Press Release
The Government of Canada is advancing women’s economic empowerment with the first ever Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, a $2-billion investment that seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025.
Kim Rudd, Member of Parliament for Northumberland—Peterborough South, joined local women entrepreneurs and business leaders today to share how the federal government is helping women succeed.
MP Rudd announced a $1,436,500 investment in Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) to support the development of a FinTech-driven lending platform which will provide an easy, online application process and instant decisions on commercial loan applications up to $50,000 prioritizing investment in innovative women-owned and women-led enterprises in Eastern Ontario. The FinTech lending platform will launch November 4th, 2019.
Successful recipients will be automatically inducted into a concurrent program providing advisory support services, networking opportunities, accelerator space and entrepreneurial skills development through the Venture13 innovation and entrepreneurship centre. The objective of this new fintech-driven women’s entrepreneurship program is to close existing service and access to capital gaps in Eastern Ontario to help to ensure under-represented women successfully start, scale up and expand their ventures with dedicated financing and strategy support services.
The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy compliments the Government of Canada’s efforts to advance gender equality, which include addressing pay equity, providing more affordable childcare and putting an end to gender-based violence.
Quotes
“Our government believes that women’s economic empowerment is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for the bottom line. That’s why we launched the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, a strategy that seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses by increasing their access to financing, networks and advice. It’s a smart investment with an economic and social return. I’m proud to say that there is no better government under which to be a woman in Canada’s history.”
– The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion
“If we want Canada’s economy to run on all cylinders, everyone must have the opportunity to succeed. Our government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy will help business women reach their highest potential and provide their full contribution to our economy by supporting them with the tools they need to grow their businesses and create jobs.”
– The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
“The women entrepreneurs and business leaders of Northumberland- Peterborough South make incredible contributions to our economy and community every day. I’m proud to be a part of a Liberal government that takes women’s economic empowerment seriously. From tackling pay equity to modernizing parental leave, this government is taking action on gender equality because when women succeed, we all succeed.”
– Kim Rudd, Member of Parliament for Northumberland—Peterborough South
“DELIA is about calibrating our lending to innovative, women entrepreneurs using contemporary financial technologies. Yet, it is not just a matter of fintech. We will work closely with a cohort of up to 30 high-potential women-led firms in enhancing their competitive development and scale-up through an all-inclusive suite of entrepreneurial support services and training. With partnerships developing in Eastern Ontario, we are confident the DELIA project will harness the full potential of women led businesses in driving economic prosperity in our rural areas.”
– Wendy Curtis, Executive Director – Northumberland CFDC
Quick facts
· The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) will help women start and grow their businesses by improving access to financing, talent, networks and expertise through an investment of nearly $2 billion.
· The strategy will help our government achieve its goal of doubling the number of majority women-owned businesses by 2025.
· As a part of Budget 2018, the Women Entrepreneurship Fund was allocated $20 million. Following a call for applications, held in fall 2018 and which resulted in over 3,000 applications received, over 200 projects were funded. The Government of Canada is pleased to be able to support approximately 100 more projects by investing an additional $10 million in the Women Entrepreneurship Fund, to provide a total of $30 million to women-owned and led businesses across Canada to grow their businesses and reach new markets.
· WES programs complement our government’s broader initiatives to advance gender equality. These initiatives include measures on pay equity, more flexible parental leave and more affordable childcare.
· Advancing gender equality has the potential to add $150 billion in incremental GDP to the Canadian economy by 2026.
· Just 16% of SMEs in Canada are majority women-owned.
· Only 11.2% of majority women-owned SMEs export, compared to 12.2% of majority male-owned SMEs.
· The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Canada 2015/16 Report on Women’s Entrepreneurship indicated that in 2016 Canada had the highest percentage of women participating in early-stage activity (13.3%) and the fifth highest in terms of female ownership of established businesses among comparable innovation-based economies.
· Final funding is subject to negotiation of contribution agreements.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
