Anchoring Canada’s Future

Women entrepreneurs are vital economic drivers

The numbers tell a clear story. Majority women-owned businesses now represent 20% of all Canadian businesses, up from 17.6% just a year earlier. Women are equal owners in 17.2% of SMEs. Majority women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate more than $90 billion annually and employ close to one million Canadians. But the majority (more than 80%) of women entrepreneurs are actually self employed – as they often take different pathways compared to men. And women entrepreneurs are incredibly diverse in the sectors they engage in. National economic development, self sufficiency, innovation and sustainability strategies must include women.

Survey reveals key supports that deliver impact

Women innovators —primarily self-employed and incorporated business leaders— who participated in the WEHK’s extended national survey between 2023 and 2025 identified the government programs that are making the biggest difference to their business success. The WEKH team designed and administered an evaluation survey to recipients of services provided through 35 WES recipient organizations. A total of 2,265 individuals engaged in the survey, and following data cleaning, 883 usable responses were retained for analysis.

Women entrepreneurs reported that coaching and mentorship (62.9%), entrepreneurial skills training (56.5%), and business plan development (35.8%) and networking and partnership (35.3%) were the supports they most often accessed. Women reported many positive outcomes: nearly half (48.9%) entered new industries, and 43.3% implemented business process improvements and 16.2% secured new financing.

At the same time, the least used supports—export help, infrastructure, procurement support and training—point to opportunities to unlock even greater impact.

“Canada needs a national skills and economic development strategy that recognizes the critical importance of SMEs which account for more than 90% of private sector employment, and women entrepreneurs in particular. ,” explains Dr Cukier. “Given the current global trade wars and disruption and opportunities associated with AI, we need coordinated action to provide better access to capital, fair procurement, and trade as well as AI adoption to turn uncertainty into opportunity at home and across borders.”

Progress and Challenges

Together, the report and survey paint a nuanced picture. The WES programs also encouraged innovation to take place across all three programs; 43.3% implemented business process improvements, while 33.2% introduced products and services innovation. Women-owned firms are exporting at rates comparable to men-owned SMEs and are outpacing men in non-U.S. markets like the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, and China. Women entrepreneurs are also more likely to adopt sustainable practices and lead in the use of business software solutions.

Yet challenges remain. Women request smaller loans on average and pay higher line-of-credit rates than their male counterparts. While approval rates are relatively high, women are still more reliant on personal savings and family funds to get their businesses off the ground.

“56% of our clients would not have been able to access loans, because of their credit scores, either because they don’t have one or because they have a low one.” says Alison Kirkland, former CEO, Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada (WEOC), speaking at an expert panel discussion when the preliminary report was shared in March 2025 (see sidebar). “We need to make sure that women can continue to access capital, by looking at the viability of the business and the woman’s story.”

The report also underscores important progress among equity-deserving groups. In 2023, majority women-owned SMEs accounted for 30.4% of Indigenous-owned SMEs, 38.8% of Black-owned SMEs, and 35.7% of 2SLGBTQ+-owned SMEs—evidence that a diverse community of entrepreneurs are reshaping Canada’s business landscape, and that business supports need to adapt in parallel to meet evolving needs.

Centring women entrepreneurs and SMEs in economic, infrastructure and trade strategies

To drive economic and job growth, the report calls for sustained actions that range from macro strategies to tailored programming designed to help women lead, compete and scale their businesses in Canada and beyond. These include:

Accelerating affordable digital infrastructure and AI adoption in micro and small enterprises.
Better access to capital and inclusive procurement policies, backed by a strong Buy Canadian focus.
Trade supports and export-focused programming to enable women-led firms to navigate international financing and market growth.
Sustaining and scaling the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) and joining the WE Finance Code to improve transparency and accountability among financial institutions and investors.

