BARRY’S BAY – A new organization has come to the Valley to help women run businesses through peer group support.
The PARO Centre formed in 1995, in Thunder Bay, providing business support and networking for women in the North. Now, with provincial and federal government funding they are spreading their experience of helping women to our area.
‘PARO’ is Latin for ‘I am ready.’
That is PARO Centre’s mission, to help women start or grow a business.
Kiran Pal-Pross held an information session at the Barry’s Bay library to introduce the PARO Centre’s services.
Pal-Pross said, “We give one on one support, we go to where the women are. It’s a formal program called PARO on Wheels.”
It’s a boon to rural entrepreneurs.
“We serve women, wherever they need us, in their homes [if necessary]. It’s been a very successful model in the North.”
To help with networking and sharing experiences the PARO Centre helps create peer circles of women. Four to seven women self-organize.
Pal-Pross said, “It is women helping women, essentially. We can help them only so much, and then women need their network of support, in their community, preferably.”
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