Scaling into developing economies is maybe not your first thought, but can be a promising one. For example, the Indian market is one of the most lucrative for International companies to set up shop. There’s great potential to tap into and grow. 

That being said, International expansion means a lot of moving parts. At CIAP we are primarily focused on supporting Canadian Entrepreneurs in the expansion of their startups to India. We recognize that opening up into massive economies like India also means dealing with overwhelming details and diversity.

So, here is a round-up of all the resourceful articles we’ve produced to help you get started.

Here’s a List to Support Your Expansion to the India Market

We understand the considerations that startups face while trying to make the move, so CIAP has been producing content with the intention of facilitating your first steps into scaling your business. From highlighting the differences between Canada and India to looking at the opportunities we currently see in India, here are some of our articles you may find helpful:

1. Conducting Business In India As A Woman: Challenges bring women closer like nothing else ever does, regardless of culture. And while trying to penetrate into heritage-rich countries like India, they might add more layers than you are prepared to peel. There are many additional considerations that come with establishing yourself as a woman business leader in a new market. The article gives key insights and takeaways that may help you best leverage the market potential India has to offer for your startup.

2. India Internet Adoption: How Canadian Startups Benefit:  In this article, we deep dive into some insights that help you understand why choosing India might be the correct path for your business. In such a short period of time, approximately 1.37 billion people in India gained access to the internet. It signifies an economic and social benefit as its people transition from being a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. Learning these sorts of facts about a new market might inspire the strategy that will catapult your business. 

3. International Digital Marketing: Startups Expanding to India: As you get ready to make that move into India, it is important to understand the dynamics of the market and leverage digital tools to optimize your campaigns. India has been adopting technology and innovation and innovation at an unprecedented rate, it only makes sense to capitalize on this. This article can be your reference to get started on a digital-marketing toolkit with your India expansion in mind.

4. Canadian Business Opportunities in India: Outsourcing and Emerging Sectors: Canada and India have strong bilateral relations based on shared democracy, traditions and interpersonal connections. With the combination of India’s rapid development and the pre-existing ties with Canada, there is a wealth of avenues that Canadian businesses can leverage. This article dives into both outsourcing opportunities and emerging sectors and one might choose to leverage them.

5. Conducting Business in India: 4 Considerations for Canadian Startups: Making the move into a booming market like India means endless opportunities, however, the vastness of the possibilities can be overwhelming to start with. It calls for thorough research and a holistic understanding of nuances that you otherwise might not know as a foreign entity entering India. This article highlights a couple of key considerations that will allow you to get into the mindset of an internationally focused business leader. 

6. Canada-India Cultural Landscape for Business: Understanding the cultural landscape might not be the first thing that comes to our mind when considering expansion, but it should be. Culture sets a precedent for your market-entry success and has a big part to play in how you are placed. Not all products and services sell the same everywhere in the world, therefore, conducting sufficient market-fit research based on the cultural context becomes imperative. This article explores the specific facets with respect to India in contrast to Canada.

7. The Evolution of the Indian Startup Ecosystem: The Indian Startup Ecosystem has been evolving over the last decade and building a conducive environment for companies to thrive. It is now the hub for unicorns like never before. How has this evolved and what is in it for you. This article takes you through India’s journey to becoming what is today and the opportunities it holds.

8. Welcome to India: Avoiding Culture Shock: It is no news that India has its strongest roots in culture and heritage. While the country is a bottomless pit for opportunities, they are most accessible once you cross the cultural gap. From street, corporate, food, road, and you name it, there is an innate Indian-ness if you will. This article is a welcome kit for you that helps you navigate that initial culture shock. 

Indian Emerging Tier-2 Cities

Deciding on India as a whole for your business expansion is only the first small step on your journey.  Being the second-largest population in the world and seventh-largest geography, saying that India in and of itself has many markets might be an understatement. This highlights more than anything that you should take care in also selecting a region of India to start your expansion with. 

While the obvious choices are the most known cities such as Deli or Mumbai, we’d like to present an alternative perspective. Considering tier-2 cities might be a smarter move to leveraging the higher-potential-lower-competition markets. We present to you a 3-part series that gives you insights into the top-3 cities in the tier-2 category.

1. Vadodara

According to ’EY’s India Attractiveness Survey 2015, Vadodara was considered the third most rapidly emerging city. Located in Gujarat the westernmost state of India, Vadodara is home to almost 2 million (as of 2019). It is branded as the cultural capital of Gujarat, known for its rich culture and historical background. Our article takes a deeper dive into what makes Vadodara stand out and which sectors are building traction there.

2. Coimbatore

Coimbatore, a city in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu, is the second-largest of the region with a population of roughly 1.5 million. The city is often recognized as the ‘Manchester of Southern India’, thanks to the textile industry. It was recognized as the best Indian emerging city in the annual survey (India Today; 2014), and the safest city for women, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (2015). Read the article for more such insights and what it holds.

3. Indore

Indore, in central India, is considered a Tier 2 city, located in Madhya Pradesh (MP). It’s often referred to as “Mini Mumbai” because of their similarities — both being the commercial and financial capitals of their respective states. With a population of over 4 million, the predominant languages are English and Hindi, making it a good place for market entry. In a pre-Covid-19 world, they hosted a large entrepreneurial attraction, the Global Investors Summit, which draws potential investors from countries from around the world, like Germany, the UK, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.

Key Takeaway

While this topic is vast and intimidating, taking the first step is the most important and that’s why we produce content with the practical needs of CIAP participants in mind. To give a 360-degree view of the country’s landscape, these insights have proven to be of tangible value to startups looking to expand to India. We hope you’ve found value in this roundup of content! 

Have you been thinking about global expansion and has India been one of your choices? Share with us a little about the challenges you are currently facing!

The post Doing Business in India: CIAP’s Roundup appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

It is easy to lose sight and remember that starting a company essentially means solving a problem for the community and providing solutions; while being able to scale and grow with the idea. So don’t give up on your idea assuming it’s trivial, you never know how it can evolve. 

Since you cracked the toughest hurdle, which is founding the company, let’s take it a step ahead and look at sustaining it. What does it take to sustain your business in the long term? Let’s take a look.

Building a Strong Customer Base

Reaching out to new markets and expanding your audience might seem like your first thought in prolonging the growth but that may not be the best focus. Fostering your relationship with existing customers and building brand loyalty has a lot of potential, so let’s explore what that is.

