Latest News
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Anie Rouleau (BCom ‘92) is the Founder and CEO of The Unscented Company, a sustainable woman-owned BCorp-certified business. This year, we are recognizing Rouleau’s leadership and successful journey in sustainable entrepreneurship with a Trudeau Medal.
First awarded in 1989 to recognize leading alumni, the Trudeau Medal is the highest honour given to an alumnus or alumna at the Telfer School of Management. The award was established in honour of Reverend Father Roland Trudeau, the former director of the University of Ottawa's Commerce department from 1950 to 1965. It recognizes leadership, initiative and contributions made by an alumna or alumnus to the business world, the community and their alma mater — the definition of our longstanding relationship with Anie Rouleau.
Rouleau has set an exceptional example of what both a strong leader in sustainable entrepreneurship and an extraordinary Canadian leader at the helm of a woman-owned business can achieve — an inspiration to fellow BCom students and graduates.
Influenced by Family Values
From a very young age, entrepreneurship was an important pillar of Rouleau’s life. “One day you will have your own business,” said Anie Rouleau’s father when she was just eight years old, sitting at the dinner table.
Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Rouleau was taught early on to have confidence: “Back then, women did not have the same access to resources and my father was aware of this. He built my character to confront that.”
In 1992, she graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the Telfer School of Management and joined her family business, Hydrocom International. She went on to hold prestigious roles at Maclean Power Systems and Société de Gestion du Commensal until 2011.
At 42 years old, Anie Rouleau founded Baleco / The Unscented Company, following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of her parents. The moment in which she decided to make the leap is a reflection on her decades in the business world: “Entrepreneurship is something that’s always been on my mind growing up and in my years at Telfer. It’s at Telfer, that I had entrepreneurship courses for the first time and case competitions like Jeux de Commerce.”
Her family values first built the blueprint of her business journey to come, Rouleau shares: “My mother and father were entrepreneurs, and I saw that you could be successful in your own business and provide. For me, as a woman, when I had young children, I could see my life being better to balance as an entrepreneur.”
Taking a Risk in Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Rouleau says that entrepreneurship is a build-up — at some point, something makes you jump. To choose that path, an entrepreneur needs to be comfortable with and accept failure. She instructs us to accept ‘no’ for an answer and to not take it personally. And, perhaps most importantly, an entrepreneur needs to be able to take a risk, a financial risk.
It is safe to say the risk paid off. In 2021, The Unscented Company was named one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies by The Globe and Mail, reporting a 526% 3-year increase in revenue growth and $5-10M in revenue. In 2019, on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, Canadian Tire announced they would bring The Unscented Company’s sustainable products into their 500 stores across the nation. “Ten years ago, I bet on the right horse,” comments Rouleau.
The Importance of Upbringing, Education and Values
Rouleau’s contributions to the business world and professional success did not come out of thin air. For her, the formal education she received during her Bachelor of Commerce at Telfer helped in establishing her successful business. Rouleau confidently says, “It’s not even a doubt in my mind. I personally love Telfer, the accessibility to the teachers and the directors. I still see the Dean to this day and there is a sense of belonging. For me, it was a smaller university on the French side. Today as an entrepreneur, I’m very grateful to have gone through a program like that, which had classes in marketing and HR too. I was lucky I did something I studied, and it definitely helped me prepare for my career.” Rouleau’s familial entrepreneurship values and education at Telfer are two factors that contribute to The Unscented Company’s exponential success — the third is that Rouleau leads with uncompromising values that set the tone for everything. “Today, an entrepreneur needs a set of values that are about people and the planet. If a company in 5 years is not socially or environmentally responsible, transparent and inclusive, they will be old-fashioned,” says Rouleau. “Good entrepreneurs and good businesses will prevail.”
It’s this unrelenting commitment to sustainability that sets Anie Rouleau and her company apart. Believing wholeheartedly that entrepreneurs and employees have to play a role in sustainable entrepreneurship, Rouleau certified her company as a BCorp, a highly sought-after designation highlighting the social and environmental impact of a business, thus cementing these values into the business’ foundation.
Challenges are Opportunities
In an uncertain economic market, businesses have an opportunity to demonstrate their unwavering commitment to their values through sustainable entrepreneurship. With inflation and rising prices, it can be easy to choose the path of least resistance. Not for Rouleau: “When the market is shifting, it doesn’t mean you stop; you rebalance. This is who we are, we are involved in our community. Values are tested in tough times and it’s not even an option to compromise them. You just do the right thing. We support each other on the market and make it to the other side together.”
Well-Deserved Recognition
Rouleau’s familial entrepreneurship values and education at Telfer are two factors that contribute to The Unscented Company’s exponential success — the third is that Rouleau leads with uncompromising values that set the tone for everything. “Today, an entrepreneur needs a set of values that are about people and the planet. If a company in 5 years is not socially or environmentally responsible, transparent and inclusive, they will be old-fashioned,” says Rouleau. “Good entrepreneurs and good businesses will prevail.”
“I’ve made it and it’s like Oscar’s Night, I can’t believe it,” she smiles.
Learn more about Anie Rouleau’s unrelenting commitment to ecological design in our video called The Unscented Company’s Impact: Anie Rouleau’s Sustainable Empire.
- Category: Latest News
On March 8, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. This year from February 28 – March 11 (and beyond), Invest Ottawa with its partners will run the 4th Annual International Women’s Week (IWW) with a shared goal - to inspire, equip and empower women professionally. It will take all of us working together to expedite change. That is why the University of Ottawa is partnering with Invest Ottawa to bring nine jam-packed days of virtual events to you. Visit the Invest Ottawa website to register for all other events in the community.
Events and activities at uOttawa
Breaking Through: Why it Matters? >
Tuesday, March 8th at 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST
This is event is part of University of Ottawa Women in Innovation learning series
Want to know how to break through? These amazing women leaders will share how they are breaking through and impacting their communities. Join us for an insightful hour of three amazing women leaders sharing their individual professional journey and how they are staying the course. Learn their tools and techniques in breaking through as we share a few laughs together. Sophia Leong, EMBA 1995, will moderates the panel with introductory remarks from Martin Bernier, CIO University of Ottawa. These amazing leaders will share their individual journey, their strategies in breaking through and impacting their communities as well as sharing a few laughs:
- Jeanne Lam, President, Wattpad
- Lindy Ledohowski, Vice President of Operations, Wize
- Sarah Paquet, Director and CEO, FINTRAC
Empowering Indigenous Entrepreneurs >
Thursday, March 10th at 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST
Join the Indigenous Alumni Council for the live premiere of The Link Season 2 Episode 5 with Anishinabeg entrepreneur and clean water activist Sunshine Tenasco (BEd '04; BA '03) CEO of Pow Wow Pitch, founder of Her Braids and author of “Nibi’s Water Song”.
Attendees will get the chance to ask questions to Sunshine Tenasco during the Q & A session led by the Indigenous Alumni Council following the episode premiere!
Sharing Her Stories: Women in STEM >
Thursday, March 10th at 1:30pm – 2:30pm EST
Did you know? The uOttawa Library is home to the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM. In collaboration with Library and Archives Canada and the Canadian Institute of Women in Engineering and Sciences (CIWES), the uOttawa Library has established a centre of expertise documenting the history of women who have contributed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Canada.
Join us for a panel discussion with three trailblazers in the fields of STEM in Canada. Our panelists will discuss their journeys and the importance of sharing and archiving women's stories in order to better foster the next generation of women in STEM.
- Category: Student Voices
My Experience with the Women in Management Network
In my first two years at Telfer, I felt lost, until I stumbled upon a newly launched club focused on helping women in business. The Women in Management Network (WMN) was launched in the winter term of 2018 by then fourth-year student, Polly Leung and it caught my eye.
The club defined themselves as “passionate about gender equity and determined to achieve it through the collaboration of community leaders and students of all genders,” which really appealed to me.
In my second year, I applied to join the club and was brought on as part of the Skill Team. The Skill Team worked together to plan workshops for students at Telfer that would help them learn both hard and soft skills to benefit them in their job search and future careers. I found myself surrounded by a group of inspiring, welcoming and supportive women who were just like me.
Slowly, I began to open up more and I eventually discovered different passions I did not know I had. I eventually switched from the Skill Team to the Brand Team and also switched my degree specialization from Finance to Marketing.
By my fourth year, I became the VP Brand of WMN. I lead a group of five incredible women who helped build the brand of WMN into something bigger. This year, we were nominated as the best-marketed club.
What WMN Strives For
The club is now run by two inspiring and hardworking women, Dawn Lising and Hannah Temple. WMN has transformed under their leadership; so I spoke with them about the leadership styles and values they hope to spread amongst the team:
“At WMN, we aim to lead with passion, empathy, and authenticity. Two leadership styles that we like to instil at WMN are transformational and visionary. We work to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment in which everyone feels comfortable sharing their own unique perspectives. As we develop the next generation of female leaders, we try to exemplify strong feminine leadership. Feminine leadership styles focus on nurturing and elevating others, which allows team members to develop their own skills and strengths. This style is more horizontal than traditional leadership styles and has proven to enhance team commitment and organizational performance”, shared Hannah
As I leave the club behind, I can’t wait to see what it continues to bring in the future. Hannah and Dawn shared their hopes for the future of women in business:
“We hope to see more women being empowered into positions of leadership. More women-focused mentorship and leadership development opportunities will be important in shaping the next generation of female leaders. We would also like to see more support and resources for female entrepreneurs. According to the Harvard Business Review, women-led startups received just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. Institutionalized patterns of thinking have negatively impacted women entrepreneurs, and there is much work to be done in order to make venture capital funding more equitable. There are already some great female focused initiatives based in Ottawa, such as SheBoot, a 6-week bootcamp that prepares female founders to pitch their business and secure investment. We hope to see more initiatives in the future that advocate for gender equality.”
How to Get Involved
If you feel lost when you first start out at university like I did, it’s a great idea to get involved with clubs. By joining a club with a mission you feel connected to, you can become surrounded by like-minded people who can help guide you to become a better student and a more inspired professional.
If you are passionate about overcoming gender inequality in the workplace (no matter your gender), I recommend joining the Women in Management Network.
Follow them on social media to keep up with their latest events and when they start hiring, and sign up for their monthly newsletters.
I hope you find your place like I found mine, don’t give up!
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The acknowledgement of the need for reconciliation through Truth and Reconciliation Day is a step in the right direction, but there is still more progress to be made as hundreds of Indigenous communities currently hold boil water advisories.
Advisories like these mean that in order to consume and use the water through their existing water systems, Indigenous communities must first boil the water to consider it safe. In some communities, the water is not usable at all.
University of Ottawa student and Project Manager of the Nibi Project at Enactus uOttawa, Alexandra Whiteduck, grew up with unsafe drinking water, despite only living an hour and a half from the Nation’s Capital.
“I grew up in a community 1.5 hours north of Ottawa, and I grew up without clean drinking water,” shared Alexandra.
As someone who has experienced the issue first hand, Alexandra now works on the student-led initiative, Nibi, to bring safe drinking water solutions to other Indigeneous communities through testing and purification solutions.
The map on the left shows the number of Indigenous communities in Canada with boil water advisories (note that the map does not include the do-not-use advisories) - via watertoday.ca.
