Visa is empowering women entrepreneurs across Canada, offering ten $10,000 grants and a year of business coaching through the Visa She’s Next Grant Program in partnership with IFundWomen.
MFMG Cosmetics
Tomi Gbeleyi-Curtis
MFMG (Makeup For Melanin Girls) Cosmetics is a community-driven beauty brand that develops and curates products tailored to multiethnic customer needs. They celebrate diversity in beauty by building partnerships and offering extensive support to artists, content creators, and influencers. All their products are 100% cruelty-free and are available direct to consumer.
Maguire Shoes Inc
Myriam & Romy Belzile-Maguire
Launched in 2016, Maguire is a family-owned shoes and accessories business that delivers quality and affordability in fashion. By partnering with handpicked manufacturers overseas, they create original classics in small batches that are ethically crafted. Maguire sells directly to customers via their website, pop-up shops, and boutiques located in Montréal, Toronto, and New York City.
Sea Smart
Dr. Elaine Leung
Sea Smart is a Vancouver-based charity with a mission to encourage and empower communities to love and protect our oceans. Led by a team of marine biologists and environmental educators, Sea Smart develops innovative programs such as school workshops, beach summer camps, and shoreline cleanups. Their work fosters curiosity and the commitment to make positive environmental impacts that last.
CASE
Catherine Marot
CASE is on a mission to save Toronto’s single-use takeout containers from landfills. What started as a solo project to “save one container at a time” has resulted in the reusability of nearly 200,000 containers in just a year. Their bin collection service is available for free at 10 locations across the GTA. They also provide quarterly impact reports on their clients’ carbon and waste savings upon request.
Blume
Taran & Bunny Ghatrora
With a focus to serve the health and self-care needs of the upcoming generation, Blume helps young women to become the best, most natural version of themselves. They offer skin, body, and feminine care products that are made with gentle, environment-friendly ingredients. Founded by two sisters, Blume is building a safe space to nurture learning and growth, where womanhood is always celebrated.
Beeja May
Christine Trinh
Beeja May is an online resale store in Canada offering easy ways to shop second hand from home. Their wide selection of branded, pre-loved products includes maternity & nursing apparel, rescues, baby gear, footwear, books, and accessories. Each item is inspected for quality and functionality and then sorted into a collection. Beeja May also purchases kids’ and maternity clothing from families through a free pick-up or drop-off service.
Cooks Who Feed Inc.
Seema Sanghavi
Cooks Who Feed is a social enterprise that unites food lovers to help fight hunger. They work with charitable organizations to salvage surplus food and offer it to those in need. They design and sell ethically produced aprons through a give-back model designed to deliver 100 meals for each item sold. Having all textiles handmade in India also creates safe fairtrade employment opportunities for local marginalized women.
Shivanesce Wellness Inc.
Shivani Argalwal
Shivanesce Wellness is an online wellness-focused store set up by a group of mental health professionals. The all-female BIPOC team encourages safe and practical self-care as an essential part of healing in daily life. Their goal is to make therapy amply accessible and attainable as it relates to mental hygiene, emotion regulation, trauma recovery, and physical wellness.
Sitti Social Enterprise
Noora Sharrab & Jacqueline Sofia
Sitti is a conscious lifestyle brand committed to educating, employing, and empowering people from displaced communities around the world. They design handmade, sustainable bath & body collections, apparel & accessories, kitchen products, and gift sets. The revenue from each sold item goes towards skill development and employment opportunities for refugees and the underprivileged.
Unika Swim
Betsy Campos
Ūnika Swimwear caters to the unique and varying body types of people by offering standard and custom swimsuits ranging from sizes XS to 4XL. They also design suits to accommodate the needs of those who have undergone surgical procedures. Ūnika’s 35 styles are ethically handmade in Canada and available at their boutique and online store. Through their open-concept studio, clients get to experience the entire production process up close.
Start your business
Starting a business involves figuring out funding and startup costs, setting up a website and deciding what kind of payments you’re going to accept.
Run your business
Learn more about managing your finances, selling your product or service, optimizing your website and getting on online marketplaces.
Grow your business
Fine-tuning your efforts, discovering new strategies and managing your online reputation can help grow your business.
Digital Downloads
Learn more about the digital landscape and transforming your business digitally.
Visa has also teamed up with a number of organizations including Google, Shopify, and WordPress.com as well as Visa’s own payments platform Authorize.Net, to provide offers and educational resources for small business owners.