1. While aggressively venturing out to build a bigger and broader clientele is imperative to growth, remember that retention gets you the bang for your buck. Only 18% of the companies focus on retention vs 40% that go after acquisition. A returning customer brings in more revenue and at least 5 times more revenue per transaction, hence it is smarter to have targeted marketing and human resources allocated to serving existing customers.

2. Whether you’re B2B or direct to consumers, keeping their needs in mind and accommodating them allows for long-standing relationships over time. Invest in personalization tools that target the needs of each of your customers, making it a wholesome 1-to-1 experience. Optimize the power of artificial intelligence while laying emphasis on training your client-facing teams.

3. We understand there are many established ways of improving ‘Customer Service’, it is known to be important for growth and sustainability. Showing that you’re invested in your customers, and delighting them at every touch-point will go a long way. And, remember that customer engagement is only an outcome and not a goal. 

Here is an interesting article with insights on Customer Experience Stats for Business Leaders.

Cultivate Partnerships

Establishing connections with entities sharing common goals is a great way to really cement your startup’s position. That, however, is easier said than done. Let’s take a look at some finer details on this topic.

1. Businesses are better together and it is important for organizations to understand this as they grow. So learn to capitalize through cultivating relationships and fostering partnerships. However, establishing a successful partnership is an art, and there are many layers to it.  But it is worthwhile to explore meaningful collaborations as you receive funding and scale into the next levels. 

2. Note that there are various kinds of relationships and varieties of partnerships you can build in the process. It could be establishing tie-ups with government organizations or grants; incubators that allow access to new ideas and talent pools; investors or VC networks for exploring complementary organizations. Each of them add value in small and big ways that will eventually compound and lead to staying in the game for the long haul. 

3. Networking is another powerful tool that by now we know has great potential in not just fostering interpersonal relations but reaping benefits at an organizational level. Put yourself out there to understand players in not just your industry but supplementing and complementing sectors that fall within your supply chain spectrum. Never underestimate the value of having partners that simply boost your message for you doing the same in return. 

Here’s our post that addresses the Benefits of Partnership and How You Can Navigate the Business Landscape

Embrace Change

The notion of being flexible and prepared to pivot has always been a large element of the startup ecosystem which has only grown in the last few years. There’s value in looking into how that might look in reality for your business.

1. Adaptation is the key that has been COVID-19’s biggest takeaway to the world at large. Businesses needed to pivot, realign, and reassess product offerings, operations, hybrid work models etc to keep up with the newly laid out landscape. Being adaptable is an important skill to develop to sustain scale, growth, and revenue. In summary: understanding that change and growth are two sides of the same coin.

2. Mapping and creating strategic plans – both long-term and short-term, with flexibility to adapt to any unforeseen circumstances that might arrive. Seperate the core values of your company from things that may seem crucial (like processes, workflows, and conventional strategies) but can be altered if the need arises. Striving to achieve balance between opportunity and risk with every decision and operational process is another sustainable method to embracing changes.

3. The most important question to ask is: Do you have a risk management assessment in place? According to a report from 2020, only 24% of companies even have robust processes in places. This makes it easier to embrace changes, making them manageable and streamlined. Even if you are just starting out, understanding what this means is imperative for growth. Thinking about this from the get-go sets the precedent as a leader in your business.

Here’s our post on Embracing Risk for Business Growth, which delves into embracing risk as a startup and getting started on setting up risk assessments in place.

Key Takeaway

While starting your company and turning an idea into a business remains the most elusive part of the entrepreneurial journey, the real trick of the trade is to sustain it over the years and keep up with growth. Business survival is the sum total of many small and big decisions – including but not limited to operational, financial, or strategic. 

Some key aspects of long-term gains are building strong customer relations, embracing changes, and cultivating partnerships; calibrating your values against your goals can help you stay focussed and yield substantial results.

What is one best practice that you currently, as a start-up, have in place keeping in mind the long-term growth of your organization?

The post How to Sustain Long Term Success for Your Business appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

But how can companies create conducive environments for women to thrive, bridge the gap, and establish inclusive norms? Let’s talk a little about that today and get you started. 

It is a conversation we strongly believe in. How? At CIAP, we focus on supporting women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses into global economies like India. We focus on the impact that women and gender-equal opportunities can bring to the world at large. 

To learn more about CIAP, click here.

What does Gender Awareness Mean?

Let us first define ‘gender awareness’ – Gender awareness aims at increasing general sensitivity, understanding and knowledge about gender (in)equality. In fact, educating both genders about the consequences of inequality can create a stronger and more positive overall environment. 

Setting the context can help closely-knit threads and bridge gaps. Taking the time to understand why an organization needs gender equality in place is imperative. It is a 3-pronged approach:

1. Knowledge-sharing in order to present facts and evidence-based elements on existing inequalities
2. Fostering, encouraging, and enabling communication; exchanging ideas and information; and creating a conducive learning environment
3. Influencing, mobilizing, and inspiring the community at large; and thereby enacting behavioural changes

All of this is, however, just a conversation starter. There will be many constraints, resistances, and obstacles along the way, but education and conscious effort are one of the strongest tools in society. 

 What is The Impact?

• Data shows that employing and providing equal opportunities to women across the board, performed substantially better. One stated example of this is the research that shows that decreasing the gender gap could grow Canada’s GDP to $150 billion within the next two decades
• The percentage of women in a leadership or board is not just an indicator for performance, but also the culture of an organization. It has a trickle-down effect across all levels of the company
• Improved work-life balance can be achieved through gender-equal norms, and indirectly impacts revenue and growth positively
• Creating a level-playing field; establishing an “equal pay for work of equal value”, work culture creates a stimulating and positive environment that people can thrive in, which can be directly proportional to overall growth

Getting Started on Increasing Gender Awareness:

If this is a conversation starter or something your organization is just beginning to actively and consciously work towards bridging the gender inequality gap – then, educating yourself and your employees is a pivotal step. Remember, taking a course is only one of the initial steps, but very necessary for moving in the direction of establishing an equal and accepting environment.

 Here are some great resources we recommend:

1. The Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) Course by The Government of Canada

The Government of Canada is dedicated to decreasing the gender gap across the country. GBA+ is recognized as a key competency in support of the development of effective programs and policies for Canadians. And these policies date back to 1955, but not many companies are aware of these. These have been renewed recently and they aim to now work even strongly to strengthen their implementation across all federal departments.

