BDC Resources
For Entrepreneurs
BDC Small Business Week
Dare to do things differently: Power up your growth.
In celebration of BDC Small Business Week — and Canada’s dreamers and doers — we’re connecting our Women of Influence entrepreneur community with curated resources from BDC. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, expert advice, or tools to better your business, you’ll find links to it here.
resources and tools
Tap into help from BDC
What is BDC Small Business Week?
BDC Small Business Week is an annual celebration of entrepreneurship that the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has organized for 43 years. Every year, close to 10,000 entrepreneurs gather all across the nation to learn, network, and celebrate Canada’s dreamers and doers.
Unlock your potential with BDC.
BDC believes that women entrepreneurs have enormous untapped potential. They provide the contacts, financing, and management advice women need to start and grow flourishing businesses. Get help on your own entrpreneurial journey with a wide selection of free resources that meet your needs.
Visit bdc.ca/women for inspiring stories, key resources and useful tips.
entrepreneur stories
Get inspired
Praise Okwumabua was skeptical of digital investments for her salon, but higher sales and new clients have convinced her of its value.
Social entrepreneur Sheena Brady has achieved success that goes beyond selling tea and growing her company, Tease.
Indigenous values inspire FILL – Vernon’s Refill Store, an innovative new green company founded by Teresa Sanders in December, 2020.
Praise Okwumabua was skeptical of digital investments for her salon, but higher sales and new clients have convinced her of its value.
Social entrepreneur Sheena Brady has achieved success that goes beyond selling tea and growing her company, Tease.
Indigenous values inspire FILL – Vernon’s Refill Store, an innovative new green company founded by Teresa Sanders in December, 2020.
With handmade products, operational efficiency, computerization and automation made a huge impact for Sarah Laroche.
Investment from BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund helped her start-up, Waabi, develop ground-breaking technology.
Co-founder Lauren Rathmell worked with BDC Capital investment to help her company double customers and sales.
With handmade products, operational efficiency, computerization and automation made a huge impact for Sarah Laroche.
Investment from BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund helped her start-up, Waabi, develop ground-breaking technology.
Co-founder Lauren Rathmell worked with BDC Capital investment to help her company double customers and sales.
It’s simply not enough to have more women starting businesses — it’s vital to Canada’s economy that women in tech entrepreneurs have access to everything they need for their business to ‘’thrive’’. This is exactly what BDC’s new platform has been designed to do. You’ve got the vision, and Thrive is here with you to realize it.
expert advice
Take action
Strategy
A business plan describes a current business or a new project, explaining how it brings in money and how it’s run on a daily basis. It can be a key tool to convince lenders and partners that your projects are serious. Here’s how to prepare a winning one.
A strategic plan talks about how you want to change your company to grow or be ready for the future. And if you want it to be successful, it must be actionable and easy to understand. Here are the four elements you'll need, and tips on writing them.
Sales & Marketing
Think of a sales plan as your concise roadmap for the coming year, setting specific sales goals and the actions you’ll need to take to reach them. If done right, it can help you take a more strategic, big-picture approach to growing your business.
Take the first step towards improving your site’s performance with BDC's free and easy website assessment tool. Get professional feedback on up to 5 pages of your website and receive a personalized report instantly.
People
It's a common scenario for entrepreneurs: You're fighting fires daily and your business is moving so fast you have little time for human resources. To get on top of the situation, your first step should be to create a detailed HR plan.
More than half of Canadian entrepreneurs are struggling to hire the workers they need, and more than a quarter are having a hard time retaining their employees. This BDC study offers insights as well as solutions for the current labour shortage.
Finance & Operations
To better steer your company, you need to be able to evaluate its financial performance and identify potential problems before they occur. Take BDC's free quiz to identify the weak spots in your financial and accounting knowledge.
Discover ways to manage cash flow for your business — from understanding to tracking, plus tips for getting paid faster. Learn how forecasting sales and inventory and shortening customer payment terms can improve your cash conversion cycle.
Funding
Being prepared and having the right information on hand can make applying for a business loan a much smoother process. Take this 2-minute quiz for entrepreneurs and find out what your banker is looking for.
Get insights into what lenders and banks look for when evaluating you for a business loan to help you prepare a successful loan application. From the questions you'll be asked, to the winning approach to take — this free guide has it all.
Sustainability
Protecting the environment is one of the great challenges of our time. Learn what environmental practices business owners have implemented, as well as what motivates them and the challenges they have encountered along the way.
Whether you're interested in becoming a B Corp or just want to measure everything that matters — your company’s health and impact on others — this assessment will benchmark your business's positive impacts and create a plan to improve.
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