Women in Business
This week, we are focussed on celebrating women founders and entrepreneurs. Did you know:
15.6% of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses are owned by cisgender women?
37.8% of self-employed Canadians are women?
40.2% of self-employed Indigenous folks are women?
83% of women-owned businesses are micro businesses with less than 20 employees?
Only 4% of venture capital is received by cisgender women?
93% of cisgender women business owners earn less than $100,000 per year in revenue?
Women spend 27.2 hours per week on household responsibilities?
(Data from the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub www.wekh.ca)
In addition, the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) requires all publicly traded/ listed companies to report on diversity within their boards of directors each year. MacDougall, Valley, and Jeffrey (2022) in their report for Olsen Canada analyzed the most recent submissions under the Act and found:
For companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), women held 26% of seats on corporate boards of directors. This represented a 2.5 times increase from 2015 when women held only 10% of those positions.
In companies listed on the S&P/TSX Composite Index, women comprised one-third of corporate boards, and 36% of corporate boards positions at S&P/TSX 60 listed companies.
The authors explained that these increases in the representation of cisgender women on corporate boards in Canada was a result of more companies creating diversity policies and setting targets for recruiting more women to their boards of directors. Although cisgender women have experienced increased representation on corporate boards, it was noted that for all CBCA companies, only 10% of corporate board positions were held by Black, Indigenous, racialized persons, or persons with disabilities. Corporations need to do more work to include and welcome more persons who are racially, gender, sexually, and abilities diverse onto their boards and into these leadership positions.
At the intersection of race and gender is Black women founders and business-owners. In 2022, the RISE UP study surveyed 700 Black women founders and found that these entrepreneurs did not have access to start-up capital and did not have access to information needed to start and scale their businesses. These persons did report feeling very satisfied starting businesses that met needs or filled gaps in markets, and gave them more time and career flexibility.
To better support cisgender women business owners and founders, the Government of Canada launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) including the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub that provides information on resources supporting women business owners;, the WES Eco-System Fund funds initiatives that make entrepreneurship equitable for women, trans, and gender diverse folks; the WES Inclusive Women Venture Capital Initiative funds efforts to remove barriers to accessing venture capital; and the Women Entrepreneurship Loan Fund offers loans up to $50, 000 to scale operations.
These supports and funding made available through the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy are incredible resources for women, transgender and gender diverse founders and business owners to access. Indigenous, Black and racialized women, trans and gender diverse business owners often do not know about these opportunities and often miss out on them. Please encourage persons you know who can benefit from these resources to review and access any that are appropriate.
In addition to sharing info on the WES, please support women-owned and led businesses. I make it my duty to support as many Black women business owners as I can, both personally and in my business. I know how important it is to have repeat and new clients, so I show up for my peers as much as I can. Please consider doing the same.
Entrepreneurship is not an easy journey, but it is very fulfilling! Being a CEO and founder is the best job I could have because I work with amazing clients who are creating meaningful impact. I also lead a team of wonderful people who share my vision and passion, plus I mentor other Black women who are starting on their entrepreneurship pathways. Although challenging, starting and leading a business has a tremendous power that we can lean into.
Thanks for reading my blog today! Please email me and let me know how you support women, trans and gender diverse business owners.
Michelle
CEO
Reference
Black Business and Professional Association, Casa Foundation, de Sedulous Women Leaders, & Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. (2021). Rise up: A study of 700 Black women entrepreneurs. https://wekh.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/BBPA-Rise-Up.pdf
MacDougall, A., Valley, J. and Jeffrey, J. (2022). Report 2022: Diversity disclosure practices - Diversity and leadership. Osler Canada.