To learn more about the Government’s renewed commitment, including its response to the 2015 Report of the Auditor General of Canada “Implementing Gender-based Analysis”, view the

Please click here, to read more about the Gender Equality Initiatives 

2. Unconscious Bias Training: Dismantling racial and confirmation biases through timely training sessions. It is to create safe spaces for everyone involved.

 3. Implementing Gender-Neutral Language: Language plays a big part in shifting gears and uprooting change. It has created strong stereotypes that require great effort to change. So, take it from the top, make notes on the status-quo from hiring and initial training systems, promotions, and growth trajectories.

4. Diversity & Inclusion at Workplace: The voices on diversity and inclusion in every industry are rising. Awareness campaigns, brand collaborations, culture representation, hiring practices, inclusive policies, and many other initiatives are happening at every level. The idea is to address equality across the board and dodge common pitfalls.

Here’s a helpful blog if you want to learn more and understand how you can improve, Diversity and Inclusion at Workplace, and the Impacts & Challenges of doing so.

 Key Takeaway

Improving gender awareness is a first step that binds everything together. And that starts with educating employees, the community, and thereby society at large. Creating safe spaces, improving communication, encouraging information exchange, and fostering knowledge-sharing platforms can compound business growth.

What do you think of gender awareness at your current workplace? Do you feel that it can improve and taking up courses like this can help your organization? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The post Increasing Gender Awareness in Your Business appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

If you want to learn more about our acceleration program, click here to read more, https://ciaccelerate.com/

Despite potential roadblocks, there are a lot of resources out there geared towards tapping into the potential of women’s entrepreneurship. However, we understand that sifting through the resources and finding things that are applicable to your specific situation can be an overwhelming experience. We’ve put together a lot of resources, tips, tools, and tricks for women entrepreneurs, but this post collates the most helpful ones.

Here’s a list of articles made specifically to support your business ventures

1. Entrepreneurial Highlight: 3 Indian Business Women We Look Up To: In this blog, we looked at 3 Indian business women that we look up to. This is a great read for anyone looking for inspiration to get started. Learning from the community and diving into someone’s story can ignite and propel us in the right direction.

2. Conducting Business in India As A Woman: Whether you are a Canadian Entrepreneur looking to expand your operations into India, or an Indian Entrepreneur looking to start out and understand the nuances, challenges, and workarounds within the Indian Startup Ecosystem, this blog is for you. We addressed the typical challenges and the know-how of navigating within the landscape.

3.   Power of Word Association: Women in Business: Social biases and societal norms can sometimes weigh down on women achieving their goals. With things slowly evolving and making way for women entrepreneurs, it is important that we understand the impact of something we might consider trivial, like words. They have the power to turn around stories. This blog post addresses an element of the gender gap that isn’t as plain to see. We believe that this is a helpful read for anyone interested in promoting equality.

4.   Imposter Syndrome: The Impact on Women Leaders: A common thread that connects women is the feeling of ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Women often undermine their ability to deliver, perform, and excel because of this. It can also be a big hindrance to starting their companies and advancing their careers. If you’ve ever felt as if you haven’t earned your position, this article is for you. We’ve outlined different ways in which you may be experiencing Imposter Syndrome and some tips on how to overcome it. 

5.   Defining Success with Iliana Oris Valiente During COVID-19; Defining success can sometimes feel abstract. When Covid hit the world, that just made it a little harder. But how do women leaders stay upbeat and measure success? How do we still make a meaningful difference? Here’s an interview with a leader who breaks this down to give you a reference that may apply to your situation.

6. Women and Entrepreneurship: The Impacts & Challenges: The men to women ratio in the SME sector is heavily imbalanced. This article looks at which challenges contribute to this and how increasing women in the workforce might impact the entrepreneurial space. We think it is an important analysis to build awareness for both ourselves and society.

7. Is Your Startup Ready: Self-Evaluation Checklist:  Are you looking to expand your operations into a growing economy like India? Our CIAP program aims to help women scale their market entry. In this article, we help you evaluate your startups’ readiness for international expansion. It is a great resource to go over in general and analyze the status quo of operations. 

8.   Deep Dive into International Expansion: 3 Successful Case Studies: Do you often wonder what the journey of a fellow entrepreneur was like? What hoops did they have to jump or the compelling reasons behind the idea of the startup was? Here’s a blog post that highlights case studies of 3 of the most successful startups by women. 

9.  Business Growth: Embracing Risk: Women have been characterized as being more risk-averse compared to men in the same positions. Many companies, especially when starting out, often don’t have risk-assessment strategies in place, and opt to look for the safest routes. Managing and embracing risk can positively impact growth and lead to great opportunities. In this post, we delve into strategies to get you started on setting up risk assessment for your organization so you can have the confidence to pursue uncharted waters.

10.   Conducting Business in India: 4 Considerations for Canadian Startups: While there might be a lot of similarities in the start-up ecosystem across economies, there are also stark differences because of culture and the nitty-gritty of socio-economic conditions. They can be deal-breakers and that is why we addressed the most important considerations you need to make and be aware of, as a Canadian Start-up expanding into culturally strong markets like India.

Key Takeaway

We cannot reiterate enough that starting out an entrepreneurial journey is an overwhelming experience. In understanding that, we recommend you take it one step at a time. Collating resources can help you not just sift through and organize action items, but also prioritize them. We hope you have found our summary of resources helpful, and feel like you have found compassion and camaraderie in this space.

What has been the hardest part of starting up as a woman entrepreneur, if you are one? Or what do you think is your biggest hurdle as you start out? 

The post Women in Entrepreneurship: CIAP’s Roundup appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

A combination of established strategies and a good measure of personal innovation can make for a great mix. In this post, we present stories of 3 companies that successfully made it across the shore and what we can learn from each of them.

If you are interested in expanding to India, our acceleration program helps entrepreneurs break into new markets, make impactful connections, learn valuable skills and spur venture growth. Click here to know more.

Case Study 1: Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd

An entrepreneur at heart, Bumble’s CEO, Whitney was known to have an affinity for all things business. As a 19-year-old college student, she started small by selling eco-friendly tote bags. She also partnered to start Cardify shortly after. However, that fell apart. Cut to 3 years from there, at 22, she was the Vice President of Marketing of Tinder, a company that revolutionized online dating. She walked out of Tinder a couple of years later due to a lawsuit, and went on to create Tinder’s biggest competitor – Bumble

Whitney dedicated her learnings and personal experience to creating something that was at the core of her belief system – a women-centric firm. Her experience at Tinder showed her the missing gaps in the industry. She realized that women need more than just a dating platform, but a forum and an opportunity for networking to meet like-minded people and feel safe. This way of thinking set her apart from all existing and future competitors. 

