Thank you.
In February, in the riding of Pickering—Brooklin, we hosted the inaugural Black entrepreneurs forum, bringing together black business owners and community members for a very important conversation about opportunities, barriers and the road ahead.
Minister Valdez, thank you again for joining us as a panellist. Your presence meant a great deal to the community.
At the forum, three themes came through clearly: the challenges of finding the right information on available funding and programs, the power of mentorship and community collaboration in building a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem, and the importance of investing in Black youth as the next generation of business leaders.
With programs that can support SMEs—like the business benefits finder, which offers eligible businesses up to $50,000 to expand into international markets—already in place, can you speak to how the national Black entrepreneurship strategy is translating these themes into concrete outcomes? What more can be done to ensure that Black entrepreneurs in the community, like ours, have equitable access to the full suite of supports available to them?