Megan MacLeod, co-owner of PEI’s Cape Reef Seafood and Smokehouse with her husband Murray, is a recipient of Grant Thornton’s inaugural Business Boost program for women entrepreneurs.Supplied
At the height of the pandemic, Danielle Connell was working at a university research office in Fredericton, NB when she realized she didn’t want to sit at a desk anymore.
With the world shifting daily, Ms. Connell, the daughter of New Brunswick farmers, wanted a change and her husband, Mark, did too.
“We just said, well, if this isn’t doing it for us, let’s do what we really want to do,” she says.
In 2021, Ms. Connell and her husband Mark became the owners of Connell Farm, a sheep farm in the St. John River Valley. At Connell Farm, they breed and process lambs at their own butcher shop and sell them directly to the public at farmer’s markets.
Ms. Connell is now one of an estimated one million self-employed women in Canada. She is also a recipient of the inaugural Business Boost program, an initiative from Canadian accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton LLP with cloud-based accounting software platform Xero.
Martha Banner, senior manager of cloud accounting services at Grant Thornton, explains that cloud-based accounting software empowers entrepreneurs to realize their full potential and contribute to the vibrancy of our economy.
“According to Grant Thornton’s 2022 Women in Business Report, the pandemic catalyzed changes in how we work that gave women more flexibility and autonomy, which helped them progress their careers. Cloud accounting allows small business owners to securely stay connected to their data from anywhere,” says Ms. Banner.
“Through the Business Boost program, we took deliberate action to create opportunities for women-owned businesses to solve their pain points and enhance their efficiency.”
A ‘game changer’ for small business
The Business Boost program provides recipients with a two-year subscription to Xero’s accounting software – including Hubdoc, a document collection and management application – as well as up to 15 hours of customized cloud accounting services with set-up and support from a Grant Thornton advisor. The program also includes training on the platform and advice on key performance indicators to measure success.
Ms. Banner notes that the Xero technology gives businesses real-time, data-driven insight into what’s happening in their businesses.
“It’s a tool that allows owners to do more effective business planning and [helps them understand] what their future may look like,” she says.
For Ms. Connell, the Business Boost program has been a game changer for her and her family. There has been more demand from customers than the farm can currently meet, she says, and she and her husband would like to grow their herd substantially, adding artisan wool processing and possibly agri-tourism.
Business Boost recipient Danielle Connell says that the program has been a game changer for the New Brunswick sheep farm she co-owns with her husband Mark.Supplied
“I need to manage this farm and the numbers very carefully,” says Ms. Connell. “I know people who can put me in front of potential investors and organizations willing to help me create promotional materials and market myself. But before I do any of that, my numbers need to be rock solid,” she adds.
Connell Farm is a business that takes a lot of cash payments, some e-transfers, and soon will launch a Shopify ecommerce site. The Xero platform will be very helpful in syncing “cash in and cash out,” Ms. Connell says.
“This is stuff I can’t afford to pay somebody to do, but I really have to do it and it could lead us ahead [with our business].”
Greater efficiency, less time
The Business Boost program provides similar benefits for recipient Megan MacLeod, co-owner with her husband Murray of Cape Reef Seafood and Smokehouse in Murray Harbour, PEI.
Ms. MacLeod is a marine engineer by training, and both she and her husband are fishers. Noticing the rise in demand for local, high-quality seafood on the island, the couple launched their value-added seafood company in 2019, smoking their catch such as salmon, mackerel, bluefin tuna and scallops.
With three children under age 4 (and a fourth child on the way), life for the MacLeods can be hectic. When you’re out the door by 5 a.m. each morning, fishing all day and coming home to fillet, brine and process seafood, all while selling by appointment, there is not a lot of time left for daily bookkeeping, Ms. MacLeod says. That’s why having access to a cloud accounting platform has been ideal.
“It keeps an inventory and lets me know where everything needs to go without having to sit in a pile of paperwork,” she says. “It [used to] be a couple hours a week of sitting down in the office having to get through a bunch of things, trying to catch up.”
Optimizing social impact
Zena Chaudhry, CEO of Sakeenah Homes, says being selected for the Business Boost program has been a true “gift” for her organization.
Sakeenah Homes is a charitable organization that has been providing culturally and religiously sensitive services to women and children facing domestic violence and homelessness since 2018.
Ms. Chaudhry says that proper accounting and compliance with Canada Revenue Agency requirements is fundamental in her sector.
“Accounting [is] definitely a space where you need to be careful of every penny that’s coming in and every penny that’s going out,” she says.
Sakeenah, which means peace and serenity in Arabic, has shelters in five cities (Toronto, Brampton, Ottawa, London, Montreal) and has three more opening this year (Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Mississauga). It also provides call-in support across the country.
As of March 2022, Sakeenah has served more than 9,200 people across all programs, which include legal services, ministry casework, mental health support, debt reduction counselling, food banks and rent aid. Every day, every single bed in all five of its shelters are filled and there is a waitlist, Ms. Chaudhry says. Soon, they hope to offer the first Muslim foster care agency in North America.
Ms. Chaudhry says that before realizing the benefits of cloud accounting, they needed to record every donation and transaction by hand. Now, the accounting work that used to take a week or two can be done in a few hours.
“It’s so much easier,” she says. “Not only do we save time, but the time we save goes towards our growth and helping more people.”
The second cohort of the Business Boost program will launch later this year, says Ms. Banner, providing assistance and resources for more deserving women-owned businesses.
As a company, Grant Thornton is committed to helping Canadian businesses grow, she says, “and helping their communities thrive.”
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Grant Thornton. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.