Bumble was founded in Austin, Texas and gained initial traction at Auburn University. It did not take too long for the downloads to multiply, from 100k in a month to 22 million users in 2 years, it was unstoppable. Bumble rejected all acquisition offers and focussed on developing product offerings. 
The company garnered attention, investors, and partners globally over time. Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra officially launched this in India; Tennis star Serena Williams and many others came on board rather quickly. Today, Bumble is a public company and the fastest growing dating platform with a valuation of 8 bn USD.

Some key strategies and takeaways from Bumble are: life experiences can become your purpose of finding and running a company; knowing where users are and allocating key resources and marketing budgets to them will support your initial ventures into the market; brand positioning plus thoroughly knowing your customer base and then building features that can monetize, scale, and expand across markets are crucial. All of these factors helped Bumble become what it is today.

If you are interested in learning more, we have a similar post highlighting Indian Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurial Highlight: 3 Indian Business Women We Look Up To

Case Study 2: Rootd, Ania Wyscoka

Ania Wyscoka is an International Relations Graduate from the University of British Columbia. She wore several hats through her career spanning across design, relationship-building, content curation, and project management domains helping many tech companies in Canada. 

In the pursuit of her dream career at the United Nations, Ania experienced episodes of panic attacks and anxiety. This inspired her to start Rootd, as she saw a huge gap in the industry and the need for accessible tools. Lack of viable resources, limited content, design, and expensive service fees in the traditional mental health portfolio compelled her to start something that extends help to people who need it, just like she did. 

Rootd is now available in over 100 countries, serving over 300k customers through Google and Apple App stores. Its international expansion was a rather unassuming pursuit;  a letter from an unknown person in Brazil opened the door for global entry. The conversation snowballed into extensive research and understanding of the mental health crisis in Brazil and making Rootd available. Even though she did not speak Portuguese, it is interesting to learn that an earnest approach to the very purpose of establishing a company can lead to sustainable and organic growth. 

An interesting takeaway is a successful spin she managed to find: a freemium model and a mix of core services through monthly and yearly subscriptions. Some pertinent learnings from stories like Ania’s reiterate the idea of having conviction in your purpose and letting that be the key driver to reach your target audience. 

Through a light conversation style text and simple blog design, they are able to achieve relatability, which is the hardest part of tapping and leveraging market share.

Case Study 3 – Tealbook, Stephany Lapierre

Stephany Lapierre comes from a family of entrepreneurs and knew that it was going to be part of her life too. She started her first business at 18, planning corporate events, and her second company in 2007 which was a procurement firm that went on to support Fortune 100 companies. 

In 2015, Stephany started Tealbook, a platform to aggregate supplier intelligence for stakeholders. The idea was to create a single platform that could generate and provide harmonized and reliable data through advanced machine-learning concepts. 

The company was a result of a conversation with a supplier. The supplier couldn’t find information about a company they were trying to work with, and that suddenly presented a huge gap and an opportunity that needed to be resolved. 

Tealbook invested in algorithms even before it became the norm, which helped them stay ahead of the game. They provided solutions to their customers in a way that wasn’t done by other industry players. Stephany realized very early that her company positioning itself as a data platform to leverage market-share was a more sustainable model than being a software company. 

The company raised $18 mn CAD earlier this year and was able to capitalize on the supply-chain disruption as a result of the pandemic. They have successfully expanded their operations into Europe and EMEA, and are also partnering with giants like S&P Global and Workday Ventures to expand and optimize global networks. 

A takeaway from Tealbook’s journey is to have a long-term vision and work backwards, invest in the right resources at the right time, and thorough understanding of product-market fit. 

We also would like to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to one of our cohort companies, Summatti – an automation company that is a simple, no-code, AI-powered speech analytics platform to empower your in-house or off-site customer support & service teams. 

Key Takeaway

There is a pattern to starting a company and growing with it that we can establish from this deep-diving exercise. Having conviction in the purpose of the company is crucial to fulfilling a venture’s potential. The ability to identify opportunities that have not just global expansion potential but warrant sustainable and organic growth is another strong indicator that your startup will succeed in going global.

Launching ideas as an entrepreneur is no easy feat. So kudos on that and if you have clicked on this article because international expansion is on your mind, that’s a great next step as well. Our Canada-India Acceleration Program is still accepting applications if you have a women-led Canadian business looking to expand into new markets. 

What would you say are the biggest challenges to expanding a business globally? 

The post Deep Dive into International Expansion: 3 Successful Case Studies appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

CIAP has partnered with Lead Angels, FITT (Forum for International Trade Training) and the Innovation Hub at Carleton University to deliver the 2021 ScaleCamp. We aim to deliver a world-class virtual experience with the goal of connecting the women-led companies with leading experts to further sharpen their skills and equip the entrepreneurs with a strong growth mindset to help them take their business to international markets successfully. 

ScaleCamp will consist of several training sessions throughout the six-month duration of the program, concluding in a $20,000 pitch competition in March 2022. For the first time in our program, our ScaleCamp and Soft-landing phases will be occurring simultaneously.

Here are some resources if you’d like to learn more about the ScaleCamp and Soft-landing stages of our program. 

Meet The Cohort

Anu Bidani, Founder + CEO of STEM Minds

STEM MINDS is a BCorp certified business focused on empowering youth to become fearless leaders by developing agility and a love of learning through STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). STEM MINDS’ mission is to bring the best in learning experiences to youth to create #Fearless Learners. 

Athiya Rastogi, Data Scientist of SnapWrite AI

SnapWrite’s AI uses product images to generate features and product descriptions for E-commerce companies. It provides tools for retailers, independent store owners, in-house marketing teams to structure a brand’s(SME) catalogue through images classification, text generation, and analytics.

Dallas Barnes, Founder+CEO of Reya Health

Reya’s team is invested in women’s health and determined to help them find reliable contraceptive options without having to go through a difficult process. It was the brainchild of the CEO after her personal experience with birth control. The digital platform offers personalized health counselling and support. The idea is to make the whole process of navigating through the birth control process easy and effective. The smart algorithms utilize in-depth user profiles to match members with birth-control solutions, while the birth control tracking system also supports in managing any side effects or symptoms.

Helen Georgaklis, Founder of SCYiBL

SCYiBL combines positive psychology with neuroscientific design to help individuals work through trauma and negative experiences in a way that builds confidence and resilience. The process/app guides users to rewire their own brain using an innovative, scientifically-proven process that harnesses brain plasticity to help individuals overcome negative life events and thrive.

