Colour The Trails was launched in 2017 to improve access to outdoor activities for BIPoC (including those who lay within the intersection of BIPoC and 2SLGBTQAI+ community) adventurers after seeing a severe lack of representation of racialized individuals in the outdoors space. With chapters across Canada, Colour The Trails has reached over two thousand individuals through various intro clinics and mentorship programs to equip folks with the knowledge and skills to feel confident and safe in the outdoors, while working alongside Indigenous outdoor organizations to stand in solidarity and further ongoing reconciliation.
Cubed Style Inc. was founded in 2020 out of necessity. The three sisters behind Cubed Style Inc. searched for an eczema solution but struggled to find success in doctor-prescribed ointments and creams, so they took matters into their own hands, formulating natural body and hair butters for all skin and hair types. Driven by the connections they make with parents desperately looking for solutions and adults and children suffering from eczema, Cubed Style has become an award-winning brand and is recognized by its community as one of the leading Black companies in Toronto.
Carolyn Chen started her dog-care brand Dandylion when she struggled to find a solution that worked to help her puppy Mocha with his regularly itchy skin. She found many conventional grooming products on the market were laden with harsh, drying and irritating ingredients that exacerbated her puppy’s problem. Carolyn was shocked by the lack of ingredient transparency in the pet grooming industry, a stark contrast to the rigorous standards we expect in the human beauty world. Determined to make a difference in the industry, Dandylion products are meticulously formulated in collaboration with vet dermatologists and human skin care chemists, offering superior dog grooming products that put the dogs’ health first and can be trusted by all pet parents.
Guests On Earth is counter-worthy home care that feels like self-care, and cares for the planet. The brand launched its first products in 2022, an all-purpose cleaner, foaming hand soap and waffle cleaning cloths with the vision to build and lead in a new category of Home and Planetary Wellness. In only a year and a half, Guests On Earth has won numerous awards, generated thousands of new customers and is selling in over 20 retailers across Ontario. Guests On Earth was also recently certified a B Corporation, meaning it meets the highest standards of social and environmental impact and is dedicated to creating a positive effect on the world beyond financial gain.
Inoki Bathhouse was founded by Asian-Canadian management consultant turned serial-entrepreneur Helen Yin, to offer accessible and affordable spa-grade tea bath experiences at home. The brand offers homemade tea bath sets, coupled with a digital app offering curated music and bath ritual tools. This combination transforms any bathroom into a tranquil sanctuary through the art of mindfulness and bathing. Inoki Bathhouse offerings are rooted in cultural practices of traditional medicine and bathing, featuring ethically sourced premium tea and herbal plant ingredients that benefit both the mind and skin. The tea baths are packed with powerful tea antioxidants and contain an abundant amount of nutrients for the skin. Unlike bath bombs, soaps and syrups, Inoki’s bath blends are pH balanced, safe for sensitive skin, and provide a unique aromatherapy experience. The business is also passionate about giving back, with over CA$25,000 donated to the #StopAsianHate movement along with many in-kind donations and volunteering hours given to local charities and non-profits.
Joni is building an ecosystem of accessible period care. While reusable products are incredible, not everyone can use them or wants to use them. Therefore, disposable options will always be needed. Knowing this, Joni set out to make the most sustainable disposable option on the market and launched bamboo pads that are plastic-free packaged in a certified compostable wrapper. Furthermore, the brand has developed one of the most innovative period-care dispensers on the market disrupting a billion-dollar monopolized industry. Outdated, broken and empty dispensers found in public washrooms across Canada are a problem when 87% of people who menstruate are caught off guard and 37% of them end up leaving school or work to find a solution. Through its product offerings, Joni has created a fully turn-key, commercial period-care solution for hundreds of organizations across the country. To-date, Joni has also donated over 120,000 period-care products and supported over 80,000 people who menstruate with access to a product they might otherwise go without.
Kate Bouchard, founder of Loba, started the business as she began her own health journey, a naturopathic treatment plan, which included vitamins and supplements. When looking for a way to organize her pills, monitor her intake and set reminders, Kate noticed that there were no products that suited both her needs and her aesthetic. So, Kate developed a beautifully designed, modern pill box and built the Loba app to help herself and her now thousands of customers stay on top of their health regimen with products that look great and are easy to use.
After noticing that commercially available chai products lacked the depth of flavour and overall spice that she was looking for, Rebecca Pereira worked with her mother to create their own chai concentrate in-house. With the recipe’s success, Rebecca launched Spice Girl Chai in 2021, and has landed her chai concentrate into over a dozen restaurants and retailers in Toronto, numerous high-volume trade shows and in the hands of over 100,000 customers. The brand, rooted in Rebecca’s culture and Indian traditions, has seen major success through specialty collaborations and samplings. She makes enjoying authentic chai at home as easy as brewing a cup of coffee.
U Grow Girl is a family-run flower farm located in Salmon Arm, BC (between Kelowna and Kamloops) that is dedicated to providing beautiful, locally grown flowers to the community. The farm grows seasonal flowers with a purpose — to support women who have survived child sexual abuse. Sales from each bouquet of flowers helps fund the "Time To Heal" clinically supervised retreat, which provides education, connection and support needed to help survivors heal and reclaim their power.
Zing works in collaboration with diverse Canadian chefs and food creators to bottle their secret sauces for home cooks. Their sauces and seasonings are designed to be “pantry shortcuts” — home cooks can add Zing to ANY protein, vegetable or starch to create meals with globally inspired, restaurant-quality flavour in minutes, minus the effort. Zing currently has a portfolio of nine distinct products representing creators, cuisines and cultures from around the world (such as an Indo-Chinese Chili Crisp inspired by Toronto’s Hakka diaspora, a garam masala with Persian influences, and others) that are made with premium, “real” ingredients and are sourced from Canadian suppliers wherever possible.
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1. Statistics Canada (2023). Analysis on businesses majority-owned by women, first quarter of 2023. ↩
†Applications for the Fund closed on Sunday, November 5, 2023. No purchase necessary. Eligible Fund recipients were selected based on the quality and impact of their application based on the eligibility and selection criteria set out in the Fund rules. Visit https://www.pier-five.com/smallbusinessfund2023 to review the official Fund rules and full list of criteria. ↩