WBE Canada Launches Tools for Growth to Advance Canadian Women-Owned Businesses
TORONTO, June 1, 2021 /CNW/ - Today, Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada) announced the launch of 'Tools For Growth' - The Resource Library for Women Owners Ready To Scale Up Their Business - a promising new initiative designed to support the growth and success of Canadian women-owned businesses.
In Canada, 15.6% of all Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are owned by women (2017)1. Though some of these businesses have made considerable progress over time in numerous areas such as access to financial resources, export activity, innovation and adoption of digital technology, only 18.5%2 of women-owned businesses actually grew their sales and revenue to become a medium to high-growth SME. What causes these businesses to not be able to grow to that next level? Some commonly found issues were lack of resources, limited knowledge on RFPs, lack of community-support and mentors, not being ready for doing business with large corporations and not having access to networking opportunities with procurement leaders.
WBE Canada's Tools For Growth is designed to serve women owned businesses from across all industries. It is best suited for businesses ready to scale up, from solopreneurs, through micro to small size especially those eager to prepare their business for opportunities within corporate and government supply chains. This resource is intended to help women-owned businesses prepare and scale up before they apply for certification and start developing connections within supply chains. WBE Canada is determined to connect these businesses with relevant information and business tools to stimulate their growth.
"One of the biggest challenges continues to be the size of women-owned businesses in Canada. While a growing number of corporations and government organizations are eager to diversify their supply chains, many of these opportunities are lucratively available to larger businesses with proven revenue streams," said Silvia Pencak, President of WBE Canada. "There is no lack of support for women-owned businesses in Canada, quite the opposite - there's so much support that it's confusing women owners. WBE Canada is committed to supporting the growth of Canadian women-owned businesses, simplifying the process for them and connecting them to relevant resources. We intend to do so in partnership with our own Certified WBE community and our Partner organizations. It will take a community to raise women's voices in Canadian business landscape."
Tools For Growth provides access to Training Resources, Access to Workshops and Events , Discounts and Specials and more!
About Tools for Growth
Tools for Growth was originally designed as a Resource and Training library for the Certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE) community. With the increased awareness around supplier diversity and WBE certification more startups, solopreneurs and smaller businesses without previous experience in B2B sales started to join the WBE community. This presented an opportunity for WBE Canada to help these businesses to prepare and scale up before investing their time and resources in WBE certification. This program is designed as a springboard to certification and corporate/government sales. Learn more
About WBE Canada
Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada) is a Canadian non-profit organization with a vision of empowered women-owned businesses with equal access within corporate and public procurement. WBE Canada certifies, equips and promotes majority-owned, managed, and controlled women's businesses for corporate and government supplier diversity programs. They also support development and improvement of supplier diversity programs in Canada. To learn more about WBE Canada click here.
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1 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises - Government of Canada - 2017 |
2 Statistics Canada: Research Blog: Women-owned businesses in Canada - 2019 |
SOURCE WBE Canada
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