Ingrid Gayle, Founder of Girl Boss Chess

Girl Boss Chess Inc. is the only women-led chess collective globally that teaches chess online using an immersive and engaging teaching style to empower girls. Girls become more impactful when they watch themselves succeed. The idea is to counteract challenges and create a space for girls to learn chess and empower a future generation of Girl Bosses.

Jenn Schipps, Vice President of Applied Lubrication Technology 

Applied Lubrication Technology Inc. (ALT) has been manufacturing superior chain lubricants and automated lubrication systems. With input and consultations from their diverse customers and technicians in the field, they continually invest in producing innovative products and solutions, including camera-based chain wear monitoring and crack detection.

Jesmine Onyeukwu, Founder+CEO of Peakperfly Inc

Peakperfly was founded with the idea that women’s representation in business needs to improve and identifying that there is a need to help tap into their potential to build more sustainable businesses. They offer world-class peak-performance consulting, coaching, classes, courses, and community. The programs and products are based on the world’s first sustainable and peak performance framework to help startups and C-level executives build thriving teams, businesses, and companies. 

Kamal Dhanoa, Founder+CEO of POPTikR

KataniTech Inc developed the ‘Pop TikR’ app to support small businesses and discover the “LocalScene”. The idea is to create a positive impact in the local communities and help people explore hidden deals in eateries, restaurants, shows, attractions, etc. It is a guide for both tourists and locals alike. A unique solution that blends hyper-locality with national portability to attract inter-provincial and international tourism. 

Kelly Comeau, CEO of Bee Monitor

Bee Monitor introduces disruptive technology solutions to the beekeeping industry, including real-time monitoring with Co2, temperature, sound, and humidity levels. They extract raw data points and then use machine learning to convert that into useful information. 

Khushboo Vaidya,  Founder + CEO of EdCalibre

EdCalibre’s inquiry-based learning empowers students to score better in Math, be more engaged and build a logical mindset for future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers. The idea is to teach Math at school curriculum in an adventure-based gamified environment while understanding the real-world applications! 

Linda Tsang, Chief Operations Officer of License Academy

License Academy empowers professional networks and organizations to enhance the business value chain. With a product portfolio of : 1) Knowledge Resources: to collect raw data and turn them into knowledge products that enhance the value chain 2) Professional Standards, Certification & Licensing: to help organizations develop standards, certifications, and licensing solutions. 3) IP Assets: to code novel insights into IP assets. 

Margaret Eberle, CEO + Owner of  QC Integrated Solutions

QC Integrated Solutions supports companies and individuals focused on developing products aimed at increasing both the quality and duration of human life. With their SEAM system’s ability to automate the collection of electrical property data, electrode developers can save time and money, allowing them to focus on product efficiency and innovation.

Nadia Kalyan, Owner+CMO of Shagan Inc

Shagan is a secure platform to crowdsource monetary gifts. It is an innovative solution in the ever-changing digital world and creating new standards of gifting making the process secure, convenient, contactless and eco-friendly. The app can be used for weddings, bar-mitzvahs, charity events, etc.

Nandini Folly,  Founder & CEO of CryptoMill Technologies

CryptoMill Cybersecurity Solutions is passionate about making the world safer and more secure. They focus on disruptive innovation – working hard to create ground-breaking, impactful solutions in cyberspace which is constantly under attack. We believe that security is everyone’s right. They protect the data that builds governments & businesses, bringing protection and simplicity into the most complex of environments.

Negar Yaghoobi, Founder + CEO of Colorful Zone 

Colorful Zone is a well-being factory for designing products to improve the state of well-being in individuals. They integrate cognitive science with intelligent technologies to create personalized solutions.

Sunandini Verma, CEO+Founder of Amrev Media Inc

Amrev Media offers custom software, app, blockchain, and user acquisition development technology and solutions. It is one of a kind agency that offers a full strategy execution service. They help with creating financial models and then design/develop custom software, after which they help businesses go-to-market with acquisition strategies and implementation. They also provide a custom blockchain technology tool that shares private documents and validates KYC components.

Zsuzsanna Andrea Lichner, Scientific Consultant of Enrich Bioscience Inc

Enrich Bioscience Incorporated is a biotechnological company, incorporated in 2016, an alumnus of JLABS-Toronto, and collaborates with the Tata Medical Centre and AIIMS, India, to develop a population-based cancer-relapse detection test. Enrich’s product is an affordable, single Molecular/AI-powered test that is accurate to your ancestry.

Key Takeaway

CIAP is very excited to welcome these amazing women to our community! With companies ranging from Ed-tech to manufacturing support, this is our most diverse cohort to date. 

The Canada-India Acceleration Program has implemented a new format with our ScaleCamp training sessions taking place throughout our six-month Soft-landing phase. Our sessions will cover topics such as the Indian market, conducting international business, and how to export your business.

As our efforts in supporting this cohort are ongoing, we are continuing to accept applications. 

The post Introduction The CIAP 2021 Cohort appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

The minute you begin expanding your team, communication takes center stage. Whether it is strategic, product, or project planning, it becomes imperative for companies to have efficient communication models in place.

It is important to be aware and pay attention from the get-go because before you realize it, poor communication can get in the way creating a domino effect. Unlike the Industrial Age, it is pivotal that organizations, big or small, have free-flowing communication a two-way street. Because, there’s nothing healthy communication cannot fix.

So what are some ways you could implement strong communication strategies?

Team Dynamics and Ways of Maintaining an Open-Door Policy

The 101 of healthy team dynamics in the Information Age is to remember to break down the barriers of bureaucracy and hierarchy. Whether it is an open-door policy to share feedback with leaders, or writing emails to make suggestions, discuss challenges or critical feedback – keeping it transparent yields better results and also earns employees’ trust.

Building a team with trust as a base forms a strong foundation that doesn’t collapse easily, and that is why communication is directly proportional to evolution and growth. You can do this by:

1. Reassuring Employees: Schedule an hour every other week to meet with different teams, do a check-in to understand real-time challenges. Instill the confidence that feedback will be taken constructively.
2. Revisit and Reflect: Close loop on the most pressing issues, revisit them and discuss to show progress on the efforts being put in to change the status quo. Back it up with metrics and reflect on the action plan.

3. Keep Conversations Simple and Straight: Team meetings don’t always have to be heavy-duty and complex. Remind your team of this by calling for all-hands-on-deck meetings, to encourage sharing observations on what needs improvement and what seems to be working.

