Last week, Dr. Wendy Cukier, founder, and Director of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) at Toronto’s Metropolitan University unveiled highlights of the soon to be released State of Women’s Entrepreneurship 2025. The report was shared with over one hundred attendees and 200+ online participants representing over 250 organizations from micro grassroots to national scale.
Since 2021, this annual report has been released in concert with International Women’s Day week. In ordinary times, the presentation focuses on presenting activities, achievements and results.
But these are no ordinary times.
In addition to presenting data, Dr. Cukier this time openly called on women entrepreneurs, associations, and networks across Canada to come together to defend, stand up for the continuation of diversity, inclusion and equity investments and initiatives in Canada.
Pausing on the slide showing the positive impact of targeted investments in Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+ women entrepreneurs, Dr. Cukier said “I don’t care what people say about wokeness or EDI or political correctness. The fact of the matter is that if we do not have strategies that are truly inclusive, we are losing out on talent. We are losing out on economic growth. We are losing out on innovation and expertise. End of story.”
Dr. Cukier and panelists speaking at the event reinforced the message, pointing out that investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy and effective practices can help us build a model, inclusive economy that will clearly differentiate Canadian business culture and practice from U.S.
It ultimately arms us with the skills and insight we need to successfully trade with growing offshore regions like Africa, and deepen trade ties with Europe, South America and the Pacific Rim.
When Dr. Cukier asked the room of over one hundred attendees how many either immigrated to Canada or are first generation Canadians, 80 per cent raised their hand.
“Look around. We have people right here in this room who know about how to access large, overlooked markets. We can collaborate with each other and leverage our know-how and connections. Who better to partner with than someone from say, Brazil if you want to export to Brazil,” she said.
According to Statistics Canada, approximately 23 per cent of Canada’s adult population identify as immigrants in 2023 versus 15 per cent of the population in the U.S.
Entrepreneur Jennifer Lewis, founder of Canadian owned and operated Forever Natural/Urban Spa, currently exports to the U.S. but now plans to ramp up her export business in the UK and the EU.
“People do things differently in Europe. For example, in America, it’s all sell, hustle, sell. In Europe, it’s more relational, open and authentic. You won’t make a sale if you don’t go to lunch. Or get to know each other. If you want to export offshore, you really must take an inclusive and different approach,” she said.
The Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES)
In 2018, the federal Liberal government launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) to unlock over $150 billion in additional GDP growth.
Since then, reports say it has invested approximately $7 billion on connecting, researching, advancing, and breaking down barriers for over 284,000 Canadian women majority incorporated enterprises.
There are in total over one million registered self-employed (companies of one) women entrepreneurs. The new WEKH 2025 report says that the percentage of women-majority owned businesses in Canada have increased from approximately 14 per cent in 2018 to almost 20 per cent in 2024. Approximately 21.3 per cent of small companies owned by racialized people are majority women owned.
While the WES investment translates into just $680 per year per woman entrepreneur, it’s paying off. Big time. In more ways than one.
The WEKH report highlights that self-employed and women majority owned companies accounted for $90 billion in GDP in Canada and have created over 850,000 thousand jobs.
The Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH)
The Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub was founded in 2018 as part of the WES strategy to connect the ecosystem and conduct research into the women’s entrepreneurship economy to enable evidence-based policy and program development.
Led by Metropolitan University’s Diversity Institute, WEKH hub partners with 10 geographically distributed hubs across Canada. It also collaborates with over 250 micro grassroots to national scale organizations, plus universities, business associations and government agencies. Examples include Coralus, Women’s Enterprise Centres, the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Immigrant Women in Business.
WEKH reports that its initiatives and partners have helped women entrepreneurs access over 181,100 events, skill development and support programs. Over 25,600 federal loans prioritized for women through WES-linked programs have also been accessed.
DEI in the women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem
From the podium, Dr. Cukier declared that despite pushback and ongoing destructive discourse around DEI, it is of vital importance that the women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem continues to prioritize and build an inclusive women’s entrepreneurship space.
“We also need to do better at making sure that all government programs at all levels bring a gender centered lens design. Women are 51 per cent of the population. We cannot afford to be silent. What can I say in the current environment, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem and we have to deliver these messages to politicians at every level and for every political stripe because these are important messages not just for women but for Canada,” she said.
‘We know that targeted investments in women are important. We know that targeted investments in Indigenous entrepreneurs are important. We know that targeted investments in Black entrepreneurs are important. Same for the LGBTQ+ community,” Dr. Cukier added.
Showing an image of Susan Faludi’s 1991 book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women on the final slide, Dr. Cukier reminds that backlash against women and inclusion is not new.
“Women are key to Canada’s economy and stability. Investments in women entrepreneurs produce value for money. A gender and diversity lens remains key to the development of effective policies and programs,” she said.
“We are the 51 per cent. Not the 51st state,” Dr. Cukier concluded.
The federal Minister of Small Business, The Honourable Rechie Valdez, also in attendance.
“Our government remains full-heartedly committed to our women entrepreneurship strategy,” Valdez said.To download the WEKH 2025 Executive Summary, click here.
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