TORONTO – November 14, 2019 – TD Bank Group and The Big Push today announced an agreement designed to support women entrepreneurs. At the heart of the collaboration is The Big Push Lift-Off Program, a new initiative that will provide women entrepreneurs – specifically tech startups at the pre-seed stage – with access to free consultation and assessment of their business plans, along with a roadmap that connects them with experts that can support their business growth in one of six key areas, including finance, marketing, sales, PR, IT, and recruitment.  

Through the Lift-Off Program, participants will have access to a selection of more than 600 expert resources and mentors from The Big Push to help them grow their business. The program will be initially offered in the Kitchener-Waterloo area beginning on December 3, 2019, before extending into Ottawa and Montreal in the new year. 

“There is a growing ecosystem focused on servicing women entrepreneurs in tech," said Chantal Pitre, National Manager of Women Entrepreneurship at TD. "We are aligned with The Big Push in our efforts to facilitate the success and growth of women entrepreneurs, and we look forward to collaborating on the Lift-Off program.”

Prospective participants of the Lift-Off Program can apply online at thebigpush.ca/liftoffprogram. Qualified participants receive a 1-hour in-person or online free consultation and assessment of their business plans and a high-level roadmap that connects them with experts to mentor them on their growth. Following the initial consultation, participants are matched with an expert who will provide five hours of advisory support, including strategic introductions, objective input and advice, and the development of an actionable growth plan. Participants will have the option to activate the business growth plan over a period of up to three months, leveraging experts from The Big Push, conditional on the founder matching 50% of the value of the growth plan (the estimated cost to activate a growth plan in one particular area of the business is $5,000 to $10,000). 

“This support from TD enables us to build on our ongoing commitment to support women in technology,” said Sharon Zohar, founder and CEO of The Big Push. “By working together, we can help advance women entrepreneurs in Canada and make a significant impact on the continued growth and sustainability of their businesses.” 

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by branches and serves over 26 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 13 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.4 trillion in assets on July 31, 2019. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. 

The Big Push is a business accelerator that gets early-stage, women-founded technology companies investment ready using a service for equity model. With support from The Big Push, early-stage companies can scale faster through hands-on services, support, and resources that are provided to women-led or women-founded technology startups through a collective of senior executives with expertise across key practice areas spanning finance, design, law, research, sales, public relations, software development, recruitment, and marketing. For additional information, visit thebigpush.ca. 

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Media Contacts:

Jodi Echakowitz

Boulevard PR (for The Big Push)

Jodi@boulevardpr.com

416-271-7250

Jillian Tanouye

TD Bank Group

Jillian.tanouye@td.com

416-545-6136