4. Lead By Example: Reiteration is easier when it is through actions. Keep the theme of open-door policy recurring and consistent, not just in meetings, but in the way the top management operates.

5. Leading Virtual Teams: The idea of traditional business operations is rapidly changing. Sensitizing communication channels to adjust to different team members’ communications preferences in the digital world is a big learning curve. Focusing on deliverables versus availability is an important message to communicate.

Take a look at our article on Leading Virtual Teams if you are interested in learning more about this topic.

Cultural Considerations when Dealing with Communications

Diversity and Inclusion is an inevitable consideration while growing as a team with blurring business boundaries. That means it is important to sensitize and educate managers to accommodate different styles of communication and what is ‘normal’ across the board. Work towards creating synergy amongst teams and team members. Encouraging direct and respectful conversations to learn how everyone operates differently, taking note of body language, or non-verbal cues. 

With globalization and expanding into newer markets, there are additional layers to peel off – such as time zones, interpretation of tones, perception of authority, sensitivity to sarcastic remarks, acceptable topics for making jokes etc. Leverage the strength that a cultural mix brings to the table and learn to put in the effort into fostering effective tools of bringing the best out of people. It can be your turnaround story.

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Many challenges arise because of struggling communication channels, but most can be solved through coherent strategies. Improved communication and collaboration through leveraging social technologies can improve an organization’s productivity by 20 to 25%. So how do you overcome challenges and bump your growth?

1. Assumptions on Perception: Many problems can be avoided if we avoid assumptions. After a message is delivered, speak to your employees and help them paraphrase what was communicated, so there are no assumptions on perception. Everyone perceives things differently and so it is important to be extremely clear on delivery and messaging.

2. Not Enough Listening: In the urge to establish policies, procedures, and operational methodologies, listening often slips through the cracks. Listen to what your team is saying through every method. Make observations and take notes on what is being communicated.

3. Vague vs. Vivid Messaging: Whether it is delegation of tasks, project responsibilities, deliverables, or establishing working standards – give a vivid account of the organizational culture you’re trying to establish. Cryptic and vague messaging can cost time and resources.

4. Avoiding Difficult Conversation: Encourage and empower your employees to discuss any uncomfortable issues that might be hindering their productivity. It equips them to deal with difficult clients and manage expectations. It can otherwise set a wrong precedent in the long run.

5. Demand vs. Urgency: Building the habit of assisting employees with prioritizing tasks helps teams channel energy productively. Demanding delivery when there’s no real emergency can lead to sloppy results.

Here’s an article on common communication challenges and how to overcome them if you want more examples.

Key Takeaway

It is important to understand that communication is more than just an isolated event or a one-time occurrence. It is a crucial aspect of life and business that is constantly shifting and evolving. When a problem arises, look back and identify the source, but also take it as an opportunity to look forward and fix it, permanently.

Improving team dynamics through open-door policies, two-way communication, the right tools both digital, and strategies is pertinent to the growth of your startup.

Cultural considerations and sensitivity to diversity and inclusion is another important element that organizations cannot afford to miss while establishing strategies in place. Asking open-ended questions to understand cultural contexts, perceptions, and perspectives can propel growth with a lot fewer pitfalls.

It is also important to have an open mind and remember that while there are some common challenges that one can easily avoid, communication challenges are inevitable especially when starting out. Again, there is little an open conversation cannot solve.

What does communication mean to your organization and what are some challenges you faced? What steps did you take towards resolving them?

The post How Communication Evolves as Your Startup Scales appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

We at the Canada-India Acceleration Program, resonate deeply with diversity and equal opportunity initiatives and support women entrepreneurs and bilateral relations between Canada and India. 

So how do you catapult towards growth through inclusion and increasing diversity? Let’s take a look at the impact of diversity and inclusion on an organization and some of the challenges and opportunities that come with it.

The Trajectory of Diversity Over The Years

The voices on diversity and inclusion in every industry are rising. Awareness campaigns, brand collaborations, culture representation, hiring practices, inclusive policies, and many other initiatives are happening at every level.

While it feels like we just started this transition in the last decade, the debate on diversity in the workplace started during the second world war. Legislation was first made in 1965 to formally address the concerns and discussions on discrimination primarily based on ethnicity, race, gender, and sexual orientation. The Civil Rights movement added pressure and changes slowly started taking place.

Improved Accountability and Expectations 

The economic impact became evident and inclusion became an imperative for companies to grow and thrive. Organizations started preemptively creating business cases to improve diversity efforts. Efforts and accountability are now quantified and measured against metrics like the retention rate, revenue generation, the productivity of employees, and brand image. 

While it was a great beginning, technology improved and business borders started to blur. Diversity initiatives needed to be more tangible, beyond just affirmative action. Programs and perks to improve work-life balance and quality of life were the need of the hour. Flexible work schedules, daycare facilities for single parents, relaxed dress etiquette, partnership opportunities, retirement and investment plans and similar offerings became bigger players in the space. 

D+I in International Expansion

Today, globalization of businesses has moved past setting up physical offices as e-commerce and remote working has taken off. An effective way to leverage expansion efforts is by diversifying your workforce. It brings in skills that are otherwise hard to find. Diversifying talent means broadening perspectives are indispensable assets for success. 

As a business leader, it’s important to always have this on your radar and reassess strategies to avoid slipping through the cracks.

Common Hurdles Faced in Addressing Equality

As technology continues to be a disruptor, the context of diversification is quite layered and interconnected. It is now beyond the realms of culture, race, gender, and race. Failing to understand the complexities of what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming concept brings challenges and hurdles. 

The idea is to address equality across the board and dodge the common pitfalls. Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent areas:

• Incomplete Diversity Strategies in Hiring:  Talent management and HR teams are the port of entry for diversification. While having policies to be inclusive in place is a great start, it is not enough if it isn’t fully encompassing. Equal work opportunities at the workplace need to include acquired diversity groups, meaning – socioeconomic backgrounds, culture, disability, all religious or political preferences, or sexual orientation. 

• Lack of Tools + Resources: When you’re first starting out with smaller teams and tighter budgets, aspects of diversification can be missed. You may feel it’s too early in your startup’s journey to really begin doing your part in this conversation. That being said, by focusing on educating both yourself and your team from early on, the foundation for continuing to grow your business in an inclusive manner will be established. 

