|
Elena Nielsen of the European
Commission’s Enterprise
Directorate chaired the plenary
session featuring best
practices from Canada and
Europe at the OECD Accelerating
Women’s Entrepreneurship
Forum in Istanbul from June
5-7, 2004.
Canadian Best Practices
Andrina G. Lever, President of
Lever Enterprises, Founder of the
Foundation of Canadian Women
Entrepreneurs, and Private
Sector Consultant to the Prime
Minister’s Task Force on Women
Entrepreneurs (WEs), presented
the Canadian Best Practices
Report.
Task Force Report: In late 2002, the Prime
Minister formed Canada’s first Task Force on
WEs, and appointed Sarmite Bulte, MP, as Chair.
The Task Force interviewed thousands of WEs,
policymakers and experts across Canada, as well
as British and US experts. It examined the
challenges faced by WEs, considered steps to
encourage women’s entrepreneurship, assessed
resources, identified gaps and areas for future
action, and evaluated best practices that might
be replicated in Canada. The Task Force Report,
released in October 2003, made recommendations
on a broad range of policy issues. See the
October 2003 Tsunami Wave for a synopsis, or
www.liberal.parl.gc.ca/entrepreneur for the full
Task Force Report. The Task Force is prominently
featured in Canada’s Best Practices Report.
Other Canadian Best Practices: Other national
and regional WE initiatives included in the Best
Practices Report included:
Financing from the Business Development
Bank of Canada,
Three organizations that promote women’s
enterprises (Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency, Organization of Women in International
Trade – Toronto, and the Canadian
Development Agency),
|
|
Two programs for training and development
(Step-Ahead and Organization of Women in
International Trade – Toronto),
Networking and the role of the Global Banking
Alliance of Women,
Technology through the Wired Women
Society, and
Support services through Western Economic
Diversification Canada and the Women’s
Enterprise Initiative.
Copies of the Best Practices Report are available
on the Business Development Bank website at
www.bdc.ca.
Incremental Impact of WE
Training: Carlton University’s
Dr. Barbara Orser presented
her recent research on the
impact of Canada’s Women’s
Enterprise Initiative (WEI),
which seeks to foster the
development of women-owned
firms. While the number of
gender-based small business
training programs is increasing, the nature and
impact of these initiatives are not well
documented.
Program assessment criteria included program
effectiveness, strengths and weaknesses, job
creation and retention, business survival,
incrementality, and the facilitation of enterprise
growth.
Her study found that a direct association between
WEI advisory assistance and business development
was noted in 60% of cases.
The results also suggest that men and women
seek different types of assistance with respect to
business development. When compared to a
control group of business owners, WEI clients and
women business owners prioritized intrinsic
outcomes such as evaluation of my skills as an
entrepreneur; building self-confidence; and
improving strategic management skills.
Conversely, male business owners in the control
group prioritized operational skills, such as
helping to improve strategic management skills
and identifying opportunities for growth.
|