Building Entrepreneurial Leadership

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Participation is based on an application process. Only 10 spaces are available.

This training program is designed to help established agri-food entrepreneurs, with a proven market beyond local, to grow a resilient company capable of pivoting in these uncharted times and contributing to the economic health of the province. 

The course is limited to 10 entrepreneurs; sessions will be personalized to each participant’s needs. 

Is this course for you?

Participants must:
 

• Be Saskatchewan-based (or the company’s production occurs in Saskatchewan)
• Have been in business a minimum of two years  
• Market their products beyond Saskatchewan
• Have a written strategic or business plan 

Participants will gain advanced skills in strategic thinking and direction; knowing when and why to pivot; and growth through learning, coaching, and mentoring.

This program will help agri-food leaders strengthen strategic skills and increase confidence by: 

• Clarification of participants’ roles in their growing companies.
• Identification of gaps in business skills and strategies to address those gaps.
• Developing a personalized business strategy, including an updated strategic plan, contingency plans, and clear measures of success.

Program components

1. Assessing and preparing participants
2. In-person workshops
3. Online learning
4. Individual coaching / mentoring
    

1. Assessing and preparing participants

To determine if you are a good fit for the program, your needs and challenges will be assessed. This will also provide a baseline of information to prepare them for the program. 

If you are accepted into the program, you will be asked to:

1. Complete an assessment of your skills and business including core competencies
2. Submit a business or strategic plan
3. Participate in an in-person interview with AWB program leads
    

Strategy is based on analysis of available information. This program will prepare an overview of the current/changing market conditions to help you make the best decisions as applicable to your company. 
 

Participants will receive

• Pertinent information, such as market reports and articles
• A podcast highlighting key findings of the market reports and comments from representatives of major Canadian food bricks-and-mortar and online retailers and distributors.
• A webinar on the changing export market to ensure the companies are properly prepared 
   

2. In-person Workshops

The program includes five, one-day workshops that will deal with key strategic areas of your business:

Workshop 1:  Towards Business Leadership
Workshop 2:  Sales and Brand Assessment
Workshop 3:  Financing for Growth
Workshop 4:  Human Resources and Negotiation
Workshop 5:  Success in Changing Times

Workshop 1:  Towards Business Leadership
With this workshop, participants will:

• Gain a better understanding of the changing marketplace and what it takes to succeed
• Build on leadership and strategic skills including decision making
• Understand and evaluate the company’s readiness for change  
• Review their SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) and value propositions
• Create goals for key areas of their strategic plan

Workshop 2:  Sales and Brand Assessment
This workshop will help participants:

• Understand the sales function and what it entails
• Review sales goals
• Understand the various sales channels’ channels and opportunities as well as key success factors for each
• Assess their brand strategy 
• Apply learnings to their written strategy  

Workshop 3:  Finance
With this workshop participants will:

• Learn about sources of financing, grants, and investment available at various stages of the business life cycle and which source best meets the needs of their specific company
• Discover ways in which a company attracts debt or equity
• Learn the critical information lenders and investors seek
• Apply learnings to examples.

Workshop 4:  Human Resources and Negotiation
This workshop will focus on two components:

1. Building the Team 
   • This section will help participants:
     • Have a better understanding of their own skillset
     • Identify their company’s gaps in skills required to deliver their plan
     • Learn options for hiring 
2. Negotiation
   • With this section participants will:
     • Gain new skills and tactics required in negotiation
     • Understand the importance of negotiation in meeting strategic goals 
     • Learn appropriate methods used for specific stakeholders 
     • Understand what it takes to ensure a win-win situation

Workshop 5:  Success in Changing Times
This final workshop will focus on two components:

1. Communication
   • This section will help participants:
     • Assess their current communication plan
     • Understand the impact of internal and external communications
     • Review their role as a company leader and communicator in times of uncertainty.
        
2. Effective Decision Making
   • Through this section participants will:
     • Review their strategic plan to ensure it meets business and ROI goals
     • Learn the key to strategic decision making
     • Understand when to pivot and what it requires 
     • Make a commitment to peer-on-peer learning and networking
        

3. Online Learning

Participants will be supported throughout this program with 24/7 access to contact information, workshop details, event calendar, recordings, and resource materials in a secure online learning environment.   

4. Individual Coaching and Mentoring

A key component of this program is the eight hours of one-on-one coaching/mentoring with subject-specific experts (i.e. strategy, branding, sales, HR, etc.). As well, you receive business and finance coaching from Ag-West Bio’s coaches. Working with Ag-West Bio, the program will be delivered by Grounded Strategies, a leading supplier of training, insight, promotion and support to the agriculture, food and natural health products industries, and over 50 years of agri-food industry training and marketing experience. 

If you think this course is for you, please contact Bev Stangeland (bev.stangeland@agwest.sk.ca or (306) 668-2650) to discuss!

 

NOTE: While the goal is to have face-to-face workshops, we are prepared to adjust the program in response to COVID-19 rules to keep everyone safe.

 

   ABIC's Beyond Entrepreneurship training programs are managed by Ag-West Bio.