National network led by Ryerson builds support for women entrepreneurs

Canadian women are the  (PDF file) most active entrepreneurs in the world (external link)  with more women starting businesses than any other country, but barriers exist that can impede their success. Now, they stand to benefit from a new national network of knowledge and tools being created to support them and future women entrepreneurs to come.  

On December 3, 2018, Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, announced (external link)  that Ryerson University was selected in the competition to lead a network of universities, industries, industry associations, women’s entrepreneurship, community and Indigenous groups that will receive nearly $9 million over three years to deliver the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH).  

At Ryerson, the Diversity Institute, in collaboration with the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship and the Ted Rogers School of Management, will lead a diverse national network of researchers, practitioners, and key stakeholders to create a more inclusive and supportive environment and grow women’s entrepreneurship in Canada. With regional hubs and an initial network of supporters that includes almost 50 organizations, WEKH is designed to address the needs of diverse women across regions, and sectors.

“We are very much looking forward to collaborating with women entrepreneurs, researchers and key stakeholders across Canada to remove barriers and help accelerate the growth of women-led enterprises,” said Wendy Cukier, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy, TRSM and founder, Diversity Institute.

The WEKH, which is part of the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (external link) , will help benchmark and track the status of women’s entrepreneurship in Canada, strengthen collaboration and sharing of best practices to advance women, by engaging women’s organizations and helping mainstream organizations become more inclusive in their policies, programs and practices. It will also challenge stereotypes and leverage research to build awareness of women’s entrepreneurial success.

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is one of almost 50 organizations in the network. “ITAC sees particular value in the proposed efforts to identify barriers that hinder and limit the success of too many women entrepreneurs,” says Denise Shortt, acting president and CEO. “We are strongly committed to share best practices and to develop digital platforms that will help link women to available supports and resources.”

A first in Canada, the WEKH will also be supported by an advanced digital platform, powered by Magnet (external link) , a social innovation developed at Ryerson University. Magnet’s advanced online matching platform which serves women-led enterprises through its talent portal and thousands of companies through its Magnet Export Business Portal, will allow service providers, academics, government and industry to effectively bring together their knowledge and experiences, to identify leading practices and share evidence-based solutions to better serve women entrepreneurs.

WEKH will share knowledge to inform policies and programs and will identify, develop and translate best practices for supporting women entrepreneurs into tools and resources that are accessible to the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Eight Regional Hubs

National in scope, the consortium will be made up of eight regional hubs, which will coordinate mapping and stakeholder engagement in different regions led by:

• Simon Fraser University VentureLabs (Vancouver, British Columbia)
• Mount Royal University (Calgary, Alta.)
• Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba.)
• PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise (Thunder Bay, Ont.)
• Carleton University (Ottawa, Ont.)
• Université de Montréal (Montréal, Que.)
• Ryerson University and OCAD University (Toronto, Ont.)
• Dalhousie University’s Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship (Halifax, N.S.)