MP Boissonnault announces up to $3.3 million to support women entrepreneurs in Alberta

From: Western Economic Diversification Canada

News release

Government of Canada investing as part of its Women Entrepreneurship Strategy
   
August 30, 2019 – Edmonton, Alberta – Western Economic Diversification Canada 
 
The Government of Canada is advancing women’s economic empowerment with the first ever Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), a $2-billion investment that seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025.
 
Today, Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, announced investments of up to $3.3 million for women entrepreneurs in Alberta. This program is administered through Western Economic Diversification Canada.

The following women-owned or -led businesses will receive up to $100,000 through the Women Entrepreneurship Fund to help them grow their business and reach new export markets:

  • A&D Tutoring Services, located in Edmonton, to expand online teaching capabilities to better access remote and international markets;

  • Advanced Water Technologies Inc., located in Raymond, to provide marketing support, development of a business plan, and upgrades to shipping and receiving;

  • Blu’s Clothing, located in Edmonton, to support the acquisition and implementation of new equipment, advisory services, salaries, and advertising;

  • Corie L. Flett Professional Corporation, located in Fort McMurray, to support leasehold improvements and advertising;

  • CSE Group of Companies, located in Calgary, to improve manufacturing capabilities, increase domestic market share, and expand internationally;

  • Hippo Hug, located in Calgary, to support the improvement, production, and marketing of a new product line in Canada with future prospects for international sales;

  • Livestock Water Recycling Inc., located in Calgary, to support the design of a new composite tank, patent filings, export opportunities, and marketing;

  • Physio 4D, located in Calgary, to finalize the commercial version of a iOS-based “app”, as well as implementing a sales and marketing strategy;

  • Poppy Barley, located in Edmonton, to scale up and support further expansion into U.S. markets;

  • Smith Cosmetics Corporation, located in Calgary, to increase sales and revenue, expand international reputation, and increase exports; and,

  • Tesseral Technologies Inc., located in Calgary, to expand existing products by targeting engineering, construction, and environmental global markets.

In addition, MP Boissonnault announced the following two recipients as a WES Ecosystem Fund (Regional Stream) recipient:

The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy complements the Government of Canada’s efforts to advance gender equality. These efforts include addressing pay equity, providing more affordable child care, and putting an end to gender-based violence. 

Quotes

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

– The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion

“The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring the full and equal participation of women in our economy and society. This is why we created the first ever Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, which seeks to double the number of women-owned businesses in Canada in the next six years. Today’s investments will help women-owned and -led businesses across Alberta innovate, grow, and export to new markets.”

– Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre

The women entrepreneurs and business leaders of Edmonton and Alberta make outstanding contributions to our economy and communities every day. Today’s investment by our government will create and support jobs in Alberta and help more of our women-owned and women-led businesses grow, innovate and export to new markets.” 

– The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for
Edmonton Mill Woods

Quick facts

  • The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) will help women start and grow their businesses by improving access to financing, talent, networks and expertise through an investment of nearly $2 billion.

  • The strategy will help our government achieve its goal of doubling the number of majority women-owned businesses by 2025.

  • In Budget 2018, the WES Ecosystem Fund was allocated $85 million to help non-profit, third-party organizations deliver support for women entrepreneurs and address gaps in the ecosystem.

  • In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada allocated $20 million to the Women Entrepreneurship Fund. Following the call for applications held in fall 2018, over 3,000 applications were received and over 200 projects were funded. The Government is pleased to be able to support approximately 100 more projects by investing an additional $10 million in the Women Entrepreneurship Fund. With this additional investment, the Government is providing a total of $30 million to women-owned and  led businesses across Canada to grow their businesses and reach new markets.

  • WES complements our government’s broader initiatives to advance gender equality. These initiatives include measures on pay equity, more flexible parental leave and more affordable child care.

  • Advancing gender equality has the potential to add $150 billion in incremental GDP to the Canadian economy by 2026.

  • Just 16% of SMEs in Canada are majority women-owned.

  • Only 11.2% of majority women-owned SMEs export, compared to 12.2% of majority male-owned SMEs.

  • 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%) and the fifth highest in terms of female ownership of established businesses among comparable innovation-based economies.

  • Final funding is subject to negotiation of contribution agreements.

Associated links

Contacts

Corinne Havard
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion
corinne.havard@canada.ca

Narmin Hassam-Clark
A/Regional Communications Manager
Western Economic Diversification Canada
780-399-1058
narmin.hassam-clark@canada.ca

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