Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, both here and online, for inviting me to speak on women’s economic empowerment.
This is a critical and timely topic, especially as we continue to navigate the path to recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.
In my role as the Minister of Small Business, I am committed to ensuring that women entrepreneurs and business owners in every region of the country have the tools and supports necessary to recover, start, innovate and grow their businesses.
As a woman and former entrepreneur myself, I know first-hand the unique challenges faced by women business owners and operators every day. Unfortunately, these barriers are disproportionately higher for racialized women. After 15 years of working in the financial sector, I took a leap from corporate banking to start my own business. I discovered it while baking my daughter's first birthday cake; I found my creative passion. This journey has given me a deep understanding of the systemic barriers that prevent women from accessing the resources needed to start and grow their businesses.
My experiences are not unique. Throughout the world, women continue to face challenges related to starting and growing their businesses, including access to financing. In Canada, only 16.8% of small and medium-sized enterprises are majority-owned by women. It's 37% if you include self-employed women. Women have a hard time getting credit through financial institutions because they may not qualify. According to the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, the average amount of financing for men-owned businesses is more than double that for women-owned businesses. However, we know that studies show that when we advance gender equality and women’s participation in the economy, we can add up to $150 billion of GDP. Supporting women isn’t only the right thing to do; it's the smart thing to do.
In 2018, to try to change that, our government introduced the women entrepreneurship strategy, or WES. The WES is the first-ever program of its kind in Canada. It represents $7 billion in investments and commitments from almost 20 different federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations. As part of the overall investment, $165 million has been committed to the WES ecosystem fund to help non-profit, third party organizations strengthen capacity within the entrepreneurship ecosystem and offer business supports to women entrepreneurs.
I know, and several witnesses in this committee have already mentioned, how important mentorship is, and the ability for women to get the support they need and have that network to tap into, a network of other women who are excited to share their business ideas and advice. That can mean the difference between someone letting their doubts win or having the courage to open their own small business.
The Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, or WEKH, consists of 10 regional hubs across the country, with over 250 partner organizations, and it's received over $17 million to address the knowledge gap and serve as a one-stop resource for data and best practices for women entrepreneurship. Through WEKH, more than 22,000 women have participated in critical mentorship and networking events.
Budget 2021 allocated $55 million to create the women entrepreneurship loan fund, which provides loans of up to $50,000 to women entrepreneurs. So far, the WES has delivered nearly 9,000 affordable loans to women entrepreneurs.
The inclusive women venture capital initiative is a $15-million investment to fund projects led by non-profit organizations to strengthen and build a more inclusive venture capital environment for Canadian women.
In October, we announced an investment of up to $25 million in five venture capital fund managers as part of the inclusive growth stream of the renewed venture capital catalyst initiative. Two of these fund managers are Sandpiper Ventures and The51, both with a goal of investing in women and gender-diverse founders.
In addition, over 26,400 women entrepreneurs have been supported through projects led by the WES ecosystem fund, which includes helping more than 10,000 women start new businesses and helping more than 12,000 women grow existing ones.
Our government has developed support programs to provide support to women entrepreneurs with intersectional identities. Under the Black entrepreneurship program, over $25 million in loans has been disbursed through the loan fund to help address systemic barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs, and 20% of those clients who were approved for loans were women.
This year, our government also launched the 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurship program—the first of its kind in the world—which seeks to address the barriers faced by entrepreneurs who identify as 2SLGBTQI+.
Our government is also supporting the indigenous women’s entrepreneurship initiative, which aims to empower indigenous women entrepreneurs by providing tailored resources, mentorship and funding opportunities.
Together, these initiatives are helping thousands of women entrepreneurs reach their business goals and build on measures our government has already introduced to ensure that doing business in Canada is as easy as possible.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions, Madam Chair.