The Importance of Clean Drinking Water
Without clean drinking water, the basic necessities of life are not met. Alexandra encourages you to ask yourself the question:
“What tasks do you plan on doing today? Are you going to wake up and have coffee? Drink a glass of water? Take a shower? Brush your teeth? Wash the dishes? All these tasks are not accessible to Indigenous communities.
As you go throughout your day, consider these questions and ask yourself: could I do this if I didn’t have access to clean water? There will be many tasks where the answer would be no, and for Indigenous communities, it continues to be the truth for them everyday.
If we work hard towards a future where Indigenous communities all have access to clean water, their everyday lives and everyday productivity would change drastically.
The Nibi Solution
How they’re helping
Alexandra became a part of the Nibi team as the second Project Manager. The two Project Managers before her who started the initiative were other uOttawa students Michelle Wronski and Elisabeth Mercier.
“Michelle and Elisabeth founded this project because they saw a large gap in research and support for the water crisis in Indigenous communities. They were extremely passionate about the issue and wanted to find a solution to fix it.”
The two founders saw Alexandra speak on the issue, and instantly saw her as a good fit to join the team. As someone who has lived without clean drinking water, Alexandra is able to bring first-hand insights on where support was lacking and how it could change to better Indigenous communities.
The student-run initiative now focuses on three different pillars of support: Testing, purification solutions and workshops.
For testing, Nibi connects communities with certified partners that help teach them how to monitor water on site. This gives Indigenous people ownership of their water treatment and the ability to monitor the systems themselves.
Nibi also helps Indigenous communities find purification solutions that work with their socio-economic needs. Unlike working with government bodies, the communities are not forced into accepting any help or taking action after the results are given.
“We conduct need-based assessments to identify purification solutions that meet their needs. It’s all their choice; if they want to work with us we will, but if they don’t, no problem.” The Enactus team then finds the contaminants in the water and asks the communities what they hope to see from the purification process.
Lastly, Nibi hosts workshops to empower youth to keep control of their water quality and infrastructure. The Nibi team also converses with Indigenous youth to see what they hope their communities look like in the future.
How to get involved
To join the cause with Nibi, you can attend their workshops and better understand this key issue. The team is also hiring a number of students to double their team’s size this fall including positions in:
- Science
- Outreach
- Business
- Indigenous Relations
- Marketing
- Sales
On this day of Truth and Reconciliation, it's important to remember that there is still a lot to be done. We hope everyone takes this day to continue to educate themselves on the lives of Indigenous people and how they are impacted by current legislations.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Wiam Ben Karroum graduated from the Telfer School of Management with a double degree in Finance and Business Technology Management (MISA) in just April of 2021. She has already secured a full-time role at Deloitte on the Technology, Strategy, and Transformation team, after completing a co-op with the company during her studies.
Not stopping there, Wiam is also actively working with Forget For A Moment Foundation, which is focused on sensitizing healthcare facilities by bringing nature inside their walls. A registered charity since 2012, the foundation was started by uOttawa alumna Jeannine Lafrenière, who went through cancer herself and wished to see something other than magazines in hospital waiting rooms for patients, families, and staff working.
We met Wiam virtually to better understand how her extracurricular involvement in clubs like Women in Management Network (WMN) helped her get involved with the Forget For A Moment Foundation. Like many other Telfer grads, Wiam is now helping to build a Better Canada.
Why was it important for you to be involved in extracurricular activities when you were a student? What did you learn in your time volunteering with clubs?
“Getting involved in multiple student-led clubs at Telfer helped me develop myself personally and professionally. I had a chance to gain more leadership and communication skills and it gave me the opportunity to discover my interests and passions outside of taking classes! I fostered meaningful relationships with like-minded students that helped and supported my growth through the university experience and beyond.
I also launched the podcast “Words with WMN” during the pandemic! Being part of the Women in Management Network (WMN) allowed me to meet incredible women leaders and made me realize where we stand on the topic of diversity and equality today and how much work is yet to be done. I was able to give back to my community and be part of causes bigger than myself, which ultimately brought me to the Forget For A Moment Foundation.”
As a new grad, what was the best thing you took away from your Telfer experience?
“The best thing I took away from Telfer is my now refined ability to network and maintain genuine connections. Overall, I had a wonderful experience, from trying new things and exploring the community to being involved in clubs and the Profession of Management Consulting Program (PMCP). I learned the power of saying “yes” and continuing to get involved past graduating. Telfer made me realize I am interested in things I didn’t even know about so the curiosity and opportunities I took away are so important.”
Wiam actually joined the Forget For A Moment Foundation as a Campaign Coordinator in her last year of university, thanks to the suggestion from Omer Livvarcin, her professor of Digital Enterprise. Currently busy raising funds for the living wall in the Orléans Health Hub, the foundation works to finance the construction of natural structures inside healthcare facilities and to help pay for their first year of maintenance. And they’re not doing it just because plants look beautiful. Numerous studies have proven that simply looking at plants in healthcare surroundings helps patients, families, and staff reduce stress.
The Foundation seeks to give the sick, their relatives, their caregivers and staff, a natural, healthy, and delightful garden to provide a momentary break from their fear, pain, and stress.
Wiam is working with interested individuals and companies to join the partnership program or donate directly through the website. The Foundation has a goal of systematically including nature in the designs of 10 hospitals, long-term care facilities or nursing homes over the next decade.
Wiam’s passion for this cause shines brightly and it’s a perfect example of Telfer’s mission to create profound social change through the Better Canada initiative. In addition to this wonderful project, we also asked Wiam about her future:
What are your plans for the future? Anything in particular you are looking forward to?
“My plans are to continue working with WMN founders to expand the network and to be involved with the Forget For A Moment Foundation to grow it to a national level. I am also excited to start my full-time journey in Technology consulting!”
We are so proud of all Wiam’s accomplishments and we are so happy that her involvement in Telfer Nation was able to provide her with confidence and leadership skills to pursue non-profit work alongside full-time employment. We are also proud to see an alumnus connect with our mission to Build A Better Canada. We wish Wiam the best in her future endeavours.
- Category: Student Voices
Canada ranks as one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. This can be attributed to not only the ease with which businesses are created, but also to its favourable legislative framework and its various support programs for entrepreneurs.
With this in mind, one might question the origin of the inequalities that define female entrepreneurship today. A report from the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub demonstrates that the real challenge when it comes to female entrepreneurship in Canada is not the creation of businesses, but rather their growth and development. In an environment where many conditions exist but still face challenges, let’s collectively reflect on the future of female entrepreneurship in Canada.
A Supportive Environment
Canada is a country in which its environment supports the development of entrepreneurship, particularly female entrepreneurship. In addition to the legislative framework in place to guarantee gender equality in the workplace, there are public policies and programs designed to ensure the development of female entrepreneurship. This is the case with the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) which was launched in 2018. It includes funding and support programs, as well as the creation of networks for women to improve their access to funding, talent, and expertise needed to start and grow a business.
Organizations supporting women entrepreneurs, like the Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada, are also part of the Canadian entrepreneurship ecosystem, as well as women-led venture capital firms like BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund), and women’s organizations such as YWCA, the Canadian Women’s Foundation and the Native Women’s Resource Centre.
Also, over time, these organizations have grown on both a large and small scale. For example, at Telfer, right within our business school, we have the Women in Management Network (WMN), founded by Polly Leung. This association came about as a result of a perceived lack of support in the student community of women’s groups that were helping each other at the professional level. WMN is working to address this through a mentorship program in a supportive and inclusive community where students can develop their skills and network for the future. As Leung herself says, with this network, she wanted to “change transactional relationships to make them much more meaningful.”
I also had the opportunity to meet with Marie-Emmanuelle Kouadio, ambassador of SEPHIS Canada, an association based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, whose goal is to promote gender, female leadership, and entrepreneurship. Kouadio, who had the idea of creating the SEPHIS embassy in Canada, saw it as a way to enhance the association’s reputation and thus continue her fight on a global scale, while maintaining a connection with her homeland of Ivory Coast. In Canada, the association focuses primarily on African international students and organizes events such as panels and webinars where students can learn more about the professional world, but also have the tools to overcome the challenges they may encounter.
Ongoing Challenges
In the case of female entrepreneurship, there are ongoing challenges, primarily related to gender stereotypes. The Women entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub’s report about the state of female entrepreneurship in Canada demonstrates the pervasiveness of these stereotypes. For example, a content analysis study conducted between 2017 and 2019 of Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, found that a majority of articles on entrepreneurship focused on men. As for the content, while men appear to be “born” entrepreneurs, women are presented as entrepreneurs by “necessity,” which reveals the presence of gender identity, in this context as it appears entrepreneurship is assigned to men. These socially constructed stereotypes are among the factors behind the low proportion of women in entrepreneurship training programs, and hence their under-representation in the field. They are hindering the growth of their businesses because they are partly at the root of their difficulty in accessing financing, and are closing their doors to certain sectors such as in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM).
If I could visualize the future of female entrepreneurship in Canada, I would certainly see a successful and much more inclusive sector. The creation of WES in 2018, and their expert panel made up of women from diverse sectors and cultures, is a testament to the government’s desire to truly support all women entrepreneurs, and this time by working hand-in-hand with them.
Although there is still some progress to be made, particularly in terms of stereotypes and cultural diversity, by giving all women the opportunity to take their place this can be gradually broken. By providing them with the tools they need to develop such as gender-specific training services, better access to information and funding, and support for internationalization, they would be able to demonstrate their full potential. Coupled with this growing phenomenon of supporting women entrepreneurs, these are all factors that can only have a positive impact on female entrepreneurship.
That said, as Kouadio points out, women should dare and venture by giving themselves the means to do so. This is especially true when we know that the increased presence of women in the sector would serve as role models for the younger generation, which would help them develop an entrepreneurial identity other than that imposed by society, but also to motivate them to take their turn.
I will close with a quote from Marcelle Goran, who runs her own business support structure for hiring and retaining immigrant workers in Quebec: “It can only be beneficial to let women fit into the economic fabric.”
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Telfer alumni Kim Ades (MBA 1993) and Nichole Grenier (BCom 1990) discuss how job candidates can overcome this type of anxiety and instead use genuine, powerful strategies to create a positive impression during a job interview.
Kim Ades: Helping people tackle the fear of being evaluated in a job interview in three steps
Kim Ades, president and founder of Frame of Mind Coaching, received a BA from the University of Ottawa with major in psychology and then decided to pursue an MBA. She was always interested in understanding what triggers anxiety and stress:
“Some of us can experience anxiety when we are preparing for a job interview, an important presentation at work, or a big event in our lives, and expect a negative outcome,” she says.
As an executive coach for nearly two decades, she takes people through a three-step process to overcome the anxiety created by their fears of winning and losing. The first step is to describe what it looks like to experience failure. “I ask people to imagine the worst possible scenario; one where they experience disastrous failure,” says Kim. She then asks them to express their feelings in journal entries that they share with their coach, a task that job candidates often find very difficult.
The second step is not to ignore the difficult feelings that many candidates might experience when preparing for a job interview. Instead, they should face the possibility of failure head on: “I ask people to imagine that they might fail a job interview, and then imagine what it looks like to recover from that failure,” says Kim. Envisioning recovery helps candidates build resilience and strength to handle any negative evaluation they might receive in a job interview.
