Tom Fox welcomes John Petrovski, the Senior Director of Commercial Lending at BMO, to this week’s episode. Tom and John discuss BMO’s new business initiative BMO Empower, and its efforts to help low to moderate-income and minority communities.

Promoting Economic Diversity
BMO Empower’s mission is to promote inclusive economic recovery through six main initiatives. All their initiatives are geared towards financing black and Latinx owned businesses, as well as low income and women-owned businesses. BMO Empower provides financing for their business growth, as well as financial education. John explains how the money is distributed throughout the six initiatives that make up BMO Empower.
Supplier Diversity
John stresses the importance of supplier diversity. He feels that BMO ought to have more minorities among their supplier list especially since the company has been around for more than two centuries. A way he’s sought to rectify this is through targeting and expressly buying from minority and women-owned businesses. “Not only will those efforts help address the issues of systemic racism but it’s also good business,” Tom quotes from John’s press release. John adds that a public-private partnership is needed to fully achieve this, and that individuals need to do their part.
Resources
BMO Empower
John Petrovski on LinkedIn