We Are Women is a non-profit national initiative enabling Black, Women of Color, Indigenous LGBTQ2S+ to become successful entrepreneurs in the Canadian food and beverage industry, mainly via micro-grants and one-on-one mentorships.
Women’s entrepreneurship continues to grow and attract a lot of attention worldwide, with growing evidence of its social and economic impact. Organizations like ‘We Are Women’ are always up for empowering and encouraging underrepresented women-led businesses, making them self-sufficient and able to tackle all the obstacles that come their way. In this global context, We Are Canada has turned out to be an emerging leader when it comes to providing entrepreneurship opportunities to underrepresented women in Canada in the food and beverage sector.
In addition to systemic discrimination and gender bias, many female entrepreneurs face hurdles when it comes to finding, services, and assistance. These problems are exacerbated by female entrepreneurs who are underrepresented, such as racial and indigenous women, people with disabilities, or those identified as LGBTQS+.
These restrictions though were brought to light by the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on female entrepreneurs. In the early days of the pandemic, many women entrepreneurs were unable to get government support because priority was given to small businesses with employees and registered businesses. On the other hand, they had a greater loss of income and talent than men. Also, many have been unable to capitalize on the digital transformation boom due to limited technology.
However, despite all the hardships and challenges, non-profit organizations like We Are Women were able to instill resilience, ingenuity, and tenacity. The underrepresented women mentored by We Are Women played a dominant role in the management and creation of new businesses, spun new jobs, thus making them leave a mark in the Canadian industrial circle.
How “We Are Women” Is Driving a Major Change for Underrepresented Women in Canada?
The prime goal of We Is Women is to back the underrepresented women in Canada to ensure sustainable growth and development in their journey toward becoming successful entrepreneurs. Their policy aims at:
- Supporting underrepresented women in making them realize their full human rights, so that they remain confident and resilient in their journey of entrepreneurship.
- Reducing racial inequalities in control and access over the benefits and resources of development.
- Empowering underrepresented women by making them the boss of their own lives, letting them gain skills, setting their own agendas, building self-confidence, developing self-reliance and solving problems. We Are Canada enable themselves to make their own choices and speak on their own behalf.
A Little About We Are Women “WAW Box”
In order to celebrate the launch of We Are Women, they created a special box packed with 15 mouthwatering treats assembled by indigenous, LGBTQ2S+, black and racial female entrepreneurs across Canada. They have sent these specially-designed WAW boxes to 50 of the most inspiring Canadian women belonging to the business, government, and non-profit organizations.
Who is WAW Partnered with?
We Are Women is honored to be partnered with National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) in order to empower aboriginal women across Canada. NACCA made it possible to create their WAW Box and co-chair their 1st Grant and Mentorship Opportunity. WAW is extremely proud and thankful to be a part of NACCA. Also, they are partnered with BlackNorth Initiative and the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
For more information regarding underrepresented women entrepreneurship in Canada, you can visit their official website and explore more about their growth-driven works.
To learn more about women-led businesses in Canada, subscribe to our monthly CanadianSME Small Business magazine.