The final step is to envision complete success. Job candidates are encouraged to imagine what it looks like to step into the interview, successfully answer the interviewers’ questions, and walk away thinking: “That was the best interview I ever had.”
Nichole Grenier: Preparation is the best strategy to show yourself in the best light
Nichole Grenier, founder of Grenier Executive & Business Coaching, graduated from Telfer with a major in accounting. She became a certified accountant and after many years’ working in the field, she was asked why she kept focusing on people instead of numbers. Her passion to work with people led to a career shift to human resources and to her becoming a certified coach.
Nichole believes that when studying the impact of anxiety on interview performance, coaches, and researchers should not only look at personality, but also on how culture, gender, and age affect how individuals cope with the fear of being evaluated. “The interview setting is very stressful, and people can react very differently to this specific situation.” For Nichole, there are many ways for individuals to position themselves as suitable candidates for the job, but the key to success is preparation and practice. This includes mock interviews with family, friends, or a coach:
“Preparing well is what allows you to show yourself in the best light,” she says.
Nichole asks candidates to do some research on the organization and its work culture: “What is the culture and how will I fit in? For example, should I be prepared to dress for an office environment that is more formal or more relaxed?”
She also advises candidates to carefully examine the job description and identify the key competencies required for the job. This can indicate what the employer is looking for and guide the employee in showing that they are capable, competent, and have experience in performing that type of work. “Even if you don’t have a specific example to illustrate that you developed a competency, you can think about transferable skills you developed in a previous job.”
Kim and Nichole share tips to help job candidates impress the interviewer with honesty
Kim and Nichole also commented on a new study coauthored by Silvia Bonaccio, a full professor at the Telfer School of Management. The research suggests that some anxious job candidates are more likely to use deceptive strategies to impress the interviewer. Both alumni offered valuable recommendations to help all candidates make a positive—and honest—impression during a job interview:
Back up exuberant statements with tangible facts
Kim believes that extroverts who wish to impress the interviewer do not need to “turn down” their extraversion when describing their success. However, she advises them to support their accomplishments with tangible, supportable facts, such as “I increased the company’s revenues by 50% last year.”
Show your credibility and impact
Nichole advises candidates to be prepared to tell stories based on past performance. Ideally, for every story, candidates should also provide a reference who can back up their story and prove to the interviewer that they have credibility and are suitable candidates for the job. Another way to leave a great first impression with the interviewer is to tell your most impactful stories. “Maybe you recently optimized the process of an entire company with 1,000 employees.”
Curiosity and interest go a long away
For those candidates who rank low on extraversion, Kim thinks that there is nothing wrong with being an introvert. “As an introvert, I think that sometimes curiosity and interest trump being outgoing.” When job candidates show they are honestly interested in the organization and their work, “employers will be able to evaluate their readiness, and their fit for the role, as opposed to whether or not they rank high on extraversion,” she adds.
Be confident
Nichole reinforces that introverts should show confidence during the interview. Candidates should recognize their ability to collaborate with teams and be inclusive when referring to team accomplishments, but it is equally important to use I statements to show how they contributed to the team. “The interviewer will want to know what you did to promote teamwork, so you can say we (the team) went for a mountain bike trip but use I did this if you were the person who planted the idea of the trip.” Downplaying these contributions can be too risky, especially if candidates are applying for a leadership position.
Make sure your actions reflect your vision
Kim often asks candidates how they would like to be seen and if their actions correspond with that vision. “A lot of times people behave in ways that clash with their desired outcomes; it is important to help job candidates understand that the action of stretching the truth doesn’t necessarily lead to the outcome they are looking for.” Nichole agrees that if anyone believes that they should stretch the truth to land the ideal job, then they should consider coaching to develop skills to resist the temptation to use deception. “Being manipulative or cunning can be a great skill if you are applying for a job as a bank robber,” she jokes.
You are also in a position of evaluating
Kim advises candidates to run their own mental interview with the company based on what they learn during the recruitment process. Nichole believes that if they do their research well, they will be prepared to ask the right questions and understand if this organization is the right fit for them.
Are you looking for a job but experience interview anxiety? Prepare, practice, and overcome your fears of being evaluated during an interview.
Kim Ades, of Frame of Mind Coaching, developed a coaching methodology to help executives and entrepreneurs become more effective leaders. Learn more about Kim
Nichole Grenier, of Grenier Executive & Business Coaching, offers customized coaching to groups, teams, and individuals to unlock potential, remove barriers, and maximize performance. Learn more about Nichole
- Category: National Indigenous History Month
At the age of 19, Audrey-Claire Lawrence (EMBA, 1997) started her teaching career in Rouyn-Noranda over 850 km away from Québec City where she has been living. Little did she know, this was only the beginning of a lifelong journey that would lead her to rethink Canada’s health and educational system.
Teaching in a remote region of Québec brought on a lot of firsts for Ms. Lawrence. Due to the lack of school past grade 6, Cree students were flown in from different communities in the James Bay area; ‘It was an interesting environment to be in,” remembers Lawrence. “The North was quite different then Québec City. At school, you could see kids were divided between Cree and Town Children, but the class they integrated very well.”
One day, a dentist sent by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (now Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs; Indigenous Service) came into her students’ class for what was presented as a routine visit for the Indigenous children. Lawrence (born Swaffield) was confused at the time, knowing there was already a dentist in town, but giving the official statement from the dentist, she sent in her first student. She was shocked when the young girl returned: “She came back green and looked terrible.” The dentist had explained that he needed to pull out 7 teeth to treat the young girl's cavities. After that, Lawrence immediately refused him permission to touch any more of her students and had the principal send the dentist away. “I simply didn’t understand the logic given how a local dentist could have taken care of the kids,” she added.
The consequence of this event sent Lawrence on a journey to understand the “system” regarding Indigenous relations in our education and health systems. Of Cree and Inuit Ancestry herself, she was already attentive to the Indigenous rights cause, but from that day, she knew she had to take a stand.
Starting On a Mission
After completing further degrees, Lawrence became an experienced facilitator, motivational speaker, and organizational development specialist. She has worked in management positions in government, education, and healthcare, most notably as Director of Educational Services at The Ottawa Hospital (Civic then) and as Director of Education for the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists.
She has also served in leadership positions in national, provincial, and local organizations involved with organizational development, libraries and concerns affecting Indigenous communities throughout Canada, including in Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. Author of several journal articles and study guides, Lawrence has presented at numerous conferences on cultural safety, humour in the workplace, stress and change management, and before retiring had her own consulting practice supplying facilitation and event services, customized to the needs of her clients.
In addition to her MBA from the University of Ottawa, Lawrence also holds an MA in Sociology and Organizational Behaviour from the University of Calgary, an Honours BA from McGill, as well as a Teaching Diploma in Later Childhood from MacDonald College. She is a Myers-Briggs Facilitator and has extensive experience in the provision of training and leadership programs.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Lawrence has extensive experience in policy analysis, report writing, and strategic planning. She attributes her success in these fields to her time at Telfer EMBA, which was known as the Faculty of Administration at the time.
“One of the classes I remember the most was held by Professor Raj Gandhi,” she recalled. “As he introduced his class on cost-benefit ratio, he said jokingly, that the biggest mistake we did was to put our money on an MBA when we should have bought a house. It’s a simple example, but it gets you thinking about how to develop your critical thinking as well as doing cost benefit analysis.”
Lawrence shared how the program helped her to further shape her skills: “My MBA helped develop my critical thinking as well as negotiations with teammates to get things done.” She noted that it helped one to be a system thinker so one can change the state of things: “When you have good people, but a lousy system, the barriers are too strong to do anything, the world is already too complex. When you get to fix the system, thinking and see what can be leveraged, that’s when change can happen.”
Lawrence is now a thriving member of the Telfer alumni community: “I enjoy seminars and the continuing learning opportunities offered by the University. I think I might be holding the record as the alumna with the longest time attending learning events” she said candidly. She continued: “If you have a good experience, it will build a lifelong learning objective, and I simply enjoy learning.”
The Career After the Career
Officially retired and living in Ottawa, it would be impossible to think that Lawrence would have left everything behind. She has been involved in the community through volunteer work at a few health and organizations and libraries, including serving as Chair of the Canadian Health Care Educators Association, the former President of the Ontario Library Board Association (OLBA), the former Chair of the Cumberland Public Library (now part of the Ottawa Public Library), and the Vice-Chair of the Southern Ontario Library Service Board and Volunteer Leadership Development Program (VLDP) of Volunteer Ottawa.
“I surely know how to keep myself busy. My husband would tell you that I’m spending more time volunteering now than I worked during my career,” exclaimed Lawrence.
Most recently, Audrey had served on the Public Witness for Social and Ecological Justice Committee. She now serves as the Indigenous Co-Chair for the All My Relations Circle for the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa for work on Reconciliation and has been on the Algonquin College Board of Governors since 2017.
Standing Up for Distance Learning in the Indigenous Community
Audrey has long been aware of the needs for financial support for university and college students and especially for Indigenous students, so she set up a special bursary for Indigenous learners at Algonquin College in 2019. Then upon hearing that there was no bursaries for online students, she recently in May 2021 established the Audrey Lawrence AC Online Bursary, the first bursary for learning distance which will be awarded to full-time and part-time online learners in financial need, following a second gift of $15,000 from Lawrence.
The Online Bursary will encompass two $6,000 bursaries for full-time learners, with one preferably directed toward an Indigenous student. Additionally, three $1,000 bursaries will also be awarded to part-time students.
As a former teacher to Cree students at the very beginning of her career, it simply seems natural for Lawrence to give back to the community and encourage distance learning: “As I went on through my teaching career, I’m glad I could count on correspondence courses (distance learning process at the time) to complete my degree. I am very sensitive to the needs of distance learners,” she said.
Audrey mentioned that even if it has been a few decades ago, the gap in providing essential services, such as education, to the Indigenous community is still very much a topical issue. “Over the past 20 years, not much has changed,” she said. “Gaps are being identified, but little is done to shorten them in the end. We bring infrastructure to the communities, but we do not take the time with them to ensure the facilities have operational support - and that’s a big issue.” She concluded: “Apart from the mea culpa, we need to learn from the past to make positive action and the most important thing to do is to ask the community what and how it should be done above all.”
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Originally published on LinkedIn on May 14, 2021
We are delighted to announce the release of the report, Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD). This timely report contains a collection of 27 policy insight notes on long-running policy issues in women’s entrepreneurship support. OECD data and editorial insights reinforce the policy note findings. This report will be of interest to women entrepreneurs, policymakers, women’s enterprise advocates, and academics at a time when evidence-based sights are needed to drive post-pandemic recovery measures.
Background
This report is a collaboration between the OECD and the Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy Research Project (Global WEP), which is a network of established researchers from over 34 countries. The project was led by Jonathan Potter (Head of the Entrepreneurship Policy and Analysis Unit) of the OECD and Dr. Colette Henry, Chair of Global WEP - (Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland; Chair, Global WEP), Dr. Susan Coleman (University of Hartford, United States) and Dr. Barbara Orser (University of Ottawa, Canada). Excerpts from the Executive Summary follow.
