BUS INESS
Island-wide Words by Margaret Prouse Photos by Story Thorburn Photography The Prince Edward Island Business Women’s Association
M argaret Magner, Executive Director of Prince Edward Island Business Women’s Association (PEIBWA), says that the 475-member organization is expanding across PEI, “making sure we reach out to businesswomen in Tignish, O’Leary, Tyne Valley, up to Souris, Montague, all over. We’re the only businesswomen’s organization in Prince Edward Island with an Island-wide mandate. I think that’s one thing that really differentiates us, and that we take very seriously.”
The grand opening of the Rural Women’s Business Centre in Central Bedeque is being held this fall. Aided by federal and provincial funding, PEIBWA created the Rural Women’s Business Centre to serve businesswomen from western Prince to central Queens Counties. Staffed by a new manager, Shelley Jessop—one of several recent additions to PEIBWA’s staff complement—the Centre offers business advising, workshops, and other training, plus 2500 square feet of co-working space. Mindful of the time it takes to travel from western PEI to Charlottetown for programming, staff will take workshops to communities in western PEI. Magner says, “We’re hoping to provide resources to the
businesswomen in this area so that they can continue to ramp up what they’re doing and pursue their dreams.” The Effective Business Leadership Advancement (EBLA) Program, funded by the province’s Interministerial Women’s Secretariat, currently serves businesswomen in eastern and western PEI. Instructors from the University of Prince Edward Island Faculty of Business are conducting workshops between early September and late November to provide participants with useable information on leadership skills, executive communication, working with boards, negotiating, and related topics.
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www.pei-living.ca FALL 2019
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