“It feels like I’ve been there for 10 years, in a good way. I love what I do, so I don’t really think I work a day in my life,” she said.

“I’m very passionate. We’re all very passionate about our team of women entrepreneurs and the opportunities, more than anything else. I think what we see are just tremendous opportunities to move the needle.”

WESK, which has offices in Saskatoon and Regina, helps women entrepreneurs reach their dreams by connecting them with the right people, skills and supports. An example of this is WESK’s Shaken with a Twist networking events in Saskatoon. On the second Thursday of every month, a successful local entrepreneur or a business professional joins WESK for some casual conversation, appetizers and beverages.

“It’s a great opportunity to meet your peers, to network with other women business owners,” said Mitchell.

WESK, which is funded by Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), is part of a Western Canadian model and has sister organizations across the region. What makes WESK unique in the country, however, is that it is the only organization with a membership-based model, said Mitchell, noting there are currently about 735 WESK members.

“I think one of the unique things about our organization in Saskatchewan is we’ve been around for 24 years – and next year will be our 25th anniversary,” she added. WESK members pay an annual fee of $125. As a result, they receive discounts for events and get access to training and mentoring. Members also gain unlimited one-on-one access to a business advisor, who is there to support them through activities such as brainstorming and working through business plans.

“Essentially they serve as a coach, a guide,” said Mitchell. “And, if you’re also looking for financing, then they’ll help the client get ready so that we can move that file over to our financing people, because we provide loans up to $150,000.”

Mitchell said WESK is about empowering women and working to close the gender entrepreneurship gap in Saskatchewan. Although women and men start businesses at similar rates, female-owned businesses are not scaling up to the same extent as male-owned businesses. In fact, Mitchell said, maleowned businesses are 3.5 times more likely to reach $1 million in revenue.

Mitchell said women entrepreneurs face unique barriers, with one of the top barriers being access to capital.

“Rejection rates are higher. Women tend to be under-capitalized because they ask for less money; as a result, they’re not able to achieve scale, hire people, increase access to markets, diversify their product line,” she said. “There’s a whole bunch of things that comes with not having that adequate capital.”

A second barrier faced by women entrepreneurs is not having access to valuable mentors and networks. Male entrepreneurs tend to be more plugged into the networks where a lot of decisions are made about funding and financing, Mitchell said.

“Women are not as plugged in. It sounds very simple, but the reality is women are not as plugged in and we need to get women more engaged,” she said.

“The third thing I’ll say on this is that it’s really important for men to be part of this conversation. I think WESK is making some concerted efforts to draw men into this equation. Change can only happen when we work with men to make that change happen,” Mitchell added.

“You know, most of the established entrepreneurs in our community here – even in Saskatchewan – are male. So how can we leverage their connections, their success? How can they support women entrepreneurs to scale up? How can they sponsor some of the women entrepreneurs, and have open doors for them and help them seize some opportunities? It’s important for us to be collaborative in making this change happen.”

For more information about WESK, go online to wesk.ca.

-Shannon Boklaschuk