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BMO Announces $100,000 Grant Program for Women Owned Businesses

To celebrate business owners’ innovation and resilience during the pandemic and provide additional support, BMO Celebrating Women – a BMO-owned community program – has pledged $100,000 in grants to Canadian entrepreneurs. This new grant program will award ten women-owned businesses with $10,000 to put towards their business.

To assist with the grant recipient selection process, BMO is collaborating with key strategic partners to establish an advisory committee and judging panel consisting of leaders from GroYourBiz, Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), Women Get On Board, Women Business Enterprises Canada, Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, and Deloitte.

“The new grant program honours the achievements of women-owned businesses and their ability to innovate and persevere during this difficult time,” said Erminia (Ernie) Johannson, Group Head, North American Personal and Business Banking, BMO Financial Group. “We are deeply committed to developing programs that support the growth of women-owned businesses and to helping women make real financial progress.”

Since its inception in 2012, BMO Celebrating Women has honoured more than 180 women in communities across Canada and the United States. The new BMO Celebrating Women grant program is a part of the bank’s commitment to drive the advancement of women and its Purpose commitment to Boldly Grow the Good in business and in life.

“It’s essential for the economy and for the future of Canada that brilliant, resilient women entrepreneurs are recognized and elevated. Deloitte is proud to assist BMO with this important initiative,” said Linda Blair, Managing Partner, Ontario, Deloitte. “We recognize that these are exceptionally difficult times to sustain and grow a business, and we want to do what we can to help these entrepreneurs thrive.”

In addition to the new grant, BMO has developed programs and invested in solutions to support women entrepreneurs, including its commitment to making $3 billion in capital available to women-owned businesses across Canada over three years.

To learn more about the grant program and BMO Celebrating Women, visit https://bmoforwomen.com/ and join the social conversation using #BMOforWomen.

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