What will you learn from this report?
Women’s enterprise issues have become even more relevant as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to set women’s entrepreneurship back 20 years. The notes contained in this report cover a range of policy challenges – including in relation to formal and informal institutions, access to finance, access to skills and policy design – and policy instruments that can be used to address them. The notes underline core principles and good practices to follow in designing and implementing policies.
This report also offers an overview of the state of women’s entrepreneurship in OECD countries and beyond, using gender-disaggregated indicators on business creation, self-employment and barriers to business start-up, sustainability and growth. These indicators illustrate gender gaps in entrepreneurship, not only in activity rates but also in the proportion of entrepreneurs who create jobs for others. Persistent gender gaps call on public policy to continue to address gender inequalities in entrepreneurship.
Overall, this report provides an important source of new insights to assist policy makers and advocates seeking to strengthen holistic interventions in support of women’s entrepreneurship, and to encourage and facilitate peer learning across countries.
Report highlights
The policy insight notes in this report argue that mainstream entrepreneurship policies and programmes are not gender neutral. Explicit approaches are needed to address barriers to entrepreneurship that are experienced differentially by men and women, and to ensure that women have equal access to policy support aimed at entrepreneurs.
To an extent, this reality is recognised by the wide range of dedicated policy interventions for women’s entrepreneurship that have been put in place internationally across many contexts. The interventions address barriers in the areas of entrepreneurship culture, entrepreneurship skills, access to finance, entrepreneurship networks and ecosystems, and regulatory institutions, as well as approaches to designing and delivering policies to achieve gender equality. These approaches illustrate the dynamic nature of women’s entrepreneurship policy, as well as the gains that are being made as policy makers recognise the needs and contributions of women entrepreneurs.
However, women’s enterprise policy initiatives are often fragile – time-limited, small-scale, sparse, symptom-oriented – and not sufficiently underpinned by a genuine vision and framework for women’s entrepreneurship. To address these limitations, there is a need to increase awareness and knowledge about policies that engage and support women entrepreneurs within entrepreneurial ecosystems. Adherence to gender-blind entrepreneurship policies will be ineffective in achieving the benefits to be had from truly stimulating equal opportunities in entrepreneurship.
There are three main priorities for further policy development:
Overarching policy frameworks for women’s entrepreneurship need to be introduced
In some countries, policy frameworks for women’s entrepreneurship are well-developed and women’s entrepreneurship programmes work effectively towards the global objectives and priorities set out in these frameworks. However, in other countries, women’s entrepreneurship policies are incomplete or ineffective, often because the programmes are not consistent with global policy objectives. Governments should do more to strengthen policy frameworks for women’s entrepreneurship. They also need to dedicate greater resources to ensure that programmes are informed by frameworks and are sustainable in the long-term.
Women’s entrepreneurship policy interventions must reflect context
Governments need to ensure that policy interventions are appropriate for the institutional, cultural and social contexts. The policy insight notes describe vastly different contexts, ranging from developed economies where gender inequalities persist but are relatively subtle to developing economies with strong patriarchal systems. Women’s entrepreneurship policy can be effective in any context, but the objectives, instruments and delivery mechanisms must be selected accordingly.
More evaluation evidence is needed as a foundation for scaling policy initiatives
A wide variety of policy instruments and delivery approaches have been put in place in many countries. A key challenge is to assess the effectiveness of these approaches in different situations and different combinations and to scale and transfer the most effective approaches. More evidence is needed on the effectiveness of women’s entrepreneurship supports in different contexts. This includes, for example, the impacts of measures for training and mentoring, financing, and the role of measures that influence underlying institutional conditions. Information is also needed on the extent to which measures need to be applied as packages. The lack of evaluation evidence represents a lost opportunity to learn from high impact policy interventions and may lend to the vulnerability of women’s enterprise programme funding.
Download the Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens report
- Category: Community Engagement
A new Telfer study shows that traditional families with businesses often treat their children differently based on gender, including in succession planning and entrepreneurial education. We talked to two women raised in entrepreneurial families to learn how gender bias can affect women’s careers and experiences in entrepreneurship. They also shared some advice for family businesses.
Emma O’Dwyer
Emma O’Dwyer, regional manager at Family Enterprise Canada, has seen bias first hand in her own family. She says she was not given support even though she earned “two MBA degrees from prestigious universities, gained outside experience, and built a professional network beyond the family business.” She often wonders if this stopped her from building the confidence to take a more entrepreneurial path.
O’Dwyer says that gender bias can damage both daughters and sons. “Today, I see that a lot of men who are expected to inherit the family firm or start their own business receive pressure to be successful.” She believes that “forcing sons to lead the family firm restricts their opportunities to gain experience outside the walls of the family business and develop the business knowledge they need.”
Susan St. Amand
Susan St. Amand is the founder and president of Sirius Group Inc. and Sirius Financial Services. Like O’Dwyer, St. Amand always had an interest in the business world. “My dad and a group of local entrepreneurs would meet for coffee every day, and I loved it when I was able to join them to hear their stories.” This led her to studying business.
Even though St. Amand gained experience and education in entrepreneurship, her brother was still the one expected to take over the business on her father’s retirement. “It was just not common for women to run or inherit a family business, so I was not considered.” This didn’t deter St. Amand from pursuing a career in a large finance organization, before starting her own business. But despite her success, St. Amand was often asked when she would sell her business and fulfil a more traditional female role.
Advice to families to challenge gender bias
O’Dwyer and St. Amand shared some suggestions to help families challenge gender bias and prepare the next generation to succeed in the family firm and beyond:
- Treat children as equally as possible and make sure the expectations and pressure are the same for all.
- Identify what the children need to do and experience, and what support they need to build their skills and succeed in any career.
- Great things come from failing and learning. Let the next generation try things, fail, learn, try again and repeat to succeed, within a safe environment.
- Your legacy as a family does not and should not be limited by the business, no matter how many generations it has existed. Let the next generation find their passion and explore the world outside your walls — you’ll be surprised what happens.
- Introduce children to role models and mentors across genders very early in life.
- Engage them in conversations about the business and about finances. Don’t assume children aren’t interested in numbers, investments or business because of their gender.
- Use stories to share knowledge and make information accessible.
- Teach children how to make decisions and take responsibility early on. Being comfortable with risk is critical to feeling confident and independent.
O’Dwyer reminds parents who run a family firm: “You play an important role in the success of the family and the business.” St. Amand highlights the need to question rigid norms: “Families are members of communities and communities share cultural norms that are embedded for generations. It takes strength and courage to be disruptive and time to evaluate the results.”
Susan St. Amand, TEP, FEA, ICD.D is the founder and president of the Sirius Group Inc. and Sirius Financial Services in Ottawa, and chair of Family Enterprise Canada. Learn more about her work with multi-generation families.
Emma O’Dwyer is a regional manager at Family Enterprise Canada.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Telfer alumna Chantal Butler (BCom ’94) believes there is a momentum in the food retail sector for driving sustainable actions within supply chains. Chantal is Vice President Sales and General Manager of Loblaw Business at Weston Foods. She works with several clients who seek to influence the food retail industry so that it becomes more sustainable. How can the food and grocery retail sector create a greener world through their supply chains and what are the main challenges? We interviewed her to learn more about positive changes ahead.
Changes ahead
An increasing number of companies worldwide are committing to reducing their carbon footprint and to creating a better society. But to create real change, companies must trigger sustainable actions along their supply chains. A study led by Telfer Professor Sara Hajmohammad suggests that companies can make improvements at the industry level by shaping and transforming their suppliers’ environmental and social sustainability practices and behaviours.
When asked if the food and grocery retail sector can play a role in driving sustainability within their supply chains, Chantal shares her optimism: “Ten years ago, things were different, but there has been a lot of progress in the industry and I really think this is only the beginning.”
As consumers become increasingly aware of their environmental impacts and seek ways to shop for greener products, many food and grocery retailers today are aspiring to achieve bolder goals. Not only do they want to engage in sustainable practices in house, but they also want to encourage their suppliers to do the same. Chantal explains that “there is a major opportunity for businesses to influence the entire supply chain in the long run.”
Company size matters
Large food and grocery retailers work with multiple suppliers of raw ingredients, including food ingredients and packaging. When large companies like Weston Foods set out sustainability goals, they can influence their suppliers, according to Chantal. “If suppliers may not support us in achieving these goals, then we can identify vendors who have our shared vision,” she adds.
Joining forces is the best way to drive sustainability
Professor Hajmohammad’s study suggests that when companies in the same industry collectively build strategies to influence their suppliers, they are more likely to push their suppliers to engage in sustainable actions across the whole sector. Chantal agrees with this collective ability to trigger change across an industry: “Leading food retail companies may be competing, but when they all start asking for the same sustainability standards and pushing their suppliers into adjusting and accommodating, change can happen.”
Leading groups in the industry have forged alliances to encourage suppliers to become sustainable, particularly when it comes to packaging. “Large and small companies alike are forming alliances to push suppliers to start sourcing recyclable plastics or to eliminate some types of products in their plastic materials,” says Chantal.
Challenges
Although a large company’s size and power can definitely influence its supply chain, the company’s size can make innovation challenging. According to Chantal, large companies often face obstacles to innovation and to implementing changes on a larger scale and across a large part of their portfolio.
Companies will need to further innovate if they want to address new goals and consumer expectations. For instance, the next generation of consumers may be looking to purchase from companies that focus on zero waste.
While sustainability is widely accepted today, Chantal explains that changing a supply chain is not simple and requires time. “Some suppliers can be selective in some of the ideas that they want to embrace, some are more willing to innovate with you, and others are a little concerned about how to get there,” she says.
She also mentioned that some companies that want to become sustainable may face financial challenges. Sustainability policies can generate incremental cost increases for everyone, in the end, so companies need to lobby for relevant government policies and tax breaks. Failing to do so could lead to additional costs to the consumer: “Even when organizations make an effort to absorb those costs as much as they possibly can, consumers may end up paying more.”
How Weston Foods is driving change
Weston Foods has a ten-year plan for sustainability that Chantal has been implementing for the past two years. Packaging has been one of Weston Foods’ key priorities because the company is aware of how relevant this is to consumers. “Today, consumers want to eliminate the really bad plastics and replace them whenever possible.”
To meet their sustainability goals and reduce the impact of packaging on the environment, Weston Foods is partnering with vendors to source more sustainable packaging solutions. For instance, the company is currently working on a pilot project with a client to test if reusable packaging can play a role in consumer-packaged goods and food.
Advice for other companies seeking to go greener
Chantal believes that not only leading companies can implement greener goals: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also play a transformative role in the supply chain. She shares a few recommendations for SMEs seeking to become sustainable:
- All large organizations now have a sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies that they publicize and track: pay attention to what they are doing and latch on to those actions that are important to your business model.
- Smaller companies often have the flexibility to test out more creative or more ambitious sustainable ideas: leverage your size as an advantage to innovate further so that you go beyond what the big companies can do.
Small or large, companies across industries can support the development of a greener Canada and a better future. As a mother, Chantal knows how crucial it is to drive environmental sustainability: “The reality is what will the world of our children, and their children, look like if we do not collectively address these issues now?”
