Partner Showcase – Volta Labs

Volta Launches Program to Support Black and Indigenous Founders

Volta, Canada’s East Coast Innovation Hub, is dedicated to building an inclusive and collaborative community that empowers entrepreneurs to achieve growth and success in our region, across the country, and around the world.

Located in the heart of downtown Halifax, Volta is cultivating a respectful and supportive environment where founders and their teams come together with both private and public sector partners, to validate and advance their innovative business ideas, and get to market more quickly and efficiently. “When we begin any new project, program or initiative, we are always looking to enrich our offerings by collaborating with industry experts and ecosystem partners to facilitate, organize and enhance the project’s impact and learnings for all participants,” Martha Casey, Volta CEO said. “Over the next few months, we have some very exciting, new programs, partnerships, and initiatives in the works to support entrepreneurs at all stages of development.” Building on important partnerships with the Black Business Initiative and Ulnooweg, we are delighted to launch Boost in early 2021 that aims to nurture the growth of Black and Indigenous founders and future leaders as they pursue their entrepreneurship goals. The program will run for approximately 16 weeks, with various workshops and access to leading experts and mentors, as they build out their idea at a working lab at Volta. Applications will open in February 2021, and the program will start in March. Applications are accepted through voltaeffect.com/boost/ Another new initiative beginning in January 2021 is Volta AI; in partnership with ScaleAI, it will provide AI-enabled supply chain companies with access to funding, resources, and workshops to rapidly scale. The application process was completed in October, and five companies will kick-start the program in January. We are also thrilled to be bringing industry experts from around the world to the region – albeit virtually – to share their insights with our community via our new, Volta Global Program. Six high-caliber global experts will be invited to facilitate workshops and training sessions on a variety of topics related to entrepreneurship and digital technology. Volta Global began in November 2020 with renowned businesswoman, Arlene Dickinson, as the first speaker.