Canadian Women's Entrepreneurial Organizations Advocate For An Inclusive Economy

• Dr. Wendy Cukier, founder of WEKH, presented highlights from the upcoming State of Women’s Entrepreneurship 2025 report
• The event saw participation from 100+ attendees and 200+ online viewers, representing 250+ organizations

Recently, Dr. Wendy Cukier, co-founder and Director of the Women's Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) at Toronto's Metropolitan University, unveiled major highlights from the forthcoming State of Women's Entrepreneurship 2025 report. The briefing was delivered to more than 100 in-person participants and over 200 live-streamed participants, representing more than 250 organizations, from grassroots to national levels.

Along with reporting data, Dr. Wendy in this instance expressly invited women entrepreneurs, organizations, and networks nationwide to join to fight for, advocate the continuance of diversity, inclusion and equity investments and initiatives in Canada.

While highlighting the positives of concentrated investment in Black, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQIA+ women business owners, Dr. Wendy stated, "I don't care what people say about wokeness, EDI, or political correctness. The reality is, if we don't use genuinely inclusive approaches, we're missing out on talent, economic growth, innovation, and expertise. That's the bottom line."

Dr. Wendy and the panelists underscored that investment in DEI policies and best practices was key, emphasizing that it would enable the establishment of a model, inclusive economy that would make Canadian business culture stand out compared to that of the U.S.

"Take a look. We have individuals within our own room here who understand how to penetrate huge, neglected markets. We can work together with one another and utilize our expertise and relationships. Who do you know you can work with better than a person from perhaps Brazil if you are looking to sell to Brazil," she said

Entrepreneur Jennifer Lewis, owner of Canadian owned and operated Forever Natural/Urban Spa, already exports to the U.S. but now intends to expand her export business in the UK and the EU.

"People do things differently in Europe. For instance, in America, it's all sell, hustle, sell. In Europe, it's relational, open and authentic. You won't close the sale if you don't go to lunch. Or bond with each other. If you're going to export offshore, you really need to take an inclusive and different approach," she said.

The federal Liberal government introduced the Women's Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) in 2018, aimed at unleashing more than $150 billion in additional GDP growth.
It has, according to reports, spent around $7 billion on connecting, researching, building, and dismantling barriers for more than 284,000 Canadian women majority-owned businesses since then.

There are a total of more than one million registered self-employed (company of one) women businesswomen. The report WEKH 2025 reports that the number of women-majority owned businesses in Canada have risen from around 14 per cent in 2018 to nearly 20 per cent in 2024. Raicalized people's small businesses have around 21.3 per cent majority women-owned businesses.