Chantal Butler (BCom ’94), Vice President Sales, Loblaw Companies Limited
- Category: Student Voices
In Canada, the number of female entrepreneurs is growing every year. According to Statistics Canada, by 2019, 15.6% of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were mostly owned by women and they represented 37.4% of the self-employed population. Generating more than $117 billion in economic activity annually, we can see that women are increasingly emerging as key players in economic development.
That being said, unlike their male counterparts whose sectors of activity are varied, women tend to start their own businesses in the service sectors. Let's find out what these different sectors are.
The Choice of A Service Industry
As noted, female entrepreneurs in Canada are more likely to start their businesses in the service sector and are less represented in certain sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fishing or even construction.
According to the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub 2020 report, a study of women-owned SMEs by industry sector ranks as the following:
- Education and health care (63%)
- Accommodation and food services (52.8%)
- Information, culture and recreation industries (44.1%)
- Finance, insurance, and real estate services (38.5%)
- Professional services (38.1%)
Similarly, among the self-employed, they generally report that their activities are in the following sectors:
- Public services (65.7%)
- Health care (57.6%)
- Commerce (55.7%)
- Professional services (54.2%)
- Information, culture and recreation industries (54.1%)
While some studies tend to explain this concentration by factors related to history or socialization, I believe that we should not neglect the motivations of female entrepreneurs, who often start a business in order to have a significant social impact. Many of them find their interests in the service sector, where relationships with others are higher. In fact, they dominate the social entrepreneurship sector with 11% of female-dominated companies reported as social enterprises compared to 5.3% of their male counterparts.
Emerging Growth Sectors
Just as the number of women who decide to go into business is changing, so are the sectors in which they decide to work.
According to a Statistics Canada study, between 1987 and 2018 the number of self-employed women in the health care and social assistance industries nearly doubled. So did the finance, insurance, real estate services and related industries, which grew by five times in 30 years.
Art and Creation: A Forgotten Sector?
When talking about female entrepreneurship and even entrepreneurship in general, little mention is made of the art and creative sectors, even though most artists tend to work independently (usually freelance or under contract) and can be considered entrepreneurs.
In Canada, 52% of artists were listed as self-employed in 2016, and the 2016 Census indicates that women dominate the arts sector, accounting for more than half of artists. We can, therefore, see that "female entrepreneurs" are very present in this sector.
The absence of art and creation can be explained by the desire of some artists to distinguish themselves from the business world or by the existing debates surrounding the very definition of the word "artist" itself (partly linked to the distinctions between different cultural fields such as fine arts, advertising art, design, and crafts).
In the end, there is no denying the growth of female entrepreneurship in Canada and its contribution to the country's economic development. That being said, the concentration of female entrepreneurs in the service sectors is a testament to the inequalities that remain in the business community in the entrepreneurial field.
While there are more and more women, they are still sidelined by sectors with high growth potential. Work remains to be done to finally break down the barriers women face.
- Category: Student Voices
As a female entrepreneur, you are bound to discover lessons learned and favourite tips from your experiences. A wise person once said that the first act of wisdom is to give good advice, the second is to ask for it and the third is to follow it. While this statement applies to all aspects of life, it resonates even more when it comes to entrepreneurship, which is a field full of surprises and twists.
If you’re a student thinking about starting a business, know that you’re in the right place! I had the chance to talk to inspirational women who decided to work on their own, which led to this list of 7 things you need to know before you get started as an entrepreneur.
#1 Take Your Time
For Christen Konan, CEO of her financial coaching firm, KC Consultings, in Ottawa, it is important for future entrepreneurs to think carefully about their project and plan it properly before starting. This will help you to avoid “hitting your head” as she says, as you will have a clear idea of what you want to do and, therefore, a guideline. This step includes coming up with a good definition of the benefits of your product or service and identifying what you want to bring to the market.
#2 Surround Yourself With The Right People
Christen Konan shared her second piece of advice about one’s surroundings. She said that one of the most important things for female entrepreneurs is their entourage, because it is what guides them and helps them grow. Therefore, it would be great for you to build a network of professionals in your field through which you can develop connections and share information. However, you should not neglect your loved ones who will be in the best position to support you and bring you a perspective different from that of a professional in your field (for example, because of their perspective as a possible client).
#3 Continue Training
We all know that you never stop learning. According to Binta Kanté, co-founder of Spirits Chocolats, an online gift shop and retail store selling chocolate-based treats in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the success of any entrepreneur depends on continuing one’s education in business management.
Although she stressed that it is very good to delegate tasks, she acknowledged that an entrepreneur must have, at minimum, knowledge of each of her company’s functions. Whether it is in marketing, accounting or finance, it is important to have basic knowledge that will enable them, especially in small businesses, to keep an eye on their activities and be able to recognize any problems or errors. Binta advises those interested in starting a business to watch YouTube videos, attend seminars, and connect with local entrepreneurs to further your training.
#4 Be Humble
This advice from Christen Konan echoes the previous one. She explains that in order to succeed in business, you must be humble. This humility will allow you to always be open to constructive criticism and continuous learning, which will improve your performance.
#5 Accept Challenges
Any entrepreneur, especially as a woman, must prepare to meet obstacles, says Marcelle Goran, director of a business support structure for hiring and retaining immigrant workers in Quebec. Whether they occur in your personal life or in your micro-environment, she maintains the fact that challenges are inevitable. Therefore she advises you to see these obstacles as means to help you grow and improve, and invites you to put them into context when they occur.
#6 Believe in Yourself
It can never be overstated that self-confidence is essential in entrepreneurship. As Christen Konan says, “if you do not believe in your project, you will not be able to convince someone else to trust you and join you in your project.”
#7 Go For It!
This latest advice comes from freelance photographer-journalist, Ama Ouattara. She emphasizes the importance of freeing oneself from the hesitation and fear that often leads to inaction. Once you feel that this is what you want to do and have thought about your project, she advises you to avoid thinking too much, but rather to go ahead and start. After all, only then will you know whether your project can work or not.
Now you have a few essential tools that will help you navigate the busy waters of entrepreneurship. If your project is well thought out, only one thing is left to be done…go for it!
- Category: Student Voices
Nowadays, it’s no secret that the path to entrepreneurship is far from being a walk in the park, and more so for women, who face many more challenges compared to their male counterparts. That being said, there is a growing number of women around the world who are leaving their traditional jobs to work on their own businesses.
So I decided to look into it, and I interviewed several business women to understand their motivations for entrepreneurship. Here’s what I found:
Common Motivations
After conversations with these women, it soon became apparent that they shared common reasons for choosing entrepreneurship:
1. Desire for Independence
Many women see entrepreneurship as a source of empowerment and autonomy. For freelance photographer-journalist Ama Ouattara, it is the need to distance herself from hierarchical institutions that has led her to entrepreneurship, as well as the flexibility to work on projects she is interested in and in the way she wants.
For Marcelle Goran, who leads a business support structure for hiring and retaining immigrant workers in Quebec, this desire for independence resulted in wanting to “control what she represented and its results”, but also because she wanted to manage her own time and schedule.
2. Willingness to Do Something Meaningful
Entrepreneurship is seen by many women as a way to engage in something that makes sense to them. Most of the time, it is about helping society or filling an unmet need in their environment. This is the case for Christen Konan, who started her financial coaching firm, KC Consultings in Canada, to address the lack of education in the field.
In that same spirit, Binta Kanté, co-founder of Spirits Chocolats, an online gift shop and retail sale of chocolate-based treats in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, uses entrepreneurship to “share with others and make them happy.” Meanwhile, Marcelle Goran’s choice of specialization is closely linked to her own career path in Quebec.
3. Seeking a Better Work-Life Balance
This reason is perhaps the most prevalent among entrepreneurial moms. They find that entrepreneurship allows for greater flexibility in their schedule and in turn, for their family constraints and obligations. This is the case for Ms. Goran, for whom entrepreneurship makes it possible to work while still having time to spend with her children.
4. Looking for a Better Income
Less prevalent than some of the other reasons, but just as important, one motivation for women to pursue a career in entrepreneurship is the desire for better economic opportunities. This motivation usually occurs when they are either unemployed or looking for another source of income.
Contextual Differences
While these motivations apply to the majority of female entrepreneurs, there are still subtleties, depending on the cultural contexts and territories, in which they operate. So from one part of the world to another, you can find differing key reasons.
For example, while in Europe, specifically for French and British entrepreneurs, the desire for independence prevails, where as, in Africa, where societies are often very traditional, women are mainly motivated by economic necessity followed by a desire to be self-asserting, empowered and independent (mainly in Maghreb countries like Algeria).
Bottom line, in terms of women’s motivations for entrepreneurship, although they have a lot in common, they have different motivations from one part of the world to another. So we can understand that female entrepreneurs have very different backgrounds, and in order to better understand them, it is important to consider them in their environment.
- Category: Latest News
Today’s article is written by team member Stephanie Thompson. Stephanie is a program officer at Telfer Executive Programs. She manages logistics and administration for a wide portfolio of programs, ensuring high-touch client service and maintaining a standard of excellence in program delivery. Among her portfolio of programs, she is responsible for the Boundless Leadership: A Breakthrough Program for Women.
International Women's Day has a long history and, like other holidays related to social movements, it has shifted in part from its original political meaning. When I was obtaining my Gender Studies degree at Queen’s University, International Women's Day was a day of protest to recognize the injustice that women – particularly poor, working-class, racialized, immigrant, trans, and Indigenous women – still face. As I flash-forward to the present day, my background as a social scientist helps me advocate for social justice in my work at Telfer Executive Programs and to maintain a balanced opinion and perspective.
As a Program Officer at Telfer Executive Programs, I was given the opportunity to take on Boundless Leadership: A Breakthrough Program for Women, a program we designed specifically to address the needs of current and emerging women leaders. It has been a great experience being involved in a program where I am surrounded by such accomplished women I can learn from and who motivate me to grow my leadership skills.
In my role, I have been supporting the program’s delivery, which allows me to sit in on program sessions. A few weeks ago, in one of the sessions, one of our guest speakers used a phrase that has been bouncing around in my mind ever since: the “tyranny of the day-to-day”.
It seems to have resonated with the program’s participants as well as it continues to reverberate through this cohort. I think it’s because it cuts to a deep truth we’re all feeling right now. We’re all working longer hours, attending more meetings, writing more emails, cooking more meals, spending more time and mental energy keeping ourselves and our families safe from the virus… there’s simply no time to pause and reflect. There’s also no time to consider the hardships we and others are facing, if we’re moving in the right direction, or if we’re shaping the world in the way we’d like it to be for the next generation.
I hope this year, on International Women’s Day, we can take a moment away from the tyranny of the day-to-day to reflect. Reflect on the progress we’ve made, and the work still to be done. I am a part of the Support Staff union at the University of Ottawa, which is made up of over 75% women, and I see the invaluable work we do to support a massive institution like the University. As a Program Officer at Telfer Executive Programs, I have been fortunate to engage with many women in positions of leadership, learn about their career journeys, and even watch them progress to hold more senior roles. I have the opportunity to see women like Dr. Virginia Roth graduate from the Telfer Executive MBA and become the first female Chief of Staff of The Ottawa Hospital. I see so much to celebrate, to pause and reflect on, before taking a deep breath and tackling the work still to come.
