Filipino Canadian entrepreneurs are finding new opportunities to grow their businesses through Pwrforward, a Toronto-based incubator helping business owners develop their skills, access mentorship and reach larger markets.
Charmaine Ramirez, the organization’s executive director and co-founder, said Pwrforward grew from conversations with Filipino business leaders who struggled to find resources and support when starting their companies in Canada.
Before establishing Pwrforward, Ramirez spent much of her career helping students and internationally trained professionals find employment.
Working in career development made her increasingly curious about who was creating jobs, making investment decisions and shaping Canada’s economy.
“Are we also in those spaces of determining where the economy is going?” Ramirez recalled asking herself.
That question grew more significant when she attended a business pitch competition and met a Filipina entrepreneur serving as a judge.
Ramirez was struck by seeing someone from her community in a position to evaluate businesses and award funding rather than seek employment.
When she asked the woman about the support she received while building her business, the response surprised her.
“She said that didn’t exist,” Ramirez recalled.
The conversation prompted Ramirez to speak with other Filipino entrepreneurs, executives and business leaders about their experiences.
“I was hearing consistently the same thing that there was no infrastructure in the community,” she said.
Those discussions revealed recurring challenges involving access to funding, mentorship and professional networks.
They also helped shape Pwrforward’s mission of supporting Filipino Canadian entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses and compete in larger markets.
Helping entrepreneurs think bigger
Pwrforward describes itself as Canada’s first business incubator built for Filipino Canadian entrepreneurs.
Its Filipino Innovation, Readiness and Entrepreneurship (FIRE) program is currently working with an inaugural cohort of 12 participants.
The nine-week program provides guidance on business strategy, branding, market positioning and leadership, with finalists competing for up to $10,000 in funding.
Ramirez said the program is designed to help entrepreneurs understand how their businesses can grow beyond their existing customer base.
“If you’re a Filipino-owned business, that doesn’t mean that your audience is only Filipino, right? Your audience can be beyond the community,” she said.
Participants also learn how to assess their businesses’ value, identify their competitive advantages and develop strategies for attracting customers.
Ramirez said founders are encouraged to think about where they want their businesses to go rather than focusing only on their current operations.
The program also prepares entrepreneurs to communicate their ideas to potential investors and identify opportunities for future funding.
Beyond those practical skills, Ramirez said one of the most noticeable changes among participants has been their confidence.
“The number one would definitely be the confidence,” she said.
She explained that some entrepreneurs hesitate to ask questions or seek assistance, even when doing so could help them make better business decisions.
Through the program, participants are encouraged to recognize their strengths while remaining open to advice from people with different experiences.
“I think that’s a very important part of entrepreneurship is, yes, knowing what we’re really good at and being confident about our strengths,” Ramirez said.
“But the other side of it is also knowing I’m also not perfect. Let me see what else I can learn.”
For Ramirez, that willingness to seek support is an important part of developing as an entrepreneur.
Addressing barriers to business growth
Ramirez said Filipino entrepreneurs face challenges that extend beyond access to financing.
She believes cultural expectations, historical experiences and limited opportunities for professional development can also affect how individuals approach leadership and business ownership.
When discussing why some Filipino professionals struggle to advance in their careers, Ramirez questioned the idea that Filipinos are naturally hesitant to advocate for themselves.
She said those perceptions often overlook the historical and social circumstances that have shaped people’s experiences.
“It’s not just one challenge, right?” she said.
“It’s all of this combination of what we were taught, what the system, you know, how we’ve kind of existed in the system and how we’ve been socially conditioned over like historically.”
Ramirez said access to mentorship and business development resources can help entrepreneurs navigate some of those barriers.
She also emphasized that starting a business requires more than a strong idea.
Entrepreneurs need to understand how to position themselves in the market, build teams and identify opportunities for growth.
Pwrforward’s approach focuses on developing those skills while connecting participants with people who have experience building businesses.
Ramirez said learning to acknowledge what they do not know can be just as important for entrepreneurs as recognizing what they already do well.
Building connections beyond the community
While Pwrforward focuses on Filipino Canadian entrepreneurs, Ramirez said its broader goal is to help business owners participate more fully in Canada’s economy.
She believes professional networks within the Filipino community provide opportunities for mentorship, collaboration and shared learning.
For newcomers and entrepreneurs who may be unfamiliar with Canada’s business environment, those connections can also provide a sense of belonging.
“When people feel safe in the spaces that they’re operating in, they do their best work, right?” Ramirez said.
“When people feel like they belong and that they can show up as themselves and as their strengths and as their skills allow them to, then they do their best work.”
However, Ramirez emphasized that Filipino entrepreneurs should not limit their professional relationships to people within their own community.
She encouraged business owners to connect with entrepreneurs, investors and industry professionals from different backgrounds.
“We should also be connecting and building networks outside of our community and expanding our relationships beyond just the Filipino community,” she said.
Ramirez believes those relationships can help Filipino-owned businesses reach new customers while allowing entrepreneurs to demonstrate their skills in a wider marketplace.
Looking ahead, Pwrforward plans to expand the FIRE program and pursue additional partnerships that could support more Filipino Canadian entrepreneurs.
Ramirez said she hopes future generations of Filipino business owners will have greater access to financing, mentorship and opportunities to understand Canada’s business environment.
“I hope that we would have access to capital, access to funding,” she said.
“But also access to opportunities for us to build our skills, build our skills to be successful here in Canada, and also to understand how the business systems work here in Canada.”
Luis Miguel De Castro is a Changing Narratives Fund-Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Mabuhay Canada and a journalism graduate at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto. Originally from the Philippines, he is passionate about community storytelling, multimedia journalism, and amplifying Filipino voices through meaningful local coverage.
