As a senior business advisor for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at a major bank several years ago, Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo was pitched many business ideas, heard all the grand plans and fielded countless requests for financing.
Clients at her branch in Grande Prairie, AB, came to scale up, open new stores, add more inventory, hire new people, train staff and even expand overseas. But there was one thing Adetokunbo-Taiwo didn’t often encounter: Women-owned businesses looking for help.
“They never came to the bank. There were men coming for help, seeking funding and financing, but women never did. I would call on women clients and they would say they were fine, but how could they be?” says the founder of de Sedulous Women Leaders, a national network of women professionals and entrepreneurs whose aim is to support and empower Black, racialized and immigrant women-owned businesses.
Curious to understand what women business owners experienced from the other side of the banker’s desk, Adetokunbo-Taiwo created a business plan for her own small startup and walked her loan application across the street to a competing bank. The business advisor there took one quick look at her cover page and company name and flatly told Adetokunbo-Taiwo her business would never succeed.
Surprised at the instant dismissal, she placed her business card and bank name tag on the advisor’s desk and immediately voiced her disappointment: “It’s interesting that you conclude that without looking at my business plan. I’m shocked at the service I’ve received here today.”
The meeting changed the course of Adetokunbo-Taiwo’s life’s work. Soon after, she switched jobs and became entrepreneurship co-ordinator for the Grande Prairie Regional Innovation Network (GPRIN) and entrepreneur-in-residence at Northwestern Polytechnic (formerly known as Grande Prairie Regional College).
Rattled after experiencing what racialized women entrepreneurs were facing, she has since used her knowledge and network to form de Sedulous Women Leaders. Her mission is to bring visibility to Black, racialized and immigrant women entrepreneurs and ensure they can contribute to the economy by getting the support they need to scale up.
One way de Sedulous Women Leaders is contributing to entrepreneurial success is through their Retail Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP), which equips immigrant women, women of colour, and Black Canadian women entrepreneurs with the tools to get their products onto retail shelves through incubators and hands-on mentorship and coaching. REAP operates in conjunction with iLaunchHERproduct, a year-long program that connects entrepreneurs with big-box store buyers and other retail outlets.
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Plan for challenges
Respondents identified several key challenges: Getting financing, finding partners or distributors, identifying new markets, facing stiff competition, creating a business strategy, shipping logistics and supply chain management, amongst others. Women in business can get guidance, support and growth through resources, like iLaunchHERproduct, de Sedulous Women Leaders and organizations such as WEKH, Coralus (formerly SheEO), BDC, and the TCS.
Use resources as a tool for growth
Building a support network of fellow business owners and knowledge partners and exploring email marketing or digital apps, like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, to identify your audience and showcase a business to retailers were identified as key steps for growth. So, too, is the strategy of using business financing and grants as tools to scale. Highly successful women-owned businesses in the survey also leveraged guidance from within their ecosystem to trigger new opportunities.
Consider international diversification
In Canada, women-owned businesses represent more than $117 million in economic activity, yet there’s only a small—around 11%— expanding group of women-owned businesses conducting trade internationally. Of the iLaunchHERproduct survey, 12% of women-owned business applicants were selling indirectly and 12% were selling directly outside of Canada. For these SMEs, exporting led to larger economies of scale and bigger sales of more than $50,000 annually. Moving onto the world stage means accessing bigger pools of capital, building robust networks and tapping the right trade partners. But for those women-led businesses that are ready to export or interested in global trade, EDC offers significant resources, programs, tools, insight specific to Women in Trade and financing solutions.
Beyond the report
For Adetokunbo-Taiwo, having EDC’s expertise in collating and writing the de Sedulous Women report has done more than shed light on the status of Black, racialized and immigrant women-owned businesses in Canada.
“It’s validation of the programs we offer, from my perspective. After one season, we’re seeing success from iLaunchHERproduct: Participants are getting their products into Winners, Marshalls, Hudson’s Bay, Sodexo, Walmart, Costco e-commerce.
“Having EDC involved is a huge impact in telling this story. Not only can we hone our own story, but we have a partner who can back us up and say, ‘We’re on this journey with de Sedulous Women. These are the challenges ahead.’ This report is a benchmark,” she says.
To register for Season 2 of iLaunchHERproduct, click here.
Statistically speaking
- 132,620 women are majority owners in small and medium enterprises in Canada, earning $30,000 a year or more
- Of the iLaunchHERproduct applicants:
- 25% already had a retail presence
- 27% had tried
- 48% hadn’t tried
- 54% of applicants were in business between one and four years while 38% had been operational less than a year
- Of 157 applicants, 100 earned less than $25,000 from their enterprise; two were earning more than $500,000 annually
- 26% of the businesses were focused on beauty and skin care, 24% in food and beverage, 12% in fashion and accessories and 8% in books and stationery
Top 3 challenges identified
- Obtaining financing (83%)
- Identifying partners or suppliers (78%)
- Finding new customers (76%)
*Immigrant-led SME exporters in Canada, Global Affairs Canada
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