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- Category: Student Voices
It is clear that as society evolves, entrepreneurship has emerged as a driving force of our modern economies. Following the various advances in women’s rights and liberation around the world, it was only a matter of time before women began to conquer the entrepreneurial world.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day in March and look back on their place in our societies, let me share with you my thoughts on female entrepreneurship as a business student at Telfer.
What Is Female Entrepreneurship?
In my opinion, entrepreneurship seems to be one of those terms that we often hear without really knowing what it means. For those who can relate to this, let me give you a little help. Entrepreneurship is defined as the creation of economic activity to achieve a goal, the primary result of which is the creation of value.
Now that we have a better understanding of the concept, what about female entrepreneurship? It can be defined as the creation and development of economic activities specifically by women. Whether it is for personal or professional reasons such as self-fulfillment, better work-life balance, or economic reasons such as seeking a higher income, more and more women are choosing to trade their 9 to 5 jobs to become an entrepreneur.
According to the World Bank’s data, it is recognized globally that one in three businesses is owned by a woman. In Canada, many women-owned businesses operate primarily in service sectors such as hospitality, tourism, retail, and food services.
Exploring Entrepreneurship
For as long as I can remember, entrepreneurship has always been something I have been aspiring to do even before I was able to define the concept. Having been raised by an ambitious, busy mother who has run several small businesses, I developed my personality from the example my mother set as a female role model who is entrepreneurial and an independent woman, which probably explains why I chose to study at a business school.
As a teenager, when I had my first project ideas, although I was far from imagining the issues of women in entrepreneurship, I was at ease with the idea of living in an ever-changing world. As I grew up and met female entrepreneurs along the way, including some friends who have chosen this path, I really became aware of the realities of female entrepreneurship. This allowed me to:
- Discover a rapidly developing environment shaped by important issues. One example is financing, which is still difficult for many female entrepreneurs to access. This is because women are sometimes seen as lacking in credibility , according to socio-cultural stereotypes which hinders their productivity.
- Understand the importance of female entrepreneurship not only in addressing gender inequality, but also in terms of the benefits it brings for economic growth in various countries.
What Does Female Entrepreneurship Mean to Me Today?
First of all, as a strong supporter of women in leadership, I see entrepreneurship as a way for women to assert themselves as leaders in order to prove their managerial abilities, and, therefore, to break down the clichés and stereotypes that have long influenced society.
Now that I am in the last year of my BCom program, I know that I am getting closer to the professional world, as well as my growing awareness of women’s issues in the business world, especially in the field of entrepreneurship, which I intend to pursue one day.
Each graduate student would like to be able to get a chance to apply what they’ve learned and succeed in their careers. It is important that career opportunities remain equal for each and every one of us.
I see women in entrepreneurship as a source of opportunity that women can largely benefit from if they are given the necessary tools to do so. This is a developing sector where women still face inequalities that need to be addressed in order for them to reach their full potential. With global awareness to foster change, and the increasing development of community groups that support female entrepreneurs, this may be the beginning of a promising change. At least, that is what we are hoping for!
- Category: Latest News
Successful in her career, Maria McKay (Telfer MBA, 2012) is a caring mentor and a true agent of change for her clients in the public sector and for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities and beyond. Maria is a Senior Manager in KPMG's People & Change Advisory Services Practice. She grew up in an environment where differences of opinions and ideas were encouraged and seen as a strength. Throughout her life, she lived according to the values of promoting good, both for herself and others around her, by standing up for what’s right and supporting people to do the same.
Maria was adopted as a small child by two people she considers to be her original allies: “I am very lucky to have been raised by thoughtful, humanist parents,” shared Maria. Her late father was a United Church Minister who shared his beliefs about social justice and inclusion with her growing up: “My dad grew up in New Glasgow and told me about a teenage experience he had there when a Black woman refused to leave a Whites-only area of the local movie theatre, and the disgust he felt at the violence against her that ensued. I only figured out who this incredible woman was in 2016 when Tim Harper of the Toronto Star wrote a story about the heroine, whom he suggested should be put on our new $10 bill (Viola Desmond), which was the same story my dad had told me as a child. My dad would have been absolutely thrilled at the ultimate decision to put Ms. Desmond on our new currency! This early experience may have been part of the reason why Martin Luther King and the US Civil Rights Movement had such a profound influence on my father, and was why he chose to study in Boston, where my parents met me.” Despite hopes to the contrary, Maria’s parents were powerless when she was on the school ground, and she had many early, difficult personal experiences of exclusion and racism. However, this opened Maria’s eyes to observe human behaviour from many different angles and led to her interest in the study of groups and organizational values and norms, or cultural anthropology.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Cultural Anthropology and History, and later her Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) in Canada, Maria’s career took her back to the United States East Coast and the cities of Atlanta and Boston. She worked at McKinsey & Company as a Research Analyst and as a Strategic Market Intelligence Analyst at EY. Her strong strategic research and analysis capabilities combined with her interest in working with others made a career as a management consultant seem like a perfect fit. At least, that’s what Gregory Richards, Director of Telfer’s Executive MBA program, thought back in 2011 when Maria showed interest in pursuing an MBA.
Telfer MBA: A Life-Changing Decision
Maria decided to come back to Canada and pursue her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Telfer. We have Gregory Richards, Cognos Professor of Performance Management at the time, to thank for it: “At the time, we interviewed everyone who applied to the MBA program. Maria had non-consulting experience at McKinsey and EY,” recalled Professor Richards. “After talking with her, it struck us that she had the analytical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills to become an excellent consultant. I think we might have asked her why she hadn’t considered consulting before given her professional background.”
Maria shared how she chose to pursue her MBA at the University of Ottawa: “Greg Richards is a big part of the reason why I picked uOttawa. I wanted to study with an expert in strategy and performance management and my big brother strongly recommended Greg. I also did not have a long history of having had Black professors as I only had two as an undergraduate at U of T . In my MLIS I did not have any Black professors, but the school was incredibly supportive of my interests including my final project, a comprehensive bibliography that detailed the history and experiences of Black American librarians. I learned a great deal from all my professors at Telfer, and especially Gregory Richards and Gerard Brathwaite-Sturgeon, who is an expert in organizational behaviour and HR. And in the end, Greg was right, and I ended up doing very well in my consulting course.”
A proud mentor and teacher, Professor Richards saw Maria excel in the program: “Her work in the MBA program showed her capabilities to not only solve problems, but to work collaboratively even with people she found to be difficult sometimes. It is good to see that she has become an accomplished consultant post-graduation.”
Maria now has close to twenty years of professional experience. She helps people and organizations to identify desired outcomes and to determine how to realize value through structural cultural and operating model changes. She lives according to the spectrum of belonging that celebrates diversity and inclusion, and she also pushes for anti-racism, equity, and justice. Above all, Maria is passionate about serving clients and other people, and she’s been recognized for her ethics and support of students, professional peers, and newcomers to Canada. Her contribution to the Telfer MBA Mentorship program after graduating is no surprise to all.
A Passion for Mentorship and Coaching
Maria is a mentor in the Telfer MBA Mentorship program, providing useful advice to Telfer MBA students. The program allows current MBA students with the opportunity to interact with an accomplished professional to build their network and seek career advice. “A program like the Telfer MBA mentorship program couldn’t function without people like Maria,” exclaimed Caroline Hannah, Relationship Manager at the Telfer Career Centre. "Maria was a mentor before even joining the program. It all came naturally to her. Throughout her MBA, and following, she would welcome having coffee chats and meetings with students as she enjoyed those connections and guiding others. That’s passion for mentorship.”
Maria does indeed have a strong inclination for mentorship: “I am always on the lookout for somebody who needs my help as a mentor or coach: clients, colleagues, friends, strangers on planes, business school friends. If someone asks me for help, it may be just once or several times, I try to say yes if it makes sense and I have something of value to offer to them,” declares Maria. “I try to be a confidence lifter for others, and especially women and racialized people, as they build their feelings of self-efficacy and self-worth while also building a professional network.”
Mentees of Maria’s start with the end in mind by doing an exercise called ‘the life I want,’ and then they align their personal and career aspirations to their own desired future state. She helps to guide them on setting and achieving goals, and she engages in discussions with them about philosophies on management practices, work-life integration, and professional success. The mentor/mentee relationship might evolve from there, depending on the needs expressed by each mentee.
“A wise business leader shared with me her perspective on the difference between a mentor and a coach. When you are mentor, others learn by direct or indirect ‘osmosis’ when you share your own experiences and hope it inspires them. As a coach, you try to establish conditions for others to see what might be possible and what could be different through their own exertion of energy and effort and then support them as they build their own plan. What happens next is up to them in terms of how much they want to practice their craft and what actions they are willing to take, or which sacrifices they are willing to make to work toward their future life; so sometimes I am a mentor and sometimes I am a coach,” explains Maria.
She has enjoyed her experience as a mentor at Telfer, including helping students get started in their careers: “There is a component to my work at Telfer that involves communication training for newcomers related to learning how to do business in Canada and translating cross-cultural experiences. I have also been able to help some students make connections to employers and make decisions about job offers,” added Maria. “It’s an honour to help them with this, and to have others trust me enough to let me help them think about their future. I’m grateful for this experience, and I’m so glad Caroline Hannah brought me in with open arms.”
Standing Up for Herself to Help Others
With a successful career in consulting and dozens of mentees she has helped, it can be concluded that Maria has always found it easy to help others and advocate on their behalf. During her undergraduate degree she marched on campus and fought against discrimination in a group called ‘United Coalition Against Racism.’ However, it wasn’t until the tragic events surrounding the death of George Floyd in May 2020 that Maria rediscovered her activist roots and the courage to speak out more publicly again against racial injustice.
“One of the leaders at my firm told me last June: ‘You don't have to worry anymore about being labelled an ‘Angry Black Woman’ when you raise important issues – just be yourself,’" said Maria. “I honestly thought I would have to wait until I retired before I could voice strong opinions about racism, bigotry, misogyny, able-ism, and to loudly support Black Lives Matter, Indigenous Lives Matter, LGBTQIA2+, and Mental Health movements amongst others because I did not think the mainstream world would listen. What I realized in the last year is that there are so many people around the world who are as ready for change as I am and that if I speak from the principles of honesty, authenticity, integrity, and love for my fellow humans, there is nothing to fear from speaking the truth on any stage, private or public.”
Inside her firm, Maria is an active member of KPMG’s Black Professional Network and an ally in the National Indigenous People’s Network. She is also a change management leader who seeks to help organizations prepare for a future of work that is ‘inclusive by design.’ “The digital business transformations that were being planned or were underway before the pandemic are necessary to modernize how work is carried out to enable workers to do their jobs more safely and enable the large-scale shift to hybrid and remote work. However, when we introduce automation and AI to enable changes, many of the workers most at risk are women and BIPOC staff. If our guiding principle is to ‘leave no one behind,’ then we must use data and analytics to assess the impact of emerging technologies on workers by race, age, gender, and location before we change anything – and then build a people-centric path to the future for all, especially considering the differential impact of COVID by race and gender,” stated Maria.
