Rethinking Entrepreneurship: CIF Women Entrepreneurs’ Conference & Workshop

What does the word “entrepreneur” evoke for you? For many, the word elicits images of men—the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs.

Dr. Wendy Cukier shared work being done through the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) designed to change that and help support, connect, and encourage women entrepreneurs at the Women Entrepreneurs’ Conference & Workshop, hosted by the Canada India Foundation (CIF) in Brampton, Ontario.

The presentation included a discussion on the gendered nature of who we define as entrepreneurs, the unique barriers that women entrepreneurs face, and how we can build a stronger and more inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

“Because of the way in which entrepreneurship has been constructed, because of the ways in which many of our institutions have defined their selection criteria and their financing criteria, a lot of really good ideas get missed. And a lot of them, unfortunately, are ideas that women have,” Dr. Cukier explained.

The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion opened the event with a keynote address. Several of our partner organizations also presented, including YWCA Canada, Export Development Canada, and the Business Development Bank of Canada.

We would like to extend our thanks to the Canada India Foundation for hosting such a critical conversation. Watch Dr. Cukier’s presentation here.