From September 28 until October 4, Startup Canada and Intuit are teaming up with entrepreneur community leaders across Canada for Startup Finance Week. The one week event will include a series of financial readiness events and workshops meant to help 500 entrepreneurs access the knowledge and tools they need to create fit and fundable enterprises.
Startup Finance Week is part of the Startup Canada Finance Program pilot, which launched in spring 2015. “Lack of financial know-how is a root cause of startup failure,” said Victoria Lennox, CEO and co-founder of Startup Canada. “To change this, Canada’s entrepreneurs need access to financial literacy training in a manner that is experiential and pre-emptive. By partnering with grassroots community leaders, we are able to deliver this programming in local communities across Canada.
Startup Finance Week will take place across Canada, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Brampton, Ontario, to Nanaimo, British Columbia, with events also being available online. Attendees can expect to participate in three-hour intensive startup finance bootcamps, free drop-in events facilitated by a QuickBooks small business advisor to train entrepreneurs on how to manage things like cashflow and forecasting payroll, and free startup finance meetups with chartered accountants and local entrepreneurs.
The Startup Finance Program was launched in response to an Intuit study of 638 Canadian entrepreneurs, which found that 39 percent of them fail a basic financial literacy quiz and just nine per cent of entrepreneurs score above 90 percent.
“Intuit has a longstanding commitment to helping entrepreneurs achieve financial independence and success,” said Jeff Cates, president of Intuit Canada. “We are proud of our important partnership with Startup Canada, which allows us to reach entrepreneurs where it makes an impact – in the local communities they call home”