I want to thank you for the opportunity to lead this project. It was a great for me to connect with and engage with such committed women entrepreneurs and supporters of entrepreneurs. I thought it appropriate to reflect back on the three guiding questions that framed this project’s beginning and highlight some of we learned through this project’s activities.

1) Why do more women than men start businesses in Canada but more men grow them?
More women in Canada and around the world are pursuing entrepreneurship as an option to develop an economic livelihood and establish ventures that align with their personal values and family situation. For women, because the pursuit of entrepreneurship is often intertwined with other life goals and situations, this can affect the trajectory or path and pace of business development. In short, not having a laser focus on increasing revenue targets and business growth year over year will affect the size and revenues of women’s businesses.

Another factor is that women entrepreneurs as a recognized ‘movement’ is new. It is a new label for women. As with anything new, it can take time for women to feel to comfortable and ultimately operate confidently and systematically as a ‘business person’ or ‘entrepreneur’. The world of business has historically been a man’s world and much of the culture around business reflects this. Today, there are a growing number of organizations and networks set up to serve women entrepreneurs specifically but few are more than 20 years old and most have been established within the last decade. Traditionally, women and women’s work has been more associated with the private, domestic realm and work done in this realm has generally stayed private. This has now changed. The private realm is now public as more and more businesses – women and male owned too – are being launched from the home.

2) What barriers do women face in growing their businesses?
Firstly, it is important to realize that women entrepreneurs are not a homogenous group and not all women experience barriers to business growth. What we discovered in this project however is that there are common challenges that women may face in growing their businesses that are often intertwined with self perception and confidence levels, lack of clarity around business goal setting and how isolated - geographically and socially – a female entrepreneur is.

Two top barriers or challenges that surfaced for women regarding growing their businesses, are related to

• whether they had prior business experience and knowledge before starting their businesses, and
• their level of knowledge regarding financing options.

Because fewer women than men pursue external capital for their businesses in the start up stage and women also tend to generally be more risk averse than men, women can be less equipped to leverage business growth opportunities when they arise.

3) How can credit union leaders and lenders better support women to grow their businesses?
The good news is that credit unions are well positioned to more strategically engage women entrepreneurs. Because many women become entrepreneurs without prior business backgrounds or a strong understanding of finance and financing options , they know they need this education and when it is offered, they appreciate it. This is a great starting point for credit unions.

A bit of advice to women entrepreneurs out there – walk into your local credit union and build a relationship. Don’t wait, let them know you are there and have questions. Start early , ask advice and be prepared for tough questions to be asked of you. Start the conversation !

Best of luck to all of you all in your entrepreneurial endeavours!

Joanne

One of the initial questions that most refugee women eagerly ask upon arrival in Canada is “how can I have an income for my family?”

For these women, income means status, dignity, pride and an acknowledgement of the many survival skills that they developed over years. Their level of enthusiasm for work is so high that when the opportunity for entrepreneurship is available with the required support, the success of these women would astonish most Canadians.

Many refugees come to Canada from years (often decades) spent in refugee camps after fleeing their home-country due to a life threatening situations. They have experienced trauma, deprivation and have had limited access to formal learning opportunities. At the same time, refugee women often manage the meager aid assistance the family receives and work in survival jobs to take care of their families. Their experience as refugees has taught them skills that have led them to entrepreneurial experiences. In fact, the extent of their unique and authentic skills might encourage a new stream of entrepreneurship beyond material benefits, a stream that is the sum of people’s own aspirations, efforts, and learning towards bettering themselves materially, socially, intellectually, and spiritually.

Economic security is one of the essential pillars of the successful settlement of immigrants and refugees. Saying this, many, if not most newcomers – particularly people who come to Canada as refugees – face challenges with starting and growing businesses including:

• understanding Canada’s official language/s, regulations,
• understanding the financial systems in Canada and knowing how to navigate and access available financial resources,
• having few or no local business contacts and limited knowledge of relevant business and professional networks, and above all,
• vulnerable stability in one’s life including:
• securing and sustaining a basic income for the immediate needs of the family;
• securing a stable place to live;
• securing affordable childcare; and
• addressing any immediate family health or other needs.

Whether developing a more formal or informal business, a person needs the necessary peace of mind to organize their thoughts and experiences to feed into the business planning process. This peace of mind can often be elusive when they have competing family priorities (such as listed above).

A common challenges for refugees is language and literacy barriers. Low literacy levels in financial management and business plan documentation make it challenging for refugees to meet the standard requirements that Canadian lenders expect to see in their business loan applications. Understanding the Canadian business regulatory environment and how it relates to them and their ventures can also be a significant challenge.

For those newcomers busy with ‘survival jobs,’ while also trying to build a business, time and access to financial resources to meet basic family needs and develop a new venture can be likened to carrying two watermelons in one hand. The example below  – Fahima and the Malalay Cooperative – explains the cooperative learning process and how it is baked right into the operational model, flexible to accommodate the community and women’s individual needs.

To exemplify what a refugee family can experience when transitioning to a new country and environment, below is a real life example of some of the challenges newcomers can face.

