In addition to the grant program, Visa is relaunching Visa SavingsEdge® with new features to provide greater value to small businesses

TORONTO, Aug. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Visa Canada announced the recipients of its She’s Next Grant Program, which aims to advance women-owned small businesses (SMEs). The program will award $10,000 CAD grants to 10 winners and access to an accelerated mentoring program through York University’s YSpace. Since its launch, the program has awarded a total of $700,000 CAD to women-owned small businesses and countless hours of mentoring.

According to data from the latest Visa Small Business Pulse Report, Canadian SMEs are optimistic about the future despite economic concerns.¹ Almost half (47%) of Canadian SMEs surveyed expressed optimism about the economic future and 68% forecast revenue growth.²

“Visa is committed to supporting Canadian businesses. Given the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, we are excited to support this latest group of recipients on their path to success,” said Sarah Steele, Senior Director, Small Business Product at Visa. “We know owning and running a business is not easy, especially in this economic climate. We want to help break down the barriers many entrepreneurs face and support them, whether through funding, training, tools or resources, and encourage their growth – supporting everyone everywhere.”

Recipients in this round of the She’s Next Grant program come from a variety of industries, from healthcare to education and inclusive food products to cutting-edge technology:

• Flourish Kitchen (Chemainus, BC): Flourish Kitchen creates travel-friendly meals for women with active lifestyles. They are low FODMAP, gluten-free and dairy-free to help women with food sensitivities feel more comfortable.

• Habetin Houses (Sechelt, BC): As a licensed residential builder, Habetin Homes specializes in new construction, renovations and additions of all sizes, as well as custom carpentry – using industry-leading software to deliver project plans and clear communication throughout.

• Magnestar Inc (Toronto, ON): Magnestar’s 24/7 software maps and monitors all communications between Earth and space, predicts disruptions, and prescribes mitigation tactics to ensure signal stability for space operators.

• Material future (Toronto, ON): Material Futures transforms dairy waste into sustainable dyes, providing an environmentally friendly solution that adds value to the dairy industry and reduces environmental impact.

• Myni (Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC): Myni produces household and personal care products concentrated in small tablets or fine powders to avoid plastic and offer products without toxins.

• Peek-a-boo (Toronto, ON): Peekapak is an award-winning digital, literacy-based social-emotional learning (SEL) platform for students in grades 1-12.

• PragmaClin (St. John’s, NL): PragmaClin’s Parkinson’s Remote Interactive Management System (PRIMS) is an innovative digital platform for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease that provides real-time monitoring, assessment and personalized care.

• SERAY (Vancouver, BC): SERAY offers innovative cooling nightwear for women from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The sustainable nightwear ensures comfort, regulates body temperature and promotes restful sleep.

• Excellent food (Toronto, ON): Stellar Eats is a unique line of grain-free and refined sugar-free baking mixes with 8 (or less) real food ingredients.

• The plant-based workshop (Vancouver, BC): The Plant Based Workshop creates Asian-inspired, innovative, plant-based products. The diverse product lines offer a lot of variety, from noodles and broths to mochi cakes.

Supporting the growth of small businesses

In Canada, 61% of small and medium-sized businesses plan to launch a new product or service and 55% plan to sell products or services in a new province or country. ³ To help entrepreneurs grow their business, Visa has redesigned and relaunched Visa SavingsEdge® to enable smarter spending and saving. The enhancements result in a more dynamic platform with new offerings and features, including:

• Hundreds of merchant deals in categories including travel, electronics, business services and more.

• Real-time email notifications when cardholders with linked cards earn cash back on qualifying transactions.

• A cashback tracker that allows cardholders with linked cards to see the savings they have earned through the program.

To learn more, visit Visa SavingsEdge® and link your Visa Small Business card for free to start saving today.

For more information about the She’s Next Grant Program and recipients, visit Visa.ca/grantprogram. For small business resources, including advice and tools for running and growing a small business, visit the Visa Small Business Hub.

About Visa Inc.
Visa (NYSE: V) is a global leader in digital payments, enabling transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that inclusive economies empower all people, everywhere, and we see access as the foundation of the future of money. For more information, visit Visa.com.

Media contact:
Tracy Truong, Visa Canada
[email protected]

¹ Visa’s Small Business Pulse is a quarterly study conducted by Maru Group in partnership with Visa. The data in the report comes from 789 Canadian small business owners surveyed in April 2024. (“Small businesses” are defined as businesses with fewer than 100 employees and revenue of less than $25 million.).
² Visa’s Small Business Pulse, April 2024, Maru Group in partnership with Visa.
³ Visa’s Small Business Pulse is a quarterly study conducted by Maru Group in partnership with Visa. The data in the report comes from 802 Canadian small business owners surveyed in January/February 2024 (“Small businesses” are defined as businesses with fewer than 100 employees and revenue of less than $25 million).