Taking care of business in Shawinigan

Société d’aide au développement des collectivités (SADC) Shawinigan

SADC Shawinigan empowers women to foster economic development and create more prosperous communities. 

Flexipreneur. If you haven’t heard the word before, don’t worry – it’s a term that was coined by the Société d’aide au développement des collectivités (SADC) Shawinigan, a socio-economic development agency that provides financing, consulting, and other forms of support to start-ups and growing businesses in that city.

What inspired the term? SADC Shawinigan conducted a study in 2019 to explore part-time entrepreneurship in Quebec, a phenomenon that remains undervalued and under-recognized in the province. The study revealed that many women did not recognize themselves in the typical definition of an entrepreneur – someone who works long hours and takes big risks.

In contrast, a flexipreneur is a person trying to run a business while juggling another job, full or part-time studies, a family or other forms of caregiving. The new term found popularity among women who felt it described their activities more accurately. Flexipreneurs are also a growing group in Québec and it’s among women that part-time entrepreneurship has experienced the greatest growth in recent years.

Inspiring stories

Many women don’t see themselves as classic entrepreneurs for many reasons: existing systems were not created with women in mind, and business role models are often men. These exclusionary practices prevent women from going into business or seeking support from organizations.

SADC Shawinigan set out to fix this problem. With funding from the Women’s Program offered through Women and Gender Equality Canada, they launched “Alternative Entrepreneurship for Women,” a project designed to help part-time women entrepreneurs by removing systemic barriers that stand in their way.

Since then, this exemplary initiative has garnered much interest.  It’s been boosted by a campaign called “Flexipreneures inspirantes” (in French only) a series sharing the stories of successful multi-taskers. Other SADC members in Quebec have embraced the series to better help the flexipreneurs in their region.

“Our goal is to develop something tailored for flexipreneurs, for part-time women entrepreneurs, for women-owned small businesses,” says Sylvie Lavergne, Development and Communications Director at SADC Shawinigan. “We have the advantage of being able to work on several levels and support women and vulnerable citizens to access the digital economy.”

One example is Kathryne Gervais, a certified perinatal kinesiologist from Trois-Rivières. During the pandemic, the clinic where she worked closed. Kathryne needed to find a new direction for her career. She launched a business she had been considering since 2018 and started offering pre- and post-natal kinesiology services virtually. She has recently started seeing clients in person. Kathryne now identifies herself as a flexipreneur. She was selected as a finalist in the Flexipreneur Special Prize in 2021. She has helped more than 200 women become physically active moms.

Lysandre and Sandrine Chiasson are another example. In 2020, the sisters bought a furniture business that had been operating on Quebec’s Magdalen Islands for more than 60 years. With local SADC support, Lysandre and Sandrine improved the inventory at the store and reopened the business under a different name, making it fully their own. Because Lysandre kept her job as a respiratory therapist, she was able to combine her entrepreneurial activities and her regular job. In other words: she became a flexipreneur. She describes this model as “the best of both worlds.”

Promoting autonomy and empowerment

The “flexi phenomenon” is just one example of SADC Shawinigan’s focus on people. The organization also creates services to address the gaps in economic development suffered by businesses and initiatives run by women.

“We’re big on bringing businesses into the digital economy,” Sylvie says. “Women ask for technical assistance more than men. They seek help because they want to become more competent. They want to learn. And they are often better prepared than men to meet with us.”

Some of the SADC’s services have helped to close these gaps through technical assistance and advice in finance, accounting, web presence and everything related to computers. According to Sylvie, SADC Shawinigan does not support companies; it supports entrepreneurs. They support the human side of business.

“When we provide technical assistance, we don’t do it for the entrepreneurs; we do it with them,” says Sylvie. “One example is our web presence support program. We draw a portrait of the business with entrepreneurs. Then, we give them homework to complete before the next meeting. The goal is that, by the time our support sessions end, entrepreneurs can manage their own businesses independently. We empower our clients to truly achieve this objective.”

At the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, SADC Shawinigan once again excelled at showing its human side. It offered financial aid to entrepreneurs who were not eligible for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or provincial programs. A good proportion of those who received SADC assistance were women whose businesses were in areas deemed more vulnerable than those run by men.

Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic because there is a higher number of women working on the front lines of the health care and services sectors. Women also spend more time on unpaid work than men, which means they’ve had to juggle many responsibilities at once. As living rooms became offices, women had to adjust quickly to care for family.

“During the pandemic, entrepreneurs who didn’t know us came for both the funding and the technical help," explains Sylvie. Throughout this difficult period, the organization helped women representing 58 companies, 34 of which were entirely women-owned.

A direct impact

As SADC Shawinigan continues to bring more and more businesswomen and flexipreneurs into today’s economy, the organization’s example and influence can only grow. Sylvie is quick to point out that job creation is almost five times greater among businesses owned by women if they are supported by a SADC, compared to those that are not.

Gender bias plays a big role when it comes to securing funding. Women hold fewer senior positions and are seen as a higher risk for loans. SADC Shawinigan works to defeat this bias. It strives to equip women and other underserved populations with the necessary tools to stand on their own in the business world.

Almost 40 years after its foundation in 1984, SADC Shawinigan is stronger than ever. Its imprint on the city it serves, as well as the rest of the province, is significant. Businesses are prospering and communities are benefiting.

“We have multiple initiatives that touch different clients. Our core goal is to create economic opportunity,” says Sylvie. “The social and economic aspects are closely linked. With our network, we hope that we can continue to have a direct impact on progress, on the growth of women-owned businesses and flexipreneurs, and on job creation throughout the province.”