In addition to the annual research and new survey results, the 2025 report showcases valuable case studies that reveal important insights into the effectiveness of WES-supported programs for women entrepreneurs. These include the WEOC National Loan Program; Safi Media and British Columbia’s Forum for Women Entrepreneurs which each offer distinct mentoring and skill development programs and wrap around supports. Coralus, which operates a unique crowdfunding model that provides interest-free loans which shows a high return on investment with high repayment rates, job creation and impact on the sustainable development goals. Another innovative program is theMaïa Inclusive Growth Projectlaunched in 2024 by the Réseau des Femmes d’affaires du Québec (RFAQ),

“We built the Maïa project to make sure that women can connect with large corporations so they can get contracts,” explained Ruth Vachon, director of the Réseau des Femmes d’affaires du Québec (RFAQ) at the March 2025 panel discussion. At the time she anticipated it would have 20,000 women entrepreneurs; today, the project has reached over 40,000 individuals and connected nearly 1000 entrepreneurs with buyers.

WEKH continues its leadership in enabling women innovators to fuel Canada’s economy, create jobs and unlock opportunity at home and in global markets, but as the 2025 report and extended survey demonstrate, there is still vital work to be done. As Canada charts new territory and navigates a shifting economic landscape, WEKH’s research, programs and collaborations with ecosystem partners are more essential than ever.

Looking Ahead

Women entrepreneurs are anchoring Canada’s economic future. But to fully unleash their transformative potential, Canada needs to double down on what works: digital adoption, equitable financing, inclusive procurement, and trade supports that make growth possible at home and abroad.

The message from the 2025 report is clear: women entrepreneurs are not a side story; they are the main story. And as Canada navigates new economic challenges, enabling women business leaders to thrive and grow is essential to securing prosperity for all Canadians.

Four diverse women posing in front of banners for the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and Diversity Institute. — Dr. Wendy Cukier, Sabine Soumare, Shannon Pestun and The Honourable Rechie Valdez attending the Women Entrepreneurship event in March 2025.

POV: Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Leaders

In March 2025, a distinguished panel of experts from the women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem joined Dr. Cukier for the launch of the preliminary results of the 2025 Report on the State of Women’s Entrepreneurship. They shared expert perspectives informed by the unique initiatives their organizations are leading in this space, including:

“When you get to share what’s working, it gets really exciting. We’re seeing acceleration when women entrepreneurs can connect in small groups, learn from each other, and amplify what’s working.” — Vicki Saunders, Founder of Coralus (formerly SheEO)

“If being an entrepreneur was easy, everyone would be doing it. I come back to the fact that corporations always buy value. [They] don’t care what colour value is, [they] don’t care what gender value is; they look for value. So you have to be clear on what your value is, and to make sure what you’re bringing to the table is strong right now, especially as supply chains are changing and they are looking for something closer to home.” — Cassandra Dorrington, President & CEO of Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council.

“We are in an emergency moment; we have to do something now or it’s going to be too late.” — Ruth Vachon, director of the Réseau des Femmes d’affaires du Québec (RFAQ), flagging the urgent need to sustain and scale WES-supported programs including the Maïa Inclusive Growth Project

“We have to move the dial and put the pressure on the politicians to bring down the barriers that exist within Canada and that are preventing us from trading within our own country.” — Alison Kirkland, Former CEO, Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada

“I would love to see a rallying cry with the bigger financial institutions to support developmental lenders [to keep lending] pipelines open. And to ask, as companies move through these developmental lenders, how we can graduate them into bigger lending portfolios to keep that loan fund open and help even more entrepreneurs.” — Shannon Pestun, Finance Cafe and WEKH Indigenous Lead

“We’ve been really focused on micro-lending, with about 8 million [dollars] in loans over the last three years to Indigenous women entrepreneurs. Many of those women are sole proprietors, many are startups. So now we’re thinking about, where do we go now? How do we ensure they’re going to make it past that three-year mark, and create sustainable businesses? That’s what we want to make happen.” — Magnolia Perron, National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association

“We need to do better at making sure that all government programs at every level bring a gender and diversity lens to the design. Because if you design a program and you say ‘to be eligible, you need half a million, or $1 million a year in revenue’, how many women in the room are there?” –Dr. Wendy Cukier, Founder of the Diversity Institute, WEKH academic director and co-author, 2025 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship Report.

Visit our YouTube Channel to watch a recording of the panel discussion.