Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madame Chair. Good morning. My name is Jill Earthy and I am the regional director of Futurpreneur Canada for B.C. and the Yukon, the only national non-profit organization that helps young Canadian entrepreneurs launch successful businesses. I am also the co-chair and

Status of Women committee  I'll summarize, perfect. The B.C. Economic Forum's “Women as a catalyst for growth” event was a large collaborative effort in partnership with multiple organizations with some incredible outcomes. It demonstrated the importance of bringing different groups of people together to

Status of Women committee  Yes. MoMENTum with upper case MENT. That's the stand-alone mentoring.

Status of Women committee  I would say it's absolutely essential. We hear again and again of the need to have that support, especially in the early days of starting a business but I think right the way through, especially for women. They need change and that support and that mentor or champion. We see the

Status of Women committee  That's a great question. If they're looking for funding, which a lot of them are, they come to us. We help them work through their business plan, validate that, finalize that, provide the funding, and match them with a mentor for two years. Some come to us with an idea but they

Status of Women committee  Yes. Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  Sometimes young entrepreneurs in particular don't know what they don't know. I think that's the case for all of us, obviously. So having someone to bounce ideas off on a monthly basis really helps. That certainly increases the success rate. It doesn't work when they don't ask fo

Status of Women committee  Ask for help, I think is always my number one thing. Reach out, do the research, ask people. You just have to keep asking. Take advantage of the amazing resources that are available across this country.

Status of Women committee  That's a great question. Our organization has seen an increase in women turning to entrepreneurship. The national average is about 36% of self-employed Canadians are women. For Futurpreneur Canada, in the last five years an average of 40% of our clients or the young entrepreneur

Status of Women committee  Yes it is. It's a national organization with a head office in Toronto and regional offices in each province.

Status of Women committee  Great. The federal government is doing quite a bit right now, which is wonderful to see. With Futurpreneur Canada's position as a national organization, one of our big pieces is that we really like to partner with other organizations, certainly within each province. We have abou

Status of Women committee  Sorry, my apologies. Was that directed...? We are having a little bit of trouble hearing.

Status of Women committee  Okay, thank you. So a pay gap, and are we seeing that for entrepreneurs as well.

Status of Women committee  As was mentioned, what we're seeing is that more women are starting businesses, but fewer women are growing businesses. Therefore, they aren't maybe realizing the economic benefits of a larger business. I know one thing that we certainly focus on through our work at Futurpreneu

Status of Women committee  Certainly for me one recommendation is further support of our national MoMENTum program. We are seeing more and more people coming to us, particularly women, just seeking the mentorship piece. That is essential. I think we are well positioned because we do partner with other orga