Helping women create their own economic opportunities just got a little easier for the PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise.
On Wednesday the province gave the organization $180,000 to help 25 centres across Northern Ontario provide entrepreneurial assistance to low-income and at-risk women looking to start their own businesses.
“It does a lot for women because it provides business counsellors and workshops so they can start their business or find a job,” said Roaslind Lockyer, PARO’s executive director.
MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan), said the investment helps women find new opportunities and reduce their risk of poverty and abuse.
Mauro , whose government gave PARO $178,000 a couple of months ago to fund a micro-lending program, said the money will be especially beneficial in Northern communities where access to these types of programs isn’t readily available.
“It’s a wonderful way to help a broad number of people with relatively small amounts of money,” Mauro said.
“Whether it’s through education, counseling, directly through loans and/or grants, where people can become economically independent, I think it’s better for all of us.
“Entrepreneurship is something I have a tremendous amount of respect for. When you can help engender a bit of that and promote that and grow that, I think it benefits us all because small business at the end of the day creates most of the jobs.”
The money was drawn from the province’s Investing in Women’s Future fund.
