Women across the country are pooling their skills and resources to invest in promising female entrepreneurs. Through a program launching this week called Radical Generosity, 1000 donations of $1000 each are being collected from professional women across Canada to create a $1 million funding pool. The program is led by SheEO, a group based in Toronto that supports women-led businesses, and the funds are being collected and administered for free by the program’s lead sponsor, the Bank of Montreal.

Through a unique combination of access to five-year no-interest loans and an online mentorship network, Radical Generosity aims to fill the gap in funding and mentorship for female-led ventures by building a growing global network of women supporting women.

Julie Barker-Merz (MBA’02) is one of the women making the venture possible. As president of BMO’s InvestorLine and a leader of many women-centred bank projects, she has rallied support around the project. A day after reaching out internally, BMO had 50 of its female staff members interested in donating their time and funds to the project. Barker-Merz emphasizes that many of the BMO donors feel even more passionately about the opportunity to mentor other female entrepreneurs than the chance to invest in promising businesses.

Applications are open until August 31 to women-led and majority women-owned businesses across the country. 25 finalists will be selected in September, and the ten winners will compete for different chunks of the $1 million funds in October. Once the loans are repaid five years from now, the funds will be re-invested in new female-led businesses to continue the cycle of ‘radical generosity’.

While you are chasing unicorns, we are BUILDING a better model: http://t.co/EzXg9nd8HX pic.twitter.com/b37B12YuBA

— SheEO™ (@IamASheEO) August 19, 2015

Read more in “A ‘radical’ funding model for female entrepreneurs” on theglobeandmail.com.

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