The Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa has launched the Global Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education and Training Plus (GEET+) report.
Authored by Telfer professors Barbara Orser and Catherine Elliott, the document provides a toolkit of resources to enable entrepreneurship educators, small business trainers, sponsors and policymakers to design more inclusive content and delivery.
According to Orser, “the goal is to reduce the incidence of gender, racial and occupational stereotypes and unconscious biases associated with entrepreneurship. GEET+ is the first purpose-built toolkit to inform the design and delivery of entrepreneurship programs. We are working with ecosystem leaders, such as Invest Ottawa, to leverage evidence-based insights in all entrepreneurship programming.”
Elliot, director of the Telfer MBA program, said that “the transition to online delivery of education and training due to the COVID-19 pandemic presents opportunities to create more inclusive courses and programs.
“GEET+ advances innovative ideas to counter the regressive effects of the pandemic, particularly on women entrepreneurs. In this way, the GEET+ toolkit will help educators and trainers meet the rapidly changing needs of all entrepreneurs.”
Sonya Shorey, vice president of strategy, marketing and communications with Invest Ottawa, an economic development agency, added that the document is aligned with the economic development agency’s commitment to “help entrepreneurs from every walk of life launch, scale and succeed – with a special focus on woman founders.
“It directly supports the goals of our Female Founder and Woman-Owned Business Strategy and Action Plan. Together with Telfer leaders, we look forward to helping our community leverage and apply the key findings of this report to help inform training and advisory services and address the needs of diverse entrepreneurs.”
