On March 4 in Calgary, WEKH AB attended a roundtable hosted by Alberta Women Entrepreneurs and the Government of Alberta

 The roundtable discussed the key findings from AWE’s Strengthening Partnerships initiative and provided an opportunity for insightful discussions on why investing in women entrepreneurs is an economic imperative for Alberta and how the impact of investing in women entrepreneurs can better align to Alberta’s economic, innovation, environmental, social and inclusion goals.

Shannon Pestun, WEKH’s Senior Advisor, Finance was in attendance and shared some of the barriers, enablers and progress in women’s entrepreneurship that came out of the 2023 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship Report.

• In 2022, 988,400 women in Canada were self-employed.

• 18% of all businesses are majority owned by women in Canada—with more than 99% of these small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

As we continue to build momentum, Shannon stressed the importance of applying a gender and diversity lens to every dimension of the ecosystem as well as the need to continue to challenge assumptions and stereotypes, spotlight successes, and promote programs and policies that remove barriers and provide support for diverse women.  

She also presented the following as societal level enablers:

There is an important opportunity apply a gender and diversity lens to how we shape policies and regulations in economic development

It is important to promote collaborations among governments, banks and academic institutions that can strengthen the ecosystem as well as offer more integration, coordination, and ease of navigation and wayfinding.

It is important that there continues to be disaggregated data, data linkages and evaluation frameworks to help assess what works for whom

At WEKH we're creating a more inclusive and supportive environment to grow women’s entrepreneurship in Canada.

Want to learn more about the barriers, enablers and progress in women’s entrepreneurship? Read the full 2023 report and stay tuned for the upcoming 2024 report launching this spring.