Ogo Tàwa Inc.

Published purpose

Ògo Tàwa Inc. initially submitted an application under the Black Entrepreneurship Program National Ecosystem Fund in December 2020 seeking $4,500,000 to develop and implement the Black Artist Entrepreneurship Program which consisted of three main components: Artrpreneur Program: Licensing an existing program from York Region, and customization of the program to provide tailored business training to Black artists E-commerce platform: Development of online e-commerce platform dedicated for Black artists to sell their wares. Portrait Sculpture Garden: Creation of accessible sculpture products and installation at University of Toronto’s St. George Campus. Given this element of the project did not align with the parameters of the Black Entrepreneurship Program National Ecosystem Fund, it was recommended and supported under the Canada Community Revitalization Fund (CCRF) for a non-repayable contribution of $543,815. Ògo Tàwa Inc. is recommended for a non-repayable contribution of up to $2,000,000 to support its Black Artist Entrepreneurship project which includes two components: The Artrepreneur Program: The program will provide the tools for creative Black entrepreneurs and artists to develop fundamental business skills in order to improve their entrepreneurial abilities, leading to them advancing their business prospects as a result of education, access to resources and mentors, and to networks of creative leaders. E-commerce Platform : Using the Shopify platform, an online marketplace will be rapidly built to help Black artists in marketing their creations, scaling their arts sales, supplementing off-line arts sales, and generating additional revenues from online print sales of original works. Prints would be shipped throughout North America expanding the existing Artrepreneurs’ customer base. The project is expected to impact 450 Black visual artist entrepreneurs, primarily in the GTA, including 315 under the Artrepreneur program and 135 under E-commerce platform, with a minimum of 165 women entrepreneurs under the two components of the project. The project will also help to create 50 full time employment (FTE) positions and 11 part-time employment (PTE) positions.