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A gender and diversity lens across the entrepreneurship ecosystem is needed to uncover where exclusionary assumptions have been embedded in strategies, programs and criteria. istock.com

Empowering women entrepreneurs

by Wendy Cukier, Director, Diversity Institute, Ryerson University, and Academic Director, Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub 

Historically, Canada’s investments in research and development have not translated into the rates of innovation and growth expected. COVID-19 has made innovation even more urgent, but we need to rethink some of its underlying assumptions to rebuild better. Discussions of innovation tend to be dominated by discussions of disruptive technologies, of unicorn startups, of building Canada’s Silicon Valley North. Innovation is more than creating new technologies, designing a better mousetrap, or even discovering a COVID-19 vaccine – as game-changing as that might be. It is also about developing new processes, new products and new services. It is about “doing” things differently. Also, without adoption, there is no innovation. We need to pay attention to the drivers and impediments to adoption and to the sectors, the players and the people who are unintentionally excluded. 

As we move to recover from the pandemic, innovation measurements need to be refreshed. Patents and intellectual property are only one proxy for measuring innovation. Shopify’s recent explosive growth was probably not the result of new technologies so much as it was the result of the acceleration of digitization by entrepreneurs. When we think about innovation as the adoption and the creation of new technologies, we are more inclusive and recognize where we need critical investments. Rural communities, for example, have lower rates of producing patents, but are among the most innovative users of Internet of Things.

The way we define innovation and think of entrepreneurs has a profound impact on who is included and excluded. Stereotypes, systemic discrimination and biases disadvantage large segments of entrepreneurs. When asked to think of an entrepreneur, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg often come to mind despite that they or other men in Silicon Valley represent a tiny fraction of entrepreneurs. Technology is important, as both a fast-growing sector and enabler, but the people who will help rebuild our economy come from across the country and across sectors. 

The definitions of innovation and entrepreneur are actually not intrinsically connected with profit-making alone any more than they are with technology. When we include social innovation and social entrepreneurs, we “open the tent” and include more women and Indigenous people and shine a light on the importance to our success as a nation of valuing contributions to solving “the world’s to do list.” Similarly, artists are without question entrepreneurs. It’s no surprise that among Canada’s richest women entrepreneurs we find Celine Dion, worth a cool $800-million.

Research from the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) has surfaced some of the structural differences between women and men entrepreneurs, those who are newcomers or racialized, Indigenous or Black, and those with disabilities, those in rural and urban settings, highlighting the importance of an intersectional lens and careful attention to definitions. 

If an entrepreneur is defined as a small or medium enterprise with one or more employees, we see that 16 per cent of about 114,000 are majority-owned by women. But if we define it as someone who is self-employed, there is a dramatic rise – women are 30 per cent of self-employed Canadians (or more than one million entrepreneurs). 

We know that Indigenous and Black entrepreneurs are also less likely to be incorporated or to have employees, but they make important contributions. When we focus on tech – where women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities and Black entrepreneurs are grossly under-represented – or venture capital – which they are unlikely to access – we unintentionally exclude entrepreneurs running main street businesses in services, health and beauty, food, infrastructure, the arts and social enterprises. Women-led businesses – and those led by many diverse groups – are smaller, younger, underfinanced and more fragile. And they are being crushed by COVID-19. Think of them as seedlings – we cannot let them die and then wonder why there is no forest.

Inclusion drives growth. The federal government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy has already injected $5-billion into a whole-of-government strategy to help double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025. To drive opportunities and growth, we need to uncover where exclusionary assumptions are embedded in the strategies, programs and the criteria of these, whether government policies and funding, accelerators and incubators, financial institutions, post-secondary institutions or business support organizations.  

We need to celebrate successes of women and diverse entrepreneurs. We need to understand essential infrastructure – access to technology is critically important, including accessible and affordable broadband along with the skills to use it. Skills strategies need to address the needs of entrepreneurs (rather than those of large businesses) to build capacity to succeed. We need to recognize that childcare is not a women’s issue but an economic issue. Governments and businesses should use procurement to create first customer opportunities to participate in their supply chains. WEKH is working to provide evidence-based approaches to create an environment where women and other diverse entrepreneurs can survive and thrive.

The Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) is an initiative led by Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute, the Ted Rogers School of Management and the Brookfield Institute with 10 regional hubs across the country and more than 250 partner organizations.
www.WEKH.ca

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