SPICE program at Halifax university offers support to women in food business

A group of female entrepreneurs are the third cohort to complete the SPICE program through the Centre for Women in Business at Mount Saint Vincent University.

The Specialized Program in Cooking Entrepreneurship (SPICE) program at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) offers under-represented Nova Scotian women the opportunity to turn their cooking dreams into a reality.

The SPICE program, which runs for eight weeks with a limit of 12 women per cohort, is a free program at MSVU through the Centre for Women in Business.

“It is a transformational program,” said Natalie Frederick-Wilson, SPICE program lead. “[It] helps women who are food business entrepreneurs to build, launch, scale and grow a food business to success.”

Through the program, under-represented women learn about regulations surrounding food safety, how to register their businesses, find opportunities to sell in retail and grocery stores and how to make their business profitable.

“The SPICE program exposes you to so many resources in business to teach you how to brand your item, how to get your logo, how to price your goods, how to set up your contracts for your business, so you will be successful,” said Celia Deer, owner of Jamaica Spice Kitchen Catering.

Successful applicants for the program are provided support for starting their business, registering their business, insurance, licenses, childcare, safety training, taxi fare and commercial kitchen rental support.

“SPICE is not only benefiting the women who are in the program, it also benefits their community,” Frederick-Wilson said. “When they learn how to run a food business correctly, it allows them to run a more profitable business, this helps them be able to hire people beyond themselves.”

SPICE is supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture.

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