PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise (PARO) provides a myriad of business supports including access to funding for women entrepreneurs living in Ontario.
Founded in 1995, PARO, best known for its renowned Peer Lending Network for Women (https://paro.ca/paro-circles/), is credited to be the largest in North America, supporting more than 190 Lending Circles across Ontario. Recently, PARO completed a pandemic recovery survey in follow up to two previous surveys used to track, evaluate, and analyze the effects that the Covid-19 pandemic had on women entrepreneurs and their businesses.
As we enter the third year of the global pandemic, the results of this survey, anecdotal conversations, and formal and informal interviews with PARO clients indicate that the global challenges related to Covid-19 acutely and disproportionately affected women. In the business world, this statement rang true for women entrepreneurs as they continue to navigate staffing challenges, access and accessibility restrictions, and government support restrictions among many other ongoing challenges.
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A not-for-profit social enterprise, we collaborate to empower women, strengthen small business, and promote community economic development across Ontario.
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