Jackee Kasandy now owns and operates a retail retailer on Granville Island in Vancouver, and whereas she is profitable now, it was a tough highway to get right here.

“I couldn’t get anybody to fund me for the lifetime of me for the primary three years of my enterprise,” she instructed International Information.

Kasandy left her job within the company world in 2015 and took a leap of religion to start out her personal retailer.

“I drained all my financial savings, all my bank cards, all my RRSPs, to simply get off the bottom,” she mentioned.

She discovered he was dealing with much more hurdles than she had anticipated.

“I’m a girl, I’m an immigrant, I’m Black,” she mentioned. “I’ve to work just a little bit tougher. I’ve to show my humanity first, after which show my smarts after which show my enterprise to get somebody to truly have a look at me, hearken to me, and supply.”

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Lowering limitations confronted by Black girls entrepreneurs

Now Kasandy is utilizing what she discovered to assist different Black entrepreneurs.

The group, Black Entrepreneurs and Companies of Canada is holding a free Black Enterprise Summit Feb. 24-25 for everybody who’s .

They’re additionally operating a contest the place the winner would get $25,000.

Among the many contestants, Deress Asghedom is the founding father of Vaster, an AI-powered app for hashish merchandise.

Mwenda Dyck can be within the operating for his microgreens verticle farming system.

“I’m simply form of operating out of the spare bed room in my home proper now,” Dyck mentioned. “However the grant cash will enable me to renovate a barn simply exterior of Chilliwack that I’ll be capable of actually scale up the manufacturing.”

Kasandy mentioned it’s all about opening the door to enterprise alternatives.

“We’re in Black historical past, however I need us to have fun the way forward for what blackness seems like in Canada.”

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Black Historical past Month occasions occurring in B.C.

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