Start Now Incubator
Canadian women entrepreneurs face barriers growing and starting their own businesses, and rural and diverse women entrepreneurs face even greater hurdles.
The Women’s Enterprise Centre 2020 report on Covid-19 impacts notes that only 28% of women are entrepreneurs, and suggests that Canada could “add $150B in incremental GDP by 2026, and increasing women’s participation in entrepreneurship was identified as a key strategy to achieve such an objective.” Nevertheless, women face barriers in accessing capital, biases in lending, less experience and smaller networks, issues with confidence and growth mindset, as well as family demands, etc.
Additionally, recent surveys from Barriers to Success for Indigenous Female Entrepreneurs in Cape Breton - Unama’ki note particular barriers that indigenous women entrepreneurs face, including: lack of business planning (84%); lack of funding was identified as the top barrier to business success or growth; only 4% of respondents have contacted a traditional financial institution for funding assistance; 57% have invested personal savings to help finance their business; 50% of respondents indicated that their business is the main source of income for their families; 57% of respondents do not have a mentor.
ONSIDE's Nova Scotia Inclusive Innovation Monitor, developed in collaboration with the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, looks at the issues facing women’s entrepreneurship and contains 30+ indicators which identify gaps for women including salaries, access to financing, business opportunities, etc. ONSIDE uses the monitor to clarify gaps in the system that require intervention, including creating access points to business startup support for diverse women.
The Start Now Incubator project with support from the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) Fund aims to address barriers and gaps faced by rural, indigenous, and diverse intersectional women in accessing the supports they need to fully participate in an innovative and entrepreneurial economy.
Progress but more work to do.
The State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada 2023: Research Preview, from the Women's Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH), suggests that progress is being made, with regard to women's entrepreneurship, but there is still more work to be done. According to the preview, in 2022, at least 18% of businesses, including small, medium and large businesses are majority owned by women in Canada (SMEs account for 99.8% of these). Moreover, SMEs majority owned by women have increased to 16.8% of SMEs in 2020, an increase from 15.6% in 2017.
Additionally, women’s total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate increased from 65% to 81% of the men's TEA rate 2021 - 2022. Nevertheless, according to the preview, Statistics Canada reports a decline in the proportion of Indigenous and diverse women entrepreneurs with intersecting identities, while the proportion of women entrepreneurs with disabilities increased from 2017 to 2020.