working with the Government of Canada, she co-developed the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund. Callender explains how access to capital is an essential need for entrepreneurs, and describes how minorities have traditionally faced difficulty borrowing the funds they need from banks and credit unions. As her work shows, shared lived-experience between lenders and borrowers has improved access to capital for Black Canadian entrepreneurs, illuminating a community of business people  “hiding in plain sight.”

Highlights from our conversation include:

1. Callender launched FACE during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t meet her team in person until more than a year later. The experience reinforced her belief in the value of digital readiness. 2. “COVID taught us that we need to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time,” she says, explaining how a digital footprint offers an avenue for business growth amid changing circumstances. 3. Networking is an important part of a successful digital strategy, because the right network can help you identify the digital tools you need at different stages of your business’ growth journey.

Host: Maggie John