Virtual Coffee Break Sessions Help Connect N.B. Women In Business
NEW BRUNSWICK – Women in Business New Brunswick (WBNB) will host the next instalment of its Coffee Break series at the end of July. The initiative allows women entrepreneurs to get together in a Zoom call and make connections while learning helpful tips to be a successful business owner.
“The main reason we wanted to do this is that one of the big barriers that women entrepreneurs face … is isolation,” director of WBNB, Katherine Lanteigne, said.
WBNB already had plans to do the virtual Coffee Break sessions before Covid-19. Lanteigne said there are networking groups in bigger cities like Moncton and Saint John, but the smaller communities don’t have that communal support.
“Then COVID-19 hit and we said, ‘more than ever, we absolutely need to launch this sooner than later.’”
The six WBNB employees worked fast to get their plan in motion months before it was supposed to happen.
They launched the program without any of the bells and whistles, they just wanted to have this space for women entrepreneurs during a challenging time.
“We just wanted to make sure that we had something in place for women entrepreneurs to interact, to break the isolation, to exchange ideas,” Lanteigne said.
“And that’s why we decided to launch it officially in April.”
The next Coffee Break is on July 22 and free registration can be done on the Women in Business NB website through Eventbrite.
The sessions are discussion-based. The Zoom call is sectioned into breakout rooms to create small pockets of conversation. At the end of the hour-long session, everyone regroups and recaps the conversations.
The Coffee Breaks can help struggling entrepreneurs, budding entrepreneurs – and age isn’t a factor. Lanteigne said lots of college students have attended the sessions.
“It can be really confusing [navigating] the entrepreneurial ecosystem in New Brunswick because there’s so much help that exists,” Lanteigne said.
“There’s a lot of organizations such as ours that offer free services so you can reach out to us.”
The Coffee Breaks are offered in both English and French. The English discussion is in the morning and the French one in the afternoon.
So far, the Coffee Breaks hosted 108 participants. Lanteigne said the feedback includes women feeling like the virtual Coffee Break is a safe space.
Covid-19 has caused a lot of anxiety, especially from business owners.
“There were a lot of unknowns,” Lanteigne said.
“But between all the women entrepreneurs, there was a lot of encouragement [and] a lot of mutual support. That was really, really nice to see. It’s very motivating.”