Fahima and the Malalay Cooperative – Case Example
Fahima was a newly arrived refugee with her husband and four children, ages 10, 9, 7 and 5. She had little formal education or working experience prior to arriving in Canada. She started her initial testing of the Canadian system through becoming a member of the Malalay: Afghan Women’s Sewing and Crafts Co-op. As a grass roots initiative, the Malalay Cooperative is a community-based initiative that promotes equality and economic security for Afghan immigrant and refugee women. The Co-op represents how women can develop a strategy to generate income and gradually eliminate their dependence on social assistance.

As a women-centered business, the Afghan Women’s Sewing and Crafts Cooperative, provides a opportunity for newcomer Afghan women to achieve equality within broader Canadian society by being part of an intentional economic collective that is also a welcoming, safe, cultural relevant, and productive environment to network and develop marketable skills. Meeting and working together on self-identified goals, and gaining strength and support from one another gives the members hope in their ability to take control of their own lives.

In the co-op, Fahima found an environment for a process of self-development, support, learning opportunities and networking that also built her confidence in her intrinsic worth, values, strengths and capacities. Today, she and her family are expanding their collective family business and opening their second store where her husband and four children work with her.

From 2005-2008, Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) (in partnership with other non-profit organizations with government and philanthropic funding), coordinated the start up and incubation of the grass-root initiative of Malalay Co-op with a focus on capacity building, access to funding resources, space, equipment and the development of the Co-op structure. The process was slow and ran at a pace that fit with the member base. The transition to an independent cooperative structure from an initial ISSofBC pilot project was gradual. The shared expertise and partnership between ISSofBC, Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), Vancity, Status of Women Canada, DevCo (a co-op development consultancy), and others was key to getting it off the ground and to sustaining the venture. 

Another key element that was initiated after the Malalay Co-op on its feet was the formation of the Common Thread Co-op which creates the marketing and learning opportunities for members of Malalay Co-op as well as other hard-to-reach and/or marginalized women. For more details about the Common Thread, please visit: http://www.commonthreadcoop.ca

We also have the Women’s Economic Council and its Cluster Models for First Nations women in the North as another promising examples in Canadian communities. 

(For more information about the development process of Malalay Cooperative, pleases read Effective Practices in Starting Co-ops – The Voice of Canadian Co-op Developers, by Joy Emmanuel and Lyn Cayo).

Canada is changing with new demographics. With the changing face of our neighborhoods and communities, organizations of all stripes need to thoughtfully consider these new societal assets and work with them to be productive and successful members of the Canadian business community and society at large.

For example, credit unions can integrate diversity right into the core of their financial offerings and programs. Strategies such as seeking and recruiting people (e.g. leaders and employees) equipped with relevant language and cultural backgrounds that have the capabilities to effectively engage and serve newcomer communities. Staff also need sufficient time and training to understand the dynamics and characteristics of particular ethnic communities. Often, new communities need customized community engagement strategies to get to know what credit unions stand for and be motivated to walk into a credit union’s door. Some examples of strategies are below:

• develop simplified learning tools to enable newcomers to understand what a credit union is, how they are different from banks, that also clearly explain the different product offerings;
• establish mentoring programs to connect newcomer entrepreneurs with more established entrepreneurs to connect and network them into more mainstream Canadian business circles;
• provide – or refer to those community organizations who do – consistent and long-term support from business planning, to post-launch support and after-care;
• create targeted marketing opportunities for newcomer-owned businesses to network with other business members where there is mutual benefit; and
• work in partnership with the settlement sectors and income assistance programs with focus on transition from income-assistance to self-sufficiency
• focus on long-term funds and long-term programming

We need to work together in order to create a favorable and enabling environment where people, including newcomers, can see themselves as part of the collective movement for social change, that will ultimately result in the prosperous and safe society that we all strive for.

Guest Expert

Gulalai Habib | Assistant Manager / Case Manager – Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP), Immigrant Services Society

This infographic really does a great job of explaining  the economic impact of women-owned businesses in BC and the challenges they face in growing their businesses.

I’ve always felt the need to lead and it was during my time working as an Event Manager within the Personal Growth industry that I learned the ultimate leadership role is to inspire others to create change, inspire to move forward in their lives, to create a vision and stay focused.

I chose to become an Arbonne Independent Consultant because it gives me an opportunity to give people the gift to accomplish their goals and live their dreams. To build a network of like minded people who encourage others to create change and live their vision. I had an opportunity to fulfill my need to lead in three different ways; independently building a business where I teach and train, helping people grow into the person they aspire to be along with creating awareness and providing healthier options for health, wellness, skincare and cosmetics. I feel blessed to be working with women and men who want more, who want to create change and who are dedicated to their vision.

Because of the field I work in, the Women in Leadership Foundation stood out to me. After one event, I saw the importance of their work and wanted to get involved. My first volunteer opportunity is contributing to Canada’s Inaugural – Women in Social Business Forum, which is the first ever women’s social business event held in Canada’s Capital, and a two minute walk from my home! The goal of this event is to enlarge the social finance field by bringing women together from all across sectors: Corporate, Small Business, Social Entrepreneurs, Community Innovators and Non-profits in order for them to be introduced to a larger community that will support their leadership skills to their fullest potential!

Ottawa will be hosting this event on Monday, May 6th, 2013 at the Canadian Museum of Nature from 11:00am-5:00pm. It would be great to meet like minded women to share in an afternoon of networking, workshops and amazing food! But most importantly working together to move us all forward!

Guest Blogger

Karen Laimite
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