B2BeeMatch.com website; source: https:\/\/www.b2beematch.com\/en\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPersonally, it was important that B2BeeMatch was built for international audiences from the start. My team was also completely remote from day one.<\/span><\/p>\nB2BeeMatch is in over 70 to countries and over 150 industries now<\/span><\/p>\nWe also recently launched features that include to best cater to enterprise, institutional and government clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: What has been the overall response?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine: <\/b>I meet a lot of the people who join B2BeeMatch because on one hand, it’s an AI platform where we connect companies based on certain metrics, but there is also a marketing arm which onboards companies. There\u2019s a team dedicated to making sure the users\u2019 profiles are well done and that they\u2019re aware of the benefits they get<\/span><\/p>\nOne the challenges is weeding out illegitimate businesses when you go on the international level, where some countries aren\u2019t governed by the same law and practices as North America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWe vet and verify the information from every profile that signs up. This is crucial to ensure the overall quality of the platform. We want businesses to know we do some of the heavy lifting to verify each company that signs up.<\/span><\/p>\nVery early on we\u2019ve formed contract partnerships with<\/span> different organizations and industries around the world.\u00a0 One of them is the International Chamber of Commerce which has a huge network of 45 million companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Interviewer: What sparked the idea to create a separate program of B2BeeMatch specifically for women?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine: When I launched <\/b>B2BeeMatch I started noticing patterns, specifically in how women-led businesses around the world were behaving.<\/span><\/p>\nNine months into launching the platform, I immediately decided to monitor that even closer and very soon, it was apparent we needed to have a program specifically for women, which we launched and called Nyx.<\/span><\/p>\nThe whole purpose of Nyx, answers the question of how we can make it better for female entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\nWe wanted to create a solution that kept the core of B2BeeMatch, which is the matchmaking, and allow institutions\/governments who provide a concrete solutions to women businesses be able to reach them and support them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThere\u2019s also another slew of opportunities we are tackling. Like how do we address the challenges for other underrepresented groups. We talk about women, but what happens to LGBT groups, black-owned businesses and Indigenous communities?<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0So, we try to be as inclusive as possible and as universal as possible.<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: How have your entrepreneurial pursuits led to roles in the Government of Canada and other global initiatives?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine: <\/b>As for the GOC, I\u2019m on two federal boards which was through a selection process. Canada is very focused on improving diversity within various of their industries, including tech as well as my expertise with small and medium businesses. To that regards, I think we\u2019re very lucky to be Canadian.<\/span><\/p>\nFor other opportunities, I am quite passionate about what I do, the impact I can have and the opportunities I see that come in my direction, and it creates somewhat of a ripple effect. I don\u2019t leave a lot of things to luck, as I do everything with sheer determination and grit.<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: What challenges have you personally met in the tech space as a woman?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine: <\/b>One example is the disbelief I get when people find out I\u2019m behind B2BeeMatch. They attribute a platform like this to a male founder\/creator.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen we initially launched, I intentionally didn\u2019t want to be connected to the brand. It took me months to update my profile because I wanted this platform to have a chance to fly without bias.<\/span><\/p>\nVery rarely did I use my name in marketing material or emails. And in the few times I have sent out material with my name as the CEO attached to it, we saw more people unsubscribe, and surprisingly from other women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBut, I also feel like it\u2019s my responsibility to address these things. Like It\u2019s okay to be a sports star or rapper if you\u2019re a Black person, but somehow it becomes unacceptable to people if we pursue something intellectual or someone in tech. They don\u2019t see it as making sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIt took me a long time to correct the narrative around what I was building. For example, when I started Red Dot Digital, it was crucial to me that people understood that my services were for everyone and any business out there, not just for my own \u201ccommunity\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: How do you personally overcome those biases?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine<\/b>: I try not to pay attention to the trolls, or people that leave the platform because of who I am as a person. In fact, I rather not have people that think that way on here at all. I\u2019m going to own this space, and move forward with the vision that there are 600 million small and medium sized businesses that can benefit from this platform and focus on how I can best serve them.<\/span><\/p>\nA lot of the entrepreneurial journey is also based on how you grow as a person, despite the roadblocks.<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: As it pertains to marketing, what strategies have you found the most effective?<\/b><\/p>\n
I just use all the practices I was telling my clients on the Red Dot Digital consulting side. I used the whole suite of capabilities in business strategy and digital marketing ranging from content strategy, to advertising, SEO and everything else in between.<\/span><\/p>\nIn terms of marketing, one thing that a lot of people don\u2019t think about are partnerships and collaboration which allowed us to grow and provided us insights.<\/span><\/p>\nI also do a lot of speaking and I say yes to most opportunities that come my way that allow me to spread the message.<\/span><\/p>\nEven if I can touch one additional entrepreneur, it\u2019s worth for me.<\/span><\/p>\nI also write for The Globe and Mail which I talk about different subjects within business and funding.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, when people see the tech and IT capabilities we have behind B2BeeMatch, they actually come to us at Red Dot to ask if we can build something like that for them, because they see the scope of our capabilities.<\/span><\/p>\nI haven\u2019t reinvented the wheel. These marketing strategies that focus on the top three: paid, earned, and owned media has been around forever. I just listen to my own advice and keep the vision!<\/span><\/p>\nInterviewer: What\u2019s your personal definition of success?<\/b><\/p>\n
Karima-Catherine: <\/b>Success for me is freedom. Every freedom in every sense\u2014work, lifestyle, and purpose.<\/span><\/p>\nThe other one is impact. It\u2019s great to achieve great things for myself, but am I able to help others through my work, and help them achieve their own legacies? One question I ponder on is how can we enable the next generation to not have the same struggles and barriers we\u2019ve had.<\/span><\/p>\nConclusion: Tough lessons often craft the best results<\/span><\/h2>\nEntrepreneurship is not easy itself, but it\u2019s especially difficult when there are external circumstances that try to limit one\u2019s potential\u2014either through racial and gender biases.<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s a reoccurring theme that comes up often in underrepresented groups across the board in any industry or sector.<\/span><\/p>\nHowever, entrepreneurs like Karima-Catherine that choose to look beyond their limitations, tend to have a better chance of succeeding in this space.<\/span><\/p>\nUndoubtedly, there are moments where it\u2019s intensively frustrating to not have your capabilities acknowledged because of inherent bias, but the determination to keep pushing on for a greater vision wins on most days.<\/span><\/p>\nB2BeeMatch is an embodiment of this entrepreneur\u2019s values to bring more equality, prosperity and peace to future generations and business owners.<\/span><\/p>\nWith every person that is positively impacted by either the platform, or any of her public initiatives, we can only foresee that the fire is lit even brighter.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Ever heard the saying, \u201cYour network is your net worth?\u201d Historically, business transactions were made face to face, in a meeting room, or at fancy networking soiree. But now with the accelerating pace of digital globalization, we are witnessing a trend of global cross-transactions. Let\u2019s imagine you own a digital agency, you might have some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"B2BeeMatch: The AI-Powered Platform for Meaningful B2B Connections","_seopress_titles_desc":"Discover how B2BeeMatch revolutionizes B2B connections, helping businesses worldwide find the right opportunities and form meaningful partnerships.","_seopress_robots_index":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1040,950],"tags":[1005,1209],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5453"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7254,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5453\/revisions\/7254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}