According to Maria, without the support of others, it would not be possible to make changes in one’s personal life or career, and that is why she is so invested in being a mentor and coach to others. While she has experienced many challenging periods throughout her life, she has always had people who advocated on her behalf and helped her, so passing it forward comes naturally. It is also why she tries to live by the adage (exact origins unknown), ‘We are not put on earth to see through people – we are put on earth to see one another through,’ Maria concluded: “One of the greatest privileges in my life is to have mentees share their hopes and aspirations related to the life they want with me. It is fulfilling beyond words to serve others by helping them articulate their own vision, plan the required steps to get there, and then cheer them on as they make moves toward achieving their dreams.”
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Curious, motivated, and creative, Joy Xu is a brilliant student in Telfer’s B.Com. program specializing in accounting. Passionate about mental health in the workplace, Joy is inspired by leaders and organizations that promote and prioritize the culture of employee well-being.
Understanding the crucial importance of community engagement, she decided to get involved with the School by engaging in the highly competitive Capital Markets Program. This led her to an investment banking internship with RBC Capital Markets during the Summer of 2020 as well as being the Portfolio Manager Leader for the program this year. Further, she has competed in several case competitions over the last couple of years including first place wins at the Jeux de Commerce Central Competition (for the Human Resources Management team) as well as the national Diversity and Inclusion competition hosted by the Telfer School.
Joy is also a member of the Telfer Accounting Club, of which she was the President during 2019-2020. Within this role, she led the team in organizing their annual September networking event with accounting companies, and created an initiative that focused on mental health within the accounting field.
According to Joy, the many extracurricular activities offered by the School have opened up countless opportunities and allowed her to become more involved while applying her knowledge acquired in the classroom. She states, “Overall, I had the chance to explore new interests, attend conferences from inspiring leaders, and develop my skills both professionally and personally. " While Joy will be graduating soon, she plans to stay active within the Telfer community.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Caroline Xavier (BAdm 1990), Associate Deputy Minister Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2020 Trudeau Award Medal Recipient.
Established in honour of Reverend Father Roland Trudeau, OMI, former director of the University's Commerce department from 1950 to 1965, the Trudeau Medal is the highest honour given by the Telfer School of Management to its alumni. It was first awarded in 1989 to recognize leadership, initiative and contributions to the business world, the community and their alma mater.
Canada is increasingly diverse. People come to our country from a wide range of places and with a variety of backgrounds, experiences and knowledge—wider and richer than ever before. That’s great to see and something we need to continue. Yet diversity is just half the equation.
We also must be a more inclusive country. A truly equitable Canada is a place in which our businesses, organizations and public institutions have an array of faces, and the people behind them are in positions at every level and play fundamental roles in decisions and actions.
A more inclusive public service is imperative. A public service that reflects the people it serves makes more informed policies, does a better job of delivering services and, because it’s smart and efficient, earns and keeps the trust of Canadians. Diversity and inclusion make for good business, period. Any workplace that’s diverse and inclusive is likely to be successful and resilient.
A more inclusive public service is also personal. I’m the child of Haitian immigrants and the first Black person—male or female—to reach the deputy-minister rank in the federal public service. I started as a student in an HR role over 30 years ago and just recently assumed the duties of Associate Deputy Minister at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. It’s an achievement I’m extremely proud of. Yet this milestone also raises the question: What took us so long?
We’re all asking similar questions these days. The coronavirus pandemic—which has affected so many, especially vulnerable populations disproportionately—and the urgent call for social justice are forcing a reckoning in Canada and in its public service. My colleagues and I are committed to make sure federal representation, policies, programs, services and organizations accurately reflect the changing makeup of our country and respond to its most pressing needs. It is my duty and privilege to ensure the door stays wide open for others who look like me to join.
The Telfer BCom taught me to look for opportunities in good times and especially in crisis. While on parental leave in 1995, I used my entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to co-found The Bagel Run, Inc.—the first Montreal-style, wood-burning oven bagel shop in Orleans, Ontario, which is still going strong 25 years later. Now, more than ever, it is important that all Telfer students apply their knowledge and skills in their communities. Assess the new reality. Spot opportunities. Then make a plan and take action to build a better Canada.
This is a summary of the interview conducted on August 14th, 2020 with Caroline Xavier, Associate Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
Job shadowing is cool, but in honour of Telfer’s 50th birthday, we thought it would be more fun to try a “reverse job shadow”.
Earlier in 2019, Telfer accounting alumna of 1980, Marlene Patrick spent a day with current finance student, Nourhan Mohamed. Throughout the day, they learned just how dramatically the school has changed in the 43 years since Marlene attended the university!
When Marlene walked through the doors of the Desmarais building, she immediately loved the bright sunlight shining through the large lobby windows. This was a pleasant surprise given the historical building on Wilbrod Street that used to be home to the Faculty of Commerce.
The ladies started their day by attending Nourhan’s Operations Management lecture. While many of the course names have changed - Operations Management was called Production back in the 1970s - they discovered that the first and second-year courses back then still exist in today’s Telfer curriculum. Marlene also noticed that female students made up over 50% of the class. Her graduating class only had 17 women out of 57 graduates.
Walking through campus after class, Marlene felt nostalgic seeing her old University of Ottawa buildings like Morisset and Montpetit, where Telfer students still have classes today. However, there was nothing nostalgic about exploring the new STEM and CRX buildings that opened in 2018. The bright colours and innovative design gave Marlene a warm welcome, but she was especially in awe of the Richard L’Abbé Makerspace in the STEM building, where students can design, build, or 3D print their creations.
At the end of their day, Marlene shared some of her photos from her time living in uOttawa’s Thompson residence, on campus, and at graduation with Nourhan. What they realized is that despite the immense changes in technology, appearance, and even school name that have happened at Telfer over the last 43 years, one thing certainly has not changed - the kind and innovative community that students contribute to #TelferNation every single day.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
The Telfer MBA was a huge catalyst for change in the career of our graduate Mélanie Potvin, who is now project manager of the Orléans Health Hub at Montfort Hospital.
After graduating from the University of Ottawa with a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy, Mélanie began her career in the health care system. Following several years working in clinical services at the Montfort Hospital and in the Ottawa community, she landed a job in the field of occupational health and safety. This position exposed her to the administrative side of the health care system, sparking a desire to learn more about management. That’s when she decided that an MBA was what she needed to boost her career.
During the application process, the Telfer School of Management contacted Mélanie to determine whether she was interested in completing her MBA in French. The opportunity to benefit from scholarships for this program, but especially to use her mother tongue, really appealed to her and she jumped at the opportunity to do her graduate degree in French.
Thanks to her experience in the healthcare system, and Telfer’s MBA and MHA (master’s degree in health administration) courses, Mélanie has learned how to work on the system and its various challenges. Her educational and practical experiences have provided her with the skills needed to manage complex projects.
Beyond project management, Mélanie has also developed her skills in oral presentation, leadership, human resources, and other management disciplines that are important in her new role.
Mélanie can now proudly say she has what it takes to make an impact at work and in her daily life.
Learn more about the Telfer MBA.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
The business world needs a world, and that's what Telfer BCom alumna Anie Rouleau understood in 2016, when she decided to launch her eco-responsible and certified B Corp venture, The Unscented Company (TUC).
Much more than just a company selling soaps and household products, TUC is trying to redefine the very concept of cleanliness by focusing on innovation and eco-design.
For Anie, sustainable development is not only a fundamental value, it is in the DNA of Unscented Co. From research and development, to minimalist, recyclable and plastic-free packaging, to re-filling stations at local retail partners, to the very furniture of its offices made from recycled materials, every decision is guided by this eco-responsible corporate philosophy.
Her innovative re-definition of the consumption model was not an immediate success, but her patience and strong convictions will have finally paid off in a market where until recently, the environment was not considered an issue."It will have taken a video of a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose for people to wake up," she told us during our interview. "Now we are seeing a real willingness on the part of people to change their consumption habits, and business is starting to move," Anie concluded.
On that note, her business is definitely moving. On October 10, 2019, Canadian Tire announced on a CBC episode of Dragons’ Den, that they would bring TUC products into their 500 stores across Canada. Although Anie was already seeing some craze for her products in local markets, a national distributor such as Canadian Tire will allow her to amplify her message, and together, they will have a real opportunity to change the country's consumption habits.
Her story is an inspiration for the business community that proves that when you have strong convictions, you can make your dreams come true. Once again Anie, congratulations, and we are very proud to have a graduate among us who has such a great impact on our world! #TELFERNATION
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Why not use a strong leadership to create inspiring, socially and environmentally innovative businesses? Proactive, Anie Rouleau didn’t have to ponder this question long.
A Montrealer born to a business-oriented family, Baléco’s Founding CEO knows how to do business without compromising her values and convictions. That’s why she chose to redefine the notion of clean by creating a line of ecofriendly home and body care products designed for conscious living.
In 1992, Anie graduates from the University of Ottawa with a degree in Business, majoring in Finance. She joins Hydrocom International, the family business. Quickly made Vice-President, she leaves Quebec to start Hydrocom USA in Birmingham, Alabama. When the family business is sold, she is offered the role of President for Maclean Power Systems’ Canadian branch, before becoming President at Société de Gestion du Commensal.
Trilingual, open to the world, Anie runs on new challenges. Her values guide her choices. Fervent defender of local sourcing, she sits on different committees, including Made in Montreal. Women leadership and ethics being causes close to her heart, she is a mentor for young women in business. She is also part of Quebec entrepreneurship promotion groups.
Anie strongly believes that a business’ social values are no obstacles to its profitability and financial viability. That is why she is a BCorp ambassador, giving conferences on this new business model. HEC, UQAM, and ETS also invite her as a guest speaker to discuss the importance of including one’s values at the heart of one’s business management.
Mother of two, Anie is driven by her desire to protect future generations. By investing in innovation and eco-design within an industry which sets his sight far from sustainable development issues, she seeks with Baléco to define tomorrow’s business as a transparent entity, respectful of its employees, the community and the environment.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Tammy Labelle was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) on March 12, 2018 at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).
In her new role, Tammy is driving the evolution of the PSPC information management and information technology strategy. As CIO, Tammy leads the maintenance of technology operations and key government-wide projects in support of government priorities and departmental service improvements. In addition to her role as CIO, she is also responsible for common Government of Canada services such as shared human resources, information management (GCdocs), shared case management services, finance (FreeBalance and Integrated Financial and Material System) and the Shared Travel Services program.
Before that, Tammy was Assistant Deputy Minister of the Integrated Services Branch where she led several government programs and initiatives, including public opinion research; publishing and depository services; the Canada Gazette; Electronic Media Monitoring Services; advertising; MyGCHR, GCSurplus, seized property management, the Canadian General Standards Board, as well as the PSPC Client Service Strategy.
Tammy has extensive experience in developing and implementing large-scale business programs, computer applications and infrastructure systems. She joined the department in February 2014 as Director General of MyGCHR, where she led the successful implementation of MyGCHR, a new human resources system, across the federal government.
Additionally, Tammy was appointed by the President of the Treasury Board to the Board of Directors of the Federal Public Service Health Care Plan Administration Authority, effective June 2016.