• Leadership Participation: Representation at the top impacts brand image and the conviction an organization has towards diversity. It is important to enable a non-discriminate environment across all levels and teams. Addressing the full scope of D+I while formulating strategies is another challenge companies face. Leaders need to believe and strive towards a trickle-down effect.

To read more on the subject, our blog Women and Entrepreneurship: The Impacts and Challenges covers the challenges that come with an increased presence of women in leadership.

Finding Opportunities in Overcoming Challenges

The bright sides to the conversations around a difficult but important topic of D+I, are the innovation, technology, and companies built based on this. Adding tech tools to optimize your strategy can catapult towards positive growth and impact.

Here are some of our recommendations: 

1. Veza Global

Veza Global, a company from CIAP Cohort 2, helps companies with a host of services that help embed EDIB(Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging) across their operations. Like the EDIB assessment for overall performance score on inclusivity; EDIB Audit that surveys focus groups to understand companies policies; Advisory; and also education through their EDI course.

2. Applied:

The Applied platform helps you to remove biases around the hiring process. Some key strategies include removing job applicant information and randomizing the order to avoid racial profiling. It displays application responses from all candidates rather than having recruiters review one full application at a time.

3. Allie:

Allie is a chatbot that integrates Slack into its platform. It sends employees D+I surveys, so workers can weigh in on the company’s inclusion and culture.  Employees can share feedback and suggestions about improving D+I through their feedback feature and categorize them as “exclusions” or “stereotypes.”

4. Gapsquare

Gapsquare’s software helps highlight compensation inequities within organizations. It uses workforce data like job titles and performance along with diversity information such as disability and age to flag wage inequalities and encourages fair pay practices.

If you’re interested in finding more tools along these lines, this list compiled by TechTarget may be helpful.

What are the Effects of Increasing Diversity 

1. Improved Perspectives: Our culture and background bring innate wisdom, which is the biggest impact a healthy mix of diversity brings to the table. Broader perspectives and problem-solving capabilities add up to impact businesses positively. 

2. Improved Organizational Culture: A strong D+I environment enables employees to interact and learn from each other’s strengths, cultures, and backgrounds, which is invaluable to both the organization and employees. It naturally leads to more welcoming and upbeat work culture.

3. Improved Marketing Strategies: A team with diverse backgrounds formulate stronger marketing and product development strategies. Understanding the nuances and thereby defining and speaking to the target audience better. Creative problem-solving capabilities also improve exponentially. 

Key Takeaway

Studies and research, point positively towards the impact of increasing diversity and inclusivity at workplaces. While it is a qualitative metric that needs to be weighed through quantifiable strategies, and the implementation is slower than ideal, it is a crucial area to focus on. 

Companies need to leverage this for international expansion but, considering the blurring business boundaries, even domestic markets need it just as much. There are inherent challenges due to the nature, complexity, and sensitivity of the territory, however, there’s nothing we cannot solve with an open mind and dedicated effort.

How do you approach prioritizing diversity and inclusion as a business leader?  

The post Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenges and Impacts appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

“The challenge of a leader is looking around the corner, and making the change before it’s too late to make the change.”

Are entrepreneurship and leadership the same? Do all leaders make entrepreneurs? There are traits that overlap between the two while still being very distinct.

The common denominator remains the influence one has on the team and business, amongst other things. While a leader isn’t necessarily an entrepreneur, leadership skills are almost a requirement in the realm of entrepreneurship. What constitutes each of these roles is layered and covers a broad range of verticals. 

However, the overlap of leadership is inevitable to foster growth. Let’s look at some steps that help navigate this journey.

Expanding from a One-Person Team

Entrepreneurs are inherently self-driven and autonomous, but growth needs a good mix of soft skills that determines success. Let’s explore what this means.

In days of yore, starting a company implied a team from the get-go. The digitization of the landscape brought about change. Many startups today are one-man armies – all you need is an idea and the resourcefulness to execute it. 

While starting a business on your own is now possible, in terms of scaling, incrementally building a team is crucial. Recognizing which roles are key for your startup to thrive and grow depends on the nature of business. 

We understand that it can be daunting to grow out of a one-person team, so let’s look at effective ways to navigate through that.

1. Plan Ahead for the Team You Need: 

Having a plan in place for adding team members before you may expect to be ready for them can be helpful. You might need someone sooner than you think, so don’t hesitate to hire someone when the time is right.

2. Looking Beyond The CV:

It is a good idea for the candidate to have baseline experience in the role you’re looking to fill however it cannot be the decision-making factor. Assess how they fit in the idea of your startup, Look for those who have the passion it takes to work towards the common goal. It makes the journey smoother for everyone involved. Remember, will over skill!

If you are interested, our article: Supporting Your Business Growth: 3 Considerations for Expanding Your Team may have some additional tips to support you on this step.

3. Fill The Gaps:

Hire someone with complementing expertise and knowledge over overlapping – and one that fills the gap in both soft and hard skills alike. With tighter budgets and smaller teams, optimizing talent in the team is a smart strategy. 

Consider adding e-learning courses to your routine to help you hone your leadership skills. Here’s a short Linkedin Learning Course you can try taking to get you started. 

Adapting Your Leadership Style

There are many leadership styles, recognizing yours and seeing how to best utilize and mould it is an important part of being a well-rounded leader. Leading smaller teams means you need to wear more than one hat and tweak your style. A few tips that help you establish this:

1. Understand Your Baseline: As we discussed, understanding where you fall in the spectrum is imperative to growing as a leader. Take a leadership personality assessment if you haven’t already.

2. Adaptability: In order to bring out the best in people, tailor and adapt your leadership style to them specifically. Getting to know your team is just as important as getting to know yourself in this context.

3. Diversity: As you work with your team, make observations on the styles that might fit some but not others. Respecting and managing the team’s diversity yields optimum results.

4. Operate With A Global Mindset: Culture plays a huge role in shaping mindsets and working styles. It is more common to be working with diverse cultures, so that should always be a factor you consider.

5. Leading Virtual Teams:  With the paradigm shift towards working virtually, leadership has also changed. Ensuring goals are met and the team is motivated while leading virtual teams is another skill to train. 

Common Pitfalls Leaders Encounter

As businesses grow in terms of revenue or team, new leaders encounter pitfalls that can be common but can also be avoided. Having an awareness of them before they arise can help you navigate them better.

Collaboration:

Collaborating is a team effort that requires time and attention. Bringing another person onboard and offloading work might not happen naturally. Trusting the unique set of values that your team brings to the table and believing in the value of collaborating is a perspective that helps ease the process.

