Markham’s ventureLAB gets $1.7M to reduce ‘gender gaps’

Canadian government aims to double number of women-owned businesses by 2025

Yorkregion.com
August 12, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

To increase the number of women entrepreneurs in the tech sector, Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion Mary Ng announced about $1.7 million in investment to Markham’s ventureLAB on Wednesday, Aug. 7.

This investment will allow the local tech incubator to increase its number of women-led tech companies that build software- or hardware-enabled solutions for priority growth sectors.

With only 16 per cent or 200,000 of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Canada majority women-owned, this new investment will seep into digital health, advanced manufacturing, and digital media.

One of the reasons why ventureLAB was chosen is due to its “track record of success in York Region,  which is why this is such a smart investment with economic and social returns,” said Ng. 

York Region where ventureLAB is situated also boasts having the “highest concentration” of tech companies in Canada.

“Our government believes that women’s economic empowerment is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for the bottom line,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, Melissa Chee, President and CEO, ventureLAB, said, "We are excited to launch Tech Undivided.”

“This initiative will support women working in tech by bridging gender and diversity gaps, and creating equity in tech, a historically under-represented sector for women,” she said.

“Tech Undivided will strengthen Canada's global competitiveness and strengthen the talent pipeline of both women entrepreneurs and women working in tech."

Asked about the number one challenge preventing women from fully participating and leading in the tech field, Minister Ng said, “That’s a great question and one which is hard to answer definitely.”

Ng said women entrepreneurs “face a wide range of structural barriers from the still unequal division of child and home labour to lack of access to established business networks.”

“One of the most visible barriers to women entrepreneurs is lack of access to financing,” she added, citing how “research has shown that pitches made by male entrepreneurs were funded 68 percent of the time. When women made the exact same pitch? It was 32 per cent of the time.”

Part of a $2 billion investment

This funding --administered through FedDev Ontario --is part of Canada’s $2 billion investment initiative to advance women’s economic empowerment with the first ever Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES).

The strategy seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025.

So far, the federal government is providing a total of $30 million to women-owned and -led businesses across Canada to grow their businesses and reach new markets.

It begun in the 2018 budget when the Government of Canada allocated $20 million to the Women Entrepreneurship Fund to fund more than 200 projects. However, Canada was able to support approximately 100 more projects by investing an additional $10 million in the Women Entrepreneurship Fund.

Also, in last year’s budget, the WES Ecosystem Fund allocated $85 million to help non-profit, third party organizations deliver support for women entrepreneurs and address gaps in the ecosystem.