Tammy has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Ottawa and is a certified information technology project management professional.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Passionate about helping others achieve their goals
I’m an extrovert by nature, I love working with people and having a chance to impact their lives. It’s something of a recurring theme in my life.
It’s what I liked about Telfer: the opportunity to meet other professionals, to be mentored. That connection is really important — it rounds off the hard work and gives you the foundation to grow in your life and career. I can think of so many times where a past connection through Telfer has come back to be part of my life as a client or as a mentor.
In fact, it was through their Connexions work-study program that I ended up at BMO Nesbitt Burns. I stayed for 13 years – and returned after six years elsewhere – because I’m passionate about helping families achieve their goals. I get a real sense of accomplishment out of hearing someone say “I feel comfortable about my retirement because you helped me get there”. That’s really impacting someone’s life and that’s something to celebrate.
It’s also why I volunteer. The Executive Mentorship Program allows you to take a student under your wing and help them with career counselling, networking, and answering questions in a safe environment. It’s very rewarding. As was chairing Telfer’s 24th Annual Golf Tournament: We set up a family scholarship for a student from Northern Ontario, where I’m from. We raised enough for it to be endowed immediately.
I’m honoured and humbled by this award, and thankful for opportunity to be able to give back and help the next generation.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Consistent contributions on many fronts
I started in Commerce, but in 1969 I discovered a new program existed – Masters in Health Administration – and I never looked back.
There’s no question that formal education gives you credentials and opens doors, but it’s only the base. You build on that foundation with your experience, your successes and, especially, your failures. If you make no mistakes at all, you’ve probably not done much.
I got a lot of satisfaction in my first 10 years at the old Ottawa General Hospital, and when I became CEO of what was then the Hull Hospital. However, my impact was limited to one city, one hospital, and I knew there was something bigger I could do, so I took a low level government job in Indigenous Health.
I jumped into that and I saw how basic the services were for Indigenous peoples in some places. It stimulated me into thinking about the country as a whole. You can’t just think of your own narrow mandate or perspective — you have to see and understand other points of view, even if you don’t necessarily agree on everything. Respect and collaboration are key, especially for tackling today’s more complex public policy issues.
This eventually served me well as Associate Deputy Minister and Deputy Minister in my work with minority language communities across the country, resulting in organizations that continue to make a big difference today. I’m very proud of that. It was the main reason I was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2016.
I feel partly humbled and partly grateful for this recognition. I didn’t realize I’ve been contributing for over 40 years! It’s like compound interest — no matter how small the contribution, if you are consistent and faithful and stay the course, it can be appreciated to an extent you never thought possible.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Blaze a Trail of Giving
I arrived at the Telfer School almost 30 years ago as a young student, unsure of how I would perform. I needn’t have worried: my professors gave me all the tools I needed to succeed. Best of all, they nurtured in me a confidence I didn’t know I had—the self-assurance to see myself in a top job, to be a leader of a successful organization and to improve my community through giving.
So I made that vision a reality, becoming a top executive at one of Canada’s biggest banks and an active contributor to many charitable organizations. Yet the higher I climbed in my career, the more I realized that there were even fewer women in philanthropy than there were in high leadership positions. Generations of men had looked to other men as mentors and guides in their professional lives, but we women didn’t have that luxury—either as executives or as philanthropists.
I decided to change that. To supply rising career women with the role models they needed, I started acting as a giving mentor. As these younger women became increasingly engaged as philanthropists, they became mentors themselves. We created a community of women that encouraged other women to cultivate generosity alongside their career successes. Steadily but surely, this growing group of women blazed a trail of giving.
Our work is far from done. We must make certain that women continue to have powerful examples of giving that they can emulate. We need to foster a culture of giving and, in doing so, leave a clearer, wider trail of generosity behind us to guide the way for others.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership (CEL) at the University of Ottawa and Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute have collaborated to launch the Ontario Inclusive Innovation (I2) Action Strategy.
The Brookfield Institute of Entrepreneurship + Innovation has awarded Telfer CEL, in collaboration with Ryerson’s Diversity Institute, a $225,000 contract to report on the state of women’s enterprise support in Ontario, facilitate gender-sensitivity entrepreneurship workshops, develop a certification program, and host a conference to showcase evidence-based practices for empowering women entrepreneurs. Industry partners include: Women in Communication and Technology, WEConnect International Canada, Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council, WBE Canada, YWCA and Youth Employment Services.
Telfer and Diversity Institute research has shown the need for women-friendly culture and gender-sensitive entrepreneurship services. Community-based enterprise supports focus heavily on technology, in spite of the importance of other sectors in which entrepreneurial women operate in larger numbers. Women entrepreneurs are significantly less likely to secure capital and government contracts, resulting in lost business opportunities.
“It is an economic imperative to translate evidence-based insights into programs and tools that empower women entrepreneurs. Failure to support growth-oriented and diverse entrepreneurs wastes intellectual resources and contributes to economic and social inequality,” says Telfer faculty member and Project Lead Dr. Barbara Orser. “This 12 month action strategy is expected to transform Ontario into one of the most inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems in the world.”
Adds Diversity Institute Director Dr. Wendy Cukier, coauthor of Innovation Nation, “Women play a critical role in driving economic growth. We need to remove barriers to diverse women and ensuring that the processes and supports do not reflect conscious or unconscious bias. Our recent research has shown immigrant, racialized, and indigenous female entrepreneurs face additional challenges. Diversity drives innovation and we can leverage what we know about innovation to level the playing field.”
- Category: Appointments and Honours
On April 19th, twelve Ottawa women were honoured for their entrepreneurial and professional achievements at the Ottawa’s Businesswoman of the Year Awards (BYAs). The BYAs presents a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the professional achievements of businesswomen working in organizations across the National Capital Region as well as to celebrate the recipients recognized within our business community.
Of those recipients, Linda Eagen (EMBA 2002), president and CEO of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, and alumna of the Telfer School, was named the winner in the ‘organization’ category. Over the past 13 years, Eagen and her team raised $60 million for cancer care and research in eastern Ontario. She is the founder of Cancer Coaching, an innovative community-based health and social care service for cancer patients. A mother of two, Eagen is an active volunteer with the Life Saving Therapies Network, BioCanRx and Arvizio Health Technologies.
We wish to congratulate all the finalists and recipients on their inspiring accomplishments.
To learn more on the BYAs and the past finalists and recipients, click here »
- Category: Appointments and Honours
For the last four years, the Fondation franco-Ontarienne (FFO) has been highlighting the commitment of women in the Ontario community and their achievements through the Sapphire Night. This year's theme was Diversity, and a total of seven women were recognized under four categories. Two women were recognized for each of the following categories; Community Engagement, Youth component, and two for the "Professional" component while one winner was named for the "Female Personality of the Year" category.
We would like to congratulate Bernadette Sarazin on being named "Female Personality of the Year" as well as all the other nominees who were highlighted during this evening.
To find out more about Bernadette Sarazin click here » (in French only)
To find out more about the nominees, click here to visit the Fondation Franco-Ontarienne website » (in French only)
- Category: Telfer Announcements
Almost every person knows of someone who has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. It is not uncommon for the victims of sexual harassment to feel ashamed and afraid of social retaliation if they speak out. As a result, many people keep their experiences as a secret locked in a box.
But this is slowly changing. Following the recent wake of allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace, an increasing number of women from all over the world has found the courage to unlock these burdensome boxes.
As prominent Hollywood actors, golden-medal winning athletes, and female members of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have come forward to share their stories, we finally began to grasp the extent of the problem.
What seems to be different this time is that these women are finding the safe space to be heard.
“I believe the #metoomovement and the fact that more people are supporting and listening to the victims have really encouraged a lot of women to siege this opportunity to voice their own experiences of sexual harassment in their everyday lives, including at work,” explains Telfer School of Management Professor Jane O’Reilly. Professor O’Reilly is doing research on interpersonal mistreatment in organizations, including sexual harassment.
Click here if you would like to learn why organizations should take even subtle forms of sexual harassment seriously in order to create a respectful workplace environment.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
A woman with a plan
Jodie Harrison has been a planner. As a Telfer BCom student, Jodie set her sights on becoming an investment advisor. So she specialized in finance and took advantage of the school’s Connexions Program to intern with a national investment firm during her final year. Jodie also worked at the Career Centre and served as president of the Telfer BCom students’ association, roles that enabled her to gain several skills and many contacts that would prove especially valuable once she graduated.
“Everyone in the program earns the same degree,” she said. “It’s the things you do beyond your schoolwork that not only set you apart from other graduates, but also equip you to move closer to your goal.”
Jodie Harrison remains a planner. She does it professionally for BMO Nesbitt Burns, helping families and entrepreneurs achieve financial success. She also does it for our school. Jodie has served as president of the alumni association; she is a member of the executive mentorship program; and she was just named chair of the 2018 scholarship golf tournament.
“Heading up the tournament is a perfect fit for me as an investment advisor,” she said. “I want Telfer students to have access to many generous scholarships, so they can graduate with little or even no debt.”
Jodie Harrison is forever a planner: “My advice to Telfer students is to find your own path and then work hard—building networks, sharing experiences, finding mentors and supporting peers along the way.”
Sounds like a plan.
- Category: Rising Stars
The Women in Management Network (WMN) is a newly founded initiative at the Telfer School of Management that aims to equip women to succeed in their personal and professional endeavors. The three-tiered initiative’s goal is to support females to excel in their careers through mentorship and increase female participation in the management sector; build a positive, supportive, inclusive community; and develop their skills to foster creativity and innovation.
The woman behind WMN is none other than Polly Leung. Polly Leung is a fourth year BCom student in International Management from Markham, Ontario and a recipiemt of the Merit Scholarship of the Telfer School of Management. She has become passionate about making a way for herself and other women alike in professional industries. Polly noted that she’s had many ideas over the years but commitment waned and they didn’t take off. Polly detailed how she envisioned the WMN network as a program where women built each other up in a community atmosphere and where they could celebrate their successes and acknowledge and learn from struggles. “You can have as many good ideas as you’d like, but without the demand, passion, and commitment from yourself and your support network, it won’t happen. This idea stuck and took off.” Polly herself acknowledged that without the support and encouragement from the Telfer School, particularly the Career Centre that the WMN network would not have been possible. Polly also notes that she has had many professors who have taught her to dig deeper, ask the tough questions in and outside the classroom, and to always strive for more.
“Transformational over informational,” is Polly’s mindset behind the WMN network. She aspires to host events that bring people together and allow them to share and learn from one another and create transformational relationships rather than strictly host informational sessions. Polly said that she works to mimic Oprah’s ability to connect with people, and inspire purpose and drive in everyone around her.
For Polly, the future is bright. She strives for a career in an executive level marketing position where she’s able to have a healthy balance between her commitments, her creativity and following her passions, hopefully, she notes, in a big city. But for now, Polly continues to work with an incredible team of people involved in the WMN network, to take inspiring, insightful classes, and on top of it all, she’s just submitted an application to do an international exchange.
WMN is launching a series of events in the upcoming three months, including a finance workshop series, and an entrepreneurship program. To register for an upcoming event: telfer.uOttawa.ca/careercal
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Student Voices
The following article was written by a member of our student community. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Telfer School of Management. For more information or to flag inappropriate content, please