Last year, Startup Canada teamed up with UPS to launch the Women’s Exporter Program (WEP) in Canada. This global initiative helps to bridge the gender gap in education and export participation by providing targeted assistance to women-owned small and medium-sized businesses. Our first Canadian cohort for WEP covered key topics to get the participants ready to start exporting, including logistics, customs, changing your packaging, marketing to new regions, leveraging e-commerce, and more.
This year, the program engaged 150 early stage women entrepreneurs and is returning for a second year in 2024. To help highlight our first Canadian WEP cohort, we wanted to share a success story of one of last year’s participants, Kate Tremills, the Co-Founder and CEO of Flourish Kitchen.
Tell us about Flourish Kitchen.
Flourish Kitchen provides travel-friendly, low FODMAP meals to women with busy lives. Our delicious meals are easy to prepare, gluten-free, and dairy-free. We make travelling easy and carefree for women with digestive sensitivities. With just a cup of hot water, you can enjoy a bowl of pesto risotto, tandoori chicken, or many more tasty options!
What are your exporting goals?
While we are currently only available in Canada, the Women’s Exporter Program gave me the confidence to start setting up our operations and plans to export into the United States and Australia.
What are the benefits of exporting for your business?
We know that a large portion of our market and the women we serve live in the United States. Additionally, the Australian market is the pioneer in low FODMAP testing and food innovation. We are excited to bring our meals to the markets that need us and that are creating healthy options for women with digestive sensitivities. This will open up opportunities to gain new customers, increase our revenue, and grow our brand awareness in new markets.
What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced while exporting?
One of the challenges we’re facing is setting up our international logistics and co-packing our meals. We’re also struggling to understand the regulatory implications and rules around exporting to the United States and Australia. The Women’s Exporter Program helped me understand key operational considerations when beginning to export your product.
What was one takeaway you had from the Women’s Exporters Program? How did this program support you in your export journey?
This program was full of many key takeaways that I’ve since implemented into my business. The biggest one was to take your time in tackling the obstacles and challenges that come your way when running your business. They’re inevitable, and you have to work through them as they arise. Always be empathetic to your customers and what they share with you. I also loved learning from all the guest speakers who are later stage entrepreneurs and listening to their stories and the learnings they shared with all of us.
What is a moment in your entrepreneurship journey that you’re most proud of?
I am deeply proud of winning the Pepsi Co. Stacy’s Rise $25,000 grant to grow my business. I’m honoured to be part of such an incredible cohort of women entrepreneurs who are also creating businesses that want to export products around the world.
What is one way that our community can support you?
I would love for you to share our meals with anyone who needs healthy options when they are travelling and balancing a busy life. You can visit our website at https://flourish.kitchen/ or follow us on Instagram at @flourish.kitchen.co.
Wrap-upAre you interested in beginning to export to new markets to grow your business? The Women’s Exporter Program may be for you! Sign-up for our mailing list to be notified of upcoming webinars and events: https://www.startupcan.ca/startup-canada-mailing-list/