This is the next instalment of our new profile series on B2Bnn: Women in B2B, sponsored by SqueezeCMM. With these profiles, you'll learn about the careers and business goals of inspiring female leaders in the B2B industry.
A new project aiming to meet the tremendous need for and by female-led ventures will be giving five Canadian businesses a boost in December.
That's where Radical Generosity comes in.
The brainchild of Saunders, an award-winning mentor, author and speaker, Radical Generosity will be launching its first cohort this month as five women-led businesses will be chosen by their peers to receive five-year, interest-free loans totalling $500,000.
Saunders launched the Canadian Radical Generosity model earlier this year with the goal of getting 1,000 women to gift $1,000 each – a collective $1 million – to improve on the low levels of funding that women-led ventures receive, and the limited number of female entrepreneurs that have mentors and advisers.
At the end of November, the project had 500 investors, a number that the Ottawa native is pleased with, given Radical Generosity's unique funding model.
Saunders can't wait to see how the support of 500 women will impact business owners' dreams, ambitions and boldness.
The 51-year-old business maven said she has been the beneficiary of support and advice from women at different points her in life.
This fall, Radical Generosity had 239 applicants Canada-wide. Product ideas ranged from food coverings made from beeswax, to video games that teach empathy, to wellness products.
The contributors, or "activators," as Saunders calls them, will be choosing the recipients this month. "We're asking women to choose their favourites, the ideas that they are most excited to support," Saunders said.
The entrepreneurs will negotiate with each other to split the funds. This will help the women excel outside of their comfort zone, Saunders said. After the money is repaid to SheEO, it will be loaned out again to the next cohort of companies, with each $1,000 commitment paying it forward over and over.
Saunders said that change is much-needed.
Anyone starting a business has challenges from the get-go, she said.
Things are even tougher for women.
The rewards, for those who choose to undertake the challenge, are great.
Supporting women also means shouldering the communities they work in, as women are more likely than men to invest in their communities.
"If women were financed to the same degree as male-led companies, we would create six million jobs in the next five years in North America," Saunders noted.
The goal by 2020 is to expand the program worldwide, getting one million women to gift a collective $1 billion.
"The biggest issue with Radical Generosity was how to design an experience to wake us up to the fact that we have all we need to change the world," Saunders said. "The only thing stopping us is ourselves. It needed to be small enough that it was doable and be able to replicate and grow so that it could have a big impact and it needed to be different enough that it twisted your brain a bit.