WEKH’s Alberta Roundtable brings ecosystem partners together to discuss insights and emerging opportunities for women-led businesses
Dr. Wendy Cukier, Founder and Academic Director of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH), recently shared insights on women entrepreneurship at WEKH’s Alberta Roundtable, highlighting both national trends and findings specific to the province.
During the session, Cukier presented key findings from the State of Women Entrepreneurship Report 2025 (SOWE) and previewed early insights expected in the 2026 edition. The discussion also featured a Q&A discussion hosted by Shannon Pestun, Alberta-based Advisor for WEKH, in which Cukier shared her perspective on strengthening the ecosystem supporting women-led businesses in Alberta.
WEKH is a national initiative that provides research and insights to inform policies, programs and practices that effectively support diverse women entrepreneurs. Through its network of 10 hubs across Canada, WEKH works to identify barriers and highlight enablers for women entrepreneurs throughout the innovation ecosystem.
Drawing on SOWE 2025 and early 2026 insights, Cukier emphasized the significant economic contribution of women-owned businesses across Canada. Women own approximately 20% of businesses nationally and are equal partners in another 17%. She noted that women’s participation in several historically male-dominated sectors has grown significantly between 2017 and 2023, including agriculture (from 5.4% to 9.5%), construction (3.9% to 7.8%), transportation (7.1% to 10.1%) and professional services (14.9% to 22%). Cukier also highlighted changing dynamics in innovation and international trade. Women entrepreneurs are now just as likely as men to innovate and export. While majority women-owned SMEs are less likely than majority men-owned SMEs to export to the U.S. (80.4% vs. 86.9%), they are more likely to export to other countries, including Brazil (5.3% vs. 3.1%), the U.K. (20.6% vs. 12.3%), China (15.9% vs. 12.6%) and India (9.3% vs. 5.2%).
Alberta stands out in several ways. “Alberta has the highest percentage of majority-owned businesses that are controlled by women (24.6%) compared to the national average which is around 20%,” Cukier said.
However, the outlook among entrepreneurs in the province reflects some uncertainty. Data suggests women entrepreneurs in Alberta express relatively high levels of concern about the economic outlook, with 38.4% of women-led businesses reporting negative impact of tariffs (though 49.% report no impact) and 26.8% expressing pessimism about the outlook for 2026 – the highest of any province and above the national average of 17.6%.
Meanwhile, gaps persist in areas such as financing, where structural biases and historical assumptions about risk continue to influence lending and investment decisions. In 2023, majority women-owned businesses had the lowest financing approval rate at 85.9%, compared to 88.2% for men-owned and 90.6% for equally owned businesses. Women-owned businesses received significantly less funding, too; in 2023, they received an average of $171,139 in financing while majority men-owned businesses received $435,088. Line of credit interest rates – identified by women leaders as having a high impact on their business operations – were also higher; majority women-owned businesses experienced an interest rate at 13.7%, significantly higher than the 10.4% rate for businesses with majority men ownership and 11.2% for equally owned businesses.
During the discussion, Cukier outlined key actions needed to build and sustain a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem capable of accelerating the growth of women-led businesses in the province.
One of Alberta’s advantages, she noted, is its scale. Compared to larger jurisdictions, it is easier to bring together financial institutions, venture capital investors, government and business intermediaries to coordinate efforts and share information. This connectivity can help address fragmentation, which Cukier identified as a major challenge across entrepreneurial ecosystems. “One of the biggest killers of ecosystems is fragmentation,” she said.
Improving “wayfinding” within the ecosystem is another priority. Entrepreneurs often struggle to navigate the many programs, accelerators and support services available, sometimes moving from one program to another without making meaningful progress. Better coordination and clearer pathways could help entrepreneurs more effectively access the resources they need.
Cukier also emphasized the importance of integrating women entrepreneurs into mainstream economic and business discussions rather than treating them as a separate category. In Alberta—where women represent roughly a quarter of business owners—ensuring women’s participation in economic decision-making forums and industry initiatives is essential.
Finally, she highlighted procurement as a powerful policy lever. The massive investments in national projects, infrastructure and defense represent significant opportunities for women entrepreneurs. Governments and large corporations can create opportunities for women-led businesses by implementing measurable supplier diversity targets and enabling participation across supply chains, including as Tier 2 or Tier 3 suppliers.
Together, these strategies—combined with inclusive program design, access to networks and skills development (especially in leveraging AI), and efforts to challenge outdated assumptions about entrepreneurship—can help ensure that women entrepreneurs continue to drive economic growth across Alberta and Canada.
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Sign up to be notified when the 2026 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada report is released and be among the first to access the latest research and insights on the growth, financing, diversity, and sectoral impact of women entrepreneurs across Canada.
