Focus group findings by The Forum identify barriers to funding and advice for Canadian funders from diverse women entrepreneurs
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Forum, a Canadian charity that supports women entrepreneurs, announces the launch of AFIA DEI Index, a First-of-Its-Kind nationwide initiative to address the ongoing business funding gap for women entrepreneurs. The initiative has a particular emphasis on accelerating financial inclusion and access for Black and Indigenous women, other Women of Colour, and 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.
“At The Forum, our purpose is to support women entrepreneurs to thrive. With over 14,000 entrepreneurs supported to date, we see that a profound gap still exists in financing women-led businesses, especially in ways that meet their unique needs. Women operate enterprises with 53% less capital than men, and less than 3% of venture funding goes to women founders with negligible amounts going to Indigenous and Black women, or other Women of Colour,” says Paulina Cameron, CEO, The Forum. “We need to address the personal, societal and economic costs of undercapitalization. We created the AFIA DEI Index to engage funders across the country in closing the funding gap and together build a new vision for how women entrepreneurs are supported.”
Created for Canadian funders, including banks, credit unions, development lenders and venture capital firms, the AFIA DEI Index provides a package of research-backed tools, resources and training to benchmark against leading practices and build team capacity. Funders receive access to an Index of leading practices for DEI and Reconciliation in business funding, guidance and recommendation for action, and team training on women’s entrepreneurship and inclusive customer service.
“Advancing gender equality isn’t just good social policy, it’s good economic policy too. We know that women from BIPOC communities face additional challenges on their path to economic success and our government is focused on dismantling these barriers. Everyone should have a fair shot at success, which is why we will continue to make investments to build a stronger and more inclusive Canada,” said the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth.
The AFIA DEI Index initiative is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) and developed by The Forum in collaboration with a Working Group of funders, diverse entrepreneur groups, women’s enterprise organisations and DEI and Reconciliation experts with lived experience.
Registration for Canadian funders and more information available at afiaindex.ca.
Focus Group Findings: What diverse women are saying about access to funding
In October and November 2022, the Forum leveraged its community of women entrepreneurs across the country to run three focus groups with BIPOC women entrepreneurs to learn about their experiences in trying to access business funding. Key takeaways included a frequent lack of understanding among funders about BIPOC women entrepreneurs' businesses and inherent biases in the approval processes; these served as insights for the AFIA DEI Index.
Two-thirds of participants in the focus group were located in Eastern Canada, with the remainder distributed between Western and Atlantic Canada. Seventy-eight per cent of the participants identified as BIPOC (36% as Black, 7% as Indigenous, 21% as East Asian, 15% as South or Southeast Asian).
To learn more, visit What Diverse Women are Telling Us about Access to Funding. For advice shared by BIPOC Women Entrepreneurs for venture capital, private investors, government organisations and funders, visit Advice for Funders from Diverse Women Entrepreneurs.
About The Forum
The Forum is a national registered Canadian charity that energizes, educates, mentors, and connects self-identified women entrepreneurs to strengthen economies and build thriving businesses and communities. Since 2002, The Forum has supported over 14,000 women entrepreneurs and serves 1,600+ women from 193 unique communities across Canada annually through its programming and events. Visit theforum.ca for more and follow on social @theforumca.
Media Contact: Monique Camenzuli, The Edit PR, monique@theeditcanada.com
