Pizza Hut Canada sponsors program to provide free training and mentorship to underrepresented Canadian small business owners

Roxbury, Mass. – Pizza Hut Canada has partnered with Initiative for a Competitive Inner City to offer a free executive education and virtual training program designed to help strengthen and grow minority, immigrant, indigenous, and disabled-owned small businesses throughout Canada.

The Equal Slice Program is a tuition-free, 40-hour “mini-MBA” program that combines executive education, webinars, and coaching delivered by top-ranking university professors and local experts being offered to small business owners across Canada. The program is now accepting applications from businesses in underrepresented communities for the term that begins in late September.

This is the first time ICCC has been offered outside the United States and the first group of entrepreneurs that will be presented in both English and Canadian French.

Entrepreneurs accepted into the Equal Slice Program will participate in 40 hours of high-impact virtual learning that is divided into four components designed to make the most of each participant’s experience and accommodate their busy schedules. The ICCC Canada cohort opens with two half-day seminars on the afternoons of Sept. 21 and 23. Throughout the program, participants engage in webinars, digital learning sessions and one-on-one business coaching appointments that tackle immediate challenges facing each individual business owner.

The program culminates with a virtual national conference that focuses on building strategies of resilience and connecting participants with capital providers.

The program has been operating since 2005. In 2020, 17 ICCC cohorts were offered in the U.S. that included 74 per cent BIPOC-owned and 61 per cent woman-owned businesses.

The application deadline for the ICCC 2021 Canada cohort is Sept. 3. Visit ICIC’s website for additional detail about the Equal Slice Program and ICCC including eligibility criteria and applications: https://icic.org/urban-business-initiatives/inner-city-capital-connections/canada.