Status of Women committee  That's a great question. I think we have a number of opportunities related to the organizations, both the regional development agencies as well as the banks, BDC and EDC. We've started something called the Accelerated Growth Service to get a number of these organizations to work

Status of Women committee  The AGS with the AGS.

Status of Women committee  That is our hope. We have really been at the initial stages of adopting this program to try to figure out what the gaps are in terms of our ability to offer a more seamless service. With it still being in its infancy, we haven't been that ambitious, but I do think over time it wi

Status of Women committee  Yes, I do think that a lot of the things that we have discussed here, both this morning and with our previous panel, are really important, focusing on ensuring that women and girls from a young age are encouraged to go into STEM areas, including engineering, and also that we star

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. It's not just denial; they also may not ask for financing and just don't get financing. We don't know specifically what the cause is. That's part of what we're looking at. It is potentially a question of lack of financial literacy. BDC is exploring th

Status of Women committee  Sorry. This isn't scientific. This is anecdotal.

Status of Women committee  There may also be some systemic issues around the way in which women are perceived as being successful in entrepreneurship. We are looking at a variety of issues around that.

Status of Women committee  I don't have statistics on that.

Status of Women committee  That's a great question. Thank you so much. All the regional development agencies have different models for assistance and funding. When FedDev announced the $880,000 over two years to support Fierce Founders, that initiative arose partly because the incubator Communitech came t

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair and distinguished members. My name is Shereen Benzvy Miller. I am the assistant deputy minister for small business, tourism and marketplace services, at Innovation, Science and Economic Development. I'm pleased to be here today, alongside my

International Trade committee  Yes. Our programs are specifically geared toward SMEs. I must say that most Canadian businesses are SMEs. That is why our programs are for them. They represent 99% of Canadian businesses. When the time comes to make changes to those programs, we take a close look at the needs of

International Trade committee  We have round tables with them. Minister Bernier has recently participated in a dozen or so round tables to discuss with the SMEs their needs in terms of growth. How do we make a business grow in Canada? Round tables are making it possible to determine the challenges facing SME

International Trade committee  We also invest in mentoring. It is very helpful when an entrepreneur has a mentor who knows how to make a business grow like theirs. The advice is very specific.

International Trade committee  Different jurisdictions use different metrics. We have landed on this one, in a sense, because it's the simplest one to do comparative analysis with. Generally, size by employee is actually one of the indicators for growth and job creation because that is one of the economic gen

International Trade committee  If I could just add that essentially firms that are ready for growth are the ones that are ready to look at export as a viable business plan. The more that we invest, and we already have a number of programs that help companies essentially establish themselves on the growth traje