Constanza Safatle Ferrari is the 2022 Young Entrepreneur Award recipient.
Owner, Newbornlander
“NLOWE is a valuable resource that provides programs like Mentorship for the WIN—a one-on-one mentorship program for women immigrants and newcomers wishing to start their own businesses.”
Constanza Safatle Ferrari is the owner and founder of Newbornlander, a social enterprise retail store that manufactures handmade baby clothes using ethically sourced, sustainable materials, while creating employment opportunities for newcomer women. She received the Young Entrepreneur Award, sponsored by the College of the North Atlantic, which recognizes entrepreneurs 35 years of age or younger who have owned and operated a profitable business for at least two years.
Seven years ago, Safatle Ferrari and her husband left Chile and moved to Canada so he could further his education. Leaving behind her life as a commercial lawyer, Safatle Ferrari entered Canada as a temporary worker and quickly found herself caught in a system with little assistance. Ineligible for many support programs, Safatle Ferrari was alone in her effort to adjust to a new country. Despite setbacks, she secured a job at coffee shop, where she learned to speak English.
While on maternity leave, Safatle Ferrari worried that there wasn’t a space for her in the job market where she could earn a living wage, and she began to consider entrepreneurship. She recognized the need for local, sustainable, ethically sourced baby clothes and wanted to ease the burden of other newcomer women— and so the concept of Newbornlander emerged.
In 2017, she launched her business, and in five years she grew Newbornlander from a home-based enterprise into a retail store selling directly to the public. Safatle Ferrari hires immigrant and newcomer women who, as she was, are caught in a system with little support. She mentors and trains other young women and immigrants to help them meet their full potential while giving them a pathway into the labour market.
Safatle Ferrari received the 2021 ANC Bridget Foster Cultural Business Icon award for her part in successfully lobbying the provincial government to change its residency requirements for business incorporation. This amendment to the Corporations Act now permits newcomers to open their businesses. As a result, Safatle Ferrari and other newcomers have complete control over their businesses and futures.
“I have always had the entrepreneurship spirit and wanted to do something different. So when I started Newbornlander, it wasn’t about the profit. It was how many positions of employment we could create. Every immigrant woman that passes through our doors has a story. Every one of them. And we help them find a meaningful job when they feel ready. That is everything to me.”
Recently appointed Executive Director of TaskforceNL, Safatle Ferrari is delighted to support and mentor newcomers and their families who want to build a future in Newfoundland and Labrador. She says immigrant women have the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to be in leadership roles.
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