Processing Feedback:

Seeking and processing feedback in a way that works well with everyone involved is another area new leaders find hard to grapple with. In time, you will be able to reinforce a stronger working model and feedback is a key element to achieving this.

Here is a resource we recommend for ways of providing constructive feedback as a leader you may find helpful.

The Doing-It-All Approach:

Women are inherently more likely to be multi-taskers and want to have a hand in all aspects of a project. However, this can be a double-edged sword that resists asking for help when needed, which leads to burning out, restricting growth, or missing out on an easier solution. Identifying the need to ask for help, whether it is by hiring someone, bringing on a consultant, or borrowing a second opinion is a great way to avoid the pitfalls of not doing so. 

The gratification lies in turning these challenges into opportunities. While it might be the hardest to turn things around, all these steps lay a strong foundation as you grow into much bigger teams and larger revenues.  

Key Takeaway

Working towards improving your leadership skills has an overall impact on not just the way you operate as a team, but also the trajectory of your company. 

The first hire is a pivotal step towards the growth of your business. Take the time to understand what your business needs and ensure your values, passion, and skills align and also complement each other. Another key element to expanding is understanding your leadership style and working on adapting it to fit your team and the overall growth of the company. 

Lastly, being aware of the most common pitfalls new entrepreneurs face and how to avoid them. But also, remember that challenges and pitfalls are inevitable, and can turn into opportunities for improvement and growth. 

We hope you find this article helpful as you develop yourself as a leader. What has been your biggest learning in navigating leadership? We would love to hear from you.

The post Entrepreneurs and Business Growth: Navigating Leadership appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.

Growth and risk management are directly proportional. However, it is often overlooked, ignored, or not given the attention it deserves. It is the opposite and where the opportunity to grow lies – it needs to be efficiently managed but not feared. It is vital to building a positive relationship with risk from the get-go rather than fighting failures. Let us delve into the elements involved. 

Getting Started – How To Setup A Risk Assessment?

It’s important to consider, as a business leader, why you’re taking the time to look at risk. Commit to putting careful thought into where your company is as a whole as you take the steps to begin looking at and managing risks. This contemplative period is important because it acts as a baseline for your risk management strategies. 

Risk assessment is a means to determine or project the loss to an organization in case of an incident. It can mean different things depending on the nature of an organization. It is the identification of risks that might negatively impact growth. Since risk is an integral part of growth, it proves best for companies to have risk assessments in place to manage risks rather than hoping to avoid them. The basis to which is integrating a practical and sustainable risk assessment process. 

Once you have a risk assessment process in place,  it is easier for you to determine the pros and cons of taking up a project, making that investment, or expanding into new territories. Weighing the risks against the value can be both qualitative and quantitative. 

There are many methods for risk assessment that could fit your business. Take a look at these examples:

• Simple Small-Business Risk Assessment from Ventiv – 

This method outlines risk assessment to identify potential hazards, and business-impact analysis to understand the impact to your business. For small businesses, this method is not only beneficial but is also quite crucial.

• COVID-19: Business status and risk assessment from BDC –  

Covid urged businesses to build strategies that are more resilient than ever. This method presents an opportunity to reassess current methodologies and prepare for contingencies for future crises. From supply chain to changing consumer behaviours, it allows you to create high-level risk scenarios.

• Managing Risks: A New Framework from Harvard Business Review – 

HBR laid out an effective framework to first categorize risk into 3 buckets like – internal, external, and strategic risks. It helps to break down the risks your business is most susceptible to and then implement a strategy. 

• Qualitative & Quantitative Assessments from Compliance Bridge – 

The qualitative method is intangible, theoretical, and non-numerical data to determine a risk model; while the quantitative method invests itself in crunching numbers to strategize or manage risk. Employing a combination of both tools can give you interesting insights into your projects.

The Importance of Balance (Research vs Innovation)

Risk is often a sensitive and hard topic to discuss in the planning room. The conservative approach to risk is trying to mitigate it, while the optimum way is to manage it. Of course, risk is subjective to the size of the company and SMEs have more wiggle room with the risks involved. 

Smaller businesses often tend to lean on research to dodge failures, however, risk is inevitable and where resilience lies. For example, risks associated with cybersecurity or technology are always high, however, it is also where the demand lies, and markets thrive. The more we rely on it means the more risks are involved, so the idea is to be prepared and protected but take the plunge because growth lies beyond the gateways of risks. 

Sometimes risks are more calculated, while some are unforeseen. For example, you can rely on research to carefully tackle growth, while fully understanding that growth means being vulnerable and taking chances. 

If you are interested in learning more, we also have a similar post that talks about Overcoming 3 Challenges That Impact Your Business’ Chance For Survival

Setbacks and Challenges – Acceptance and Opportunities

Incorporating robust risk assessment tools is only the beginning. It is a dynamic process with many variable elements that need constant reassessing. As you take up projects and expand your portfolio, you realize that sometimes it is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. It needs tweaking and revisiting because it is inevitable to encounter setbacks and complete failures despite best practices in place. 

A better strategy is to try to turn every setback into an opportunity. Here are a few steps that many companies big and small follow, to navigate from a failure.

1. Take the Time to Process Failure – It is important to assimilate the setback. Process, accept, and move ahead with it.

2. Look for a Pattern – When you sit down to analyse the situation, try and look for any trends. If it is a first, then make a note of the general findings to use down the line.

3. Get to the Core – Discovering the origin of the mishap is great for preventing them in the future. Using tools, such as a Kaizen tool called ‘The 5 Why’s’, can be employed to get to the bottom of the issue.

4. Turn It Into An Opportunity – You can turn this around by using it as a baseline for a future project and achieve better results. 

These tools enable you to navigate obstacles and handle unforeseen consequences better. 

Knowing that things could be worse should not stop us from trying to make them better.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, Author

Key Takeaway

Understanding what risk is and the importance of having a methodology in place is important for business leaders. Without risk, there’s no growth, and therefore it is important to approach it with faith instead of fear.

Having a risk assessment strategy in place is the first step to systematically incorporate a broader perspective during planning and forecasting.  Focussing on striking a balance between research and innovation for business growth is another key element in expansion and long-term sustainability. 

It’s also very worth remembering that growth is not linear, and making wrong turns is part of the process. Turning failures into opportunities is a crucial skill to possess.

Is risk assessment built-in to your business planning strategies? We’d love to hear some of your best tips for embracing risk in your business journey!

The post Business Growth: Embracing Risk appeared first on Canada-India Acceleration Program.