​There are 254,000 women founders from visible minority and immigrant backgrounds in Canada whose businesses are stuck below the $250,000 annual revenue ceiling.

​If you're one of them , this event is for you!

​A One-Day Working Session for Growth-Driven Women Founders

​Breaking through the ceiling of growth

​There is a gap between the decisions women founders are making every week and the numbers and processes those decisions should be resting on.

​In a survey ECHELON ran with women entrepreneurs,

• ​88% named growing sales as their top challenge

• ​50% had no up-to-date financial statements to grow those sales from.

• ​63% said grant rules and applications were their heaviest administrative burden.

• ​75% said their own capacity would break first if their revenue or their customer load tripled.

​ECHELON Lab 00 is a one-day working session designed to help you close that gap. Heads-up: there are only 20 seats!

​Program of the day

​Block 1: Know your numbers · Facilitated by Marie-Claire ASSEKO
Marie-Claire is an operator, strategist and consultant focused on innovation and people enablement. With a 10+ year in marketing, technology, and product, her work bridges digital transformation and change management to inspire adoption and scaling.

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​Block 2: The money stories behind business decisions · Facilitated by to be updated
To be updated.

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​Block 3: The Wall · Facilitated by Marie-Claire ASSEKO and Bélinda HANDOU
- Bélinda is a CX Expert and Venture Capital Scout.

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​Block 4: Which kind of funding do you need · Facilitated by Julia FALCI
Julia is a Business Coach with YES + Entrepreneurship and holds 18+ years of experience as a Marketing Strategist across corporate, agency, tech, and entrepreneurial environments. Her work spans industries including SaaS, professional services, nonprofits, and impact-driven brands, with a focus on digital strategy, organic growth, brand positioning, and thought leadership.

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​Block 5: What I needed versus what I asked for · Panel moderated by Géraldine JIPPÉ, with guests: Lin SOK, Jeanine HAGE
- Géraldine is a serial entrepreneur, business coach, and soundhealer apprentice. She creates and facilitates digital spaces with the purpose of supporting entrepreneurs and conscious leaders in their endeavours.

​- Lin is passionate about bringing people together, opening doors to new possibilities, and helping others grow with confidence. With 20+ years in financial services, she strives to create a welcoming environment where her clients are encouraged to dream big and achieve financial success.

​- Chanje Inc. founder and CEO, Jeanine, has built 3 successful companies in the high-tech industry, drawing on her extensive experience and international career. Having experienced changes with a seismic impact, she navigates them with boldness and courage. An advocate of critical thinking, she is a hard believer that at the heart of every business, lies the human factor.

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​Block 6: Growing past your own two hands · Facilitated by Ysimer GONZALEZ
Ysimer is the founder and Principal Forward Deployed Operator at Vantelira. An industrial engineer with 18 years inside Fortune 500 supply chains, she helps growing businesses map what is really happening, build operational infrastructure that runs without the founder, and hand the work back once the system holds.

​Event Details

• ​Date: Tuesday, September 29th 2026

• ​Time: Doors open at 9AM, event starts at 9:15AM and ends at 3:15PM.

• ​Language: English only. No live translation

• ​Format: In-person

• ​Capacity: 20 women founders

• ​Coffee, tea and lunch are included

​Who is it for

• ​First-generation (immigrated on their own) or second-generation (immigrated with their parents, or born in Canada) immigrant women founders

• ​From visible minority and immigrant backgrounds

  • ​Middle Eastern, African, East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Latin American, etc.

• ​Industry-agnostic: service or product-based, B2B-focused

• ​Self-employed up to 10 employees, including yourself

• ​In business 3+ years, incorporated, able to show sales

  • ​Or under 3 years with 10+ years of experience in the sector the business operates in