哈利法克斯组织为黑人，土著，种族化的企业家提供支持，编程

一个本地组织正在通过提供网络活动和计划来支持黑人，土著和种族化的企业家。

阿尔弗雷德·伯格森（Alfred Burgesson）是创始人兼首席执行官Tribe Network,which held a series of networking sessions across Atlantic Canada this spring.

“我们希望那些注册的人在实际告知我们计划的设计方面发挥作用。因此，我们做了路展以给他们这个机会。”伯吉森说。

Alfred Burgesson是Tribe Network的创始人兼首席执行官。照片：部落网络。

布尔吉森说，他们仍在筛选这些网络活动的反馈，并希望在7月中旬之前在线获得最终报告。他说，网络平台上很快就会开设课程，以便人们可以按照自己的速度访问培训。

“This is one thing we heard from the roadshow: ‘We don’t want to just sign onto a zoom meeting once a week,'” Burgesson said about the feedback. “We want to be able to access the content at our own pace. If we can’t make the Zoom meeting on a Friday, we want to be able to access the content at 3am on Sunday.’”

这黑色启动项目is one of the programs offered by Tribe Network. That project includes three streams for those who sign on: start, build, and accelerate. Entrepreneurs could be eligible for mentorship and funding through the project. Burgesson said that more than 280 Black entrepreneurs have signed up for the Black Start-Up Project.

“I would say by August we should have money flowing out to support Black entrepreneurs in terms of covering some of their business needs,” said Burgesson.

He said the roadshow networking events were also meant to help shape how the Black Start-Up Project and future programs will be implemented and rolled out.

“如果您想这样做，那就去做。”

Georges Nana, Olaitan Onyebuoha, and Clinton Davis take part in a panel discussion for Tribe Network, which was moderated by Lily Lynch. Photo: Tribe Network.

克林顿·戴维斯（Clinton Davis）is a former independent hip-hop artist and has a degree in audio engineering. His first business was a recording studio in Toronto. Davis and his wife, Saly, now own and operate a salon, spa, and online store in Moncton.

戴维斯（Davis）是参加由部落网络主持的网络活动的众多黑人加拿大企业家之一。他还是4月在蒙克顿举行的首届网络活动的三位小组成员之一。

That event included a networking session, talks by guest speakers, and breakout tables where groups would discuss the challenges Black entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada face.

“It was just meant to bring people together,” Davis said. “There was a lot of names, numbers, and business cards exchanged.”

克林顿·戴维斯（Clinton Davis）是Tribe Network首次网络活动的小组成员。照片：部落网络。

Davis said he’s since met with several people who reached out for mentorship.

“我的主要信息从不害怕去那里做，成为一名企业家。我谈到了一些挑战，以及我学到的一些教训。但是我的主要信息是：如果您认为自己想成为一名企业家，如果您想这样做，那就去做。听起来并不那么令人恐惧。”

“十分之二的业务可能失败。在大多数情况下，企业家可能会停止开展业务，他们可能会转向其他企业，但是即使业务失败，也不意味着它会破坏该人。”

参与者参加了Tribe Network举办的网络活动，旨在帮助塑造黑人启动项目。照片：部落网络。

布尔格森对企业家精神的兴趣始于高中，但他说，这是他上大学并参加计划以帮助建立数字媒体业务的计划时，他发现他的需求并没有被以黑人企业家的身份满足。

“I think a lot of Black entrepreneurs that are trying to venture out into the ecosystem face some problems where all these accelerators and incubators and innovation hubs, a lot of them are funded by tax dollars,” Burgesson said. “And when you go into them they don’t make up what Canada looks like.”

He said he often felt like he didn’t belong and the experience was isolating.

“如果我正在建立一个应该为黑人服务的业务，我该如何从不黑人或[不知道]黑人体验的人那里提供有关如何为黑人服务的建议？当提供建议的人对您要服务的社区一无所知时，很难获得相关建议来建立业务。”

2020年夏天，布尔吉森与加拿大参议院和加拿大参议院参议院签订了合同。通过该计划，他们与全国各地的黑人组织合作以识别障碍。布尔吉森帮助了制定调查the organizations gave its members.

“We identified some of the gaps in the entrepreneurship ecosystem for Black entrepreneurs,” he said. “And they were all things I knew existed. Government needs reports to justify some of its actions.”

当合同结束时，伯吉森说，他作为一名企业家经验，通过他收集的数据在全国范围内得到其他黑人加拿大企业家的验证，这激发了他启发他开始部落网络。

In the fall of 2021, Tribe Network received a federal grant for three years’ worth of funding to hire staff and run programs such as the Black Start-Up Project.

参与者参加了Tribe Network举办的网络活动，旨在帮助塑造黑人启动项目。照片：部落网络。

“A lot of these organizations that are serving entrepreneurs have programs that will often be set up in such a way that there’s one case manager in the whole organization that works directly with all the entrepreneurs,” said Burgesson. “There are rarely opportunities for the entrepreneurs to work together and support each other.”

Burgesson said he personally learned much more when he met with other Black entrepreneurs to understand the barriers they face.

“我们已经能够创建一个网络,黑色nd Indigenous people are signing up on the platform and we can service them by providing them resources, but I think there’s a lot of value in the members themselves also being able to share information with each other and sort of overcoming that isolating feeling of being an entrepreneur, but also being a Black entrepreneur in Atlantic Canada.”