Ng announces investment geared toward women in Markham

$100,000 is going to Everest Clinical Research

Yorkregion.com
August 16, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Another investment was announced Thursday, Aug. 15, by Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, geared toward “women’s economic empowerment.”

This time, Ng announced a $100,000 federal investment in Everest Clinical Research to develop a new data analytics and visualization dashboard application.

This will offer more cost- and time-effective management of large data sets from clinical research trial sites. The project will allow Everest to expand its market share in the United States and create three jobs.

“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 said.

“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.”

Last week, Ng announced about $1.7 million for Markham’s ventureLAB in hopes of reducing gender gaps and involving more women in the ever growing tech industry.

All of this federal 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.

While only 16 per cent of small to medium enterprises in Canada are majority women-owned, 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 per cent) and the fifth highest in terms of female ownership of established businesses among comparable innovation-based economies.