Forget Empowerment: Supporting Women in Business is About Access, Opportunity and Impact
You can’t learn to swim without getting in the water. Similarly, businesses can’t learn how to grow and compete without winning sales contracts and finding opportunities to break into supply chains. WBE Canada’s President Silvia Pencak recently visited Halifax, Nova Scotia to meet with local women-owned businesses and engage in discussion about supplier diversity. Event was organized by Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) which interviewed Silvia during this time. Here are couple quotes for you to enjoy.
“I often hear about empowerment, but women don’t need empowerment. They are already powerful. What they need is access to contracts. They need procurement deals. And they need money in the bank to support their business. Once they secure a deal, they’ll grow and learn and figure things out, but first, they need that opportunity,” says Silvia Pencak, President of WBE Canada.
“Traditionally, women have had a harder time breaking into large corporations, getting contracts and building business relationships because we simply weren’t at the table. Supplier diversity helps open the door. Women and minority-owned business are now being given access to government and big-business procurement where they normally wouldn’t. Momentum is building, but there’s still a long way to go.”
“We need to change the conversation from helping women ‘figure things out’ and doing all of this work inside a vacuum, to helping them really get out there where business deals are made. Women need more opportunities and contracts, and that’s what we’re working to change.”
This article was published at Nova Scotia Business Inc. website. You can read full article here.