This document summarizes a tool kit for credit union leaders on supporting women entrepreneurs. It discusses: 1) Research and a pilot project conducted from 2011-2013 on challenges women entrepreneurs face in growing their businesses. 2) Nine key lessons learned around how women are less likely than men to expand their businesses due to various barriers. 3) The benefits of using a "gender lens" and "impact investing" to help women access capital, work in equitable workplaces, and obtain suitable financial products and services to grow their businesses.

1. A Tool Kit for Credit Union
Leaders and Lenders
Module One

2. Vancity Community Foundation undertook
Women Entrepreneurs: Financing
Opportunities for Growth
project between 2011 – 2013.
The project included extensive
research and a pilot project for women
entrepreneurs.

3. The content of this tool kit reflects what we
learned from project participants, service
providers and advisors about how credit
unions in Canada can better support
women to grow their businesses and, by
extension, support greater economic
activity and job creation.

4. Welcome to Module One:
Why Should Credit Unions Support
Women Entrepreneurs? Does
Gender Matter?

5. In This Module We Will Explore
1.The national and international economic
context for Canadian women.
2. Nine important lessons we learned from
this project.
3. How using a ‘gender lens’ and ‘impact
investing’ can help women grow their
businesses.
4. The benefits of investing in women
entrepreneurs.

6. Where We Started
• Why do more women than men start
businesses in Canada but more men grow
them?
• What barriers do women face in growing
their businesses?
• How can credit union leaders and lenders
better support women to grow their
businesses?

7. “If we want a real recovery, the next cohort of high-
growth entrepreneurs cannot just be people with
names like Thomas and Henry, or Bill and
Steve. We need the women to get involved. The
American growth engine can no longer afford to
run on half of its cylinders...
The first step to a solution is to re-frame the
problem statement. Instead of asking "Why
aren't women becoming high-growth
entrepreneurs?“ start asking "What will it take?”
Lisa Mitchell of the Kauffman Foundation:

8. Where We Stand on The World Stage
Have women in Canada achieved full equality with
men? No.
Canada is ranked 21st among countries in the
Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum.
Countries higher on the list include the Philippines,
Cuba, South Africa, Ireland and most other
Northern European countries.
In 2006 we were ranked 14th.
In 1990 we were ranked 11th.

9. Women in Canada:
An Economic Snapshot
Income (2008)
• Women’s average annual income in Canada is $30,000
• Men’s is $47,000
• In BC it’s $29,000 to $48,000
Daycare (2007-2008)
• 77% of women with children between 3 and 5-yrs-old work outside the
home
• There are only regulated daycare spots for 20% of children under 6
Poverty
• 52% of single mothers with children under 6
• 36% of Aboriginal women
• 35% of visible minority women
• 26% of women with disabilities
live in poverty

10. What We Learned From This Project
1. Women start businesses at a higher rate
than men but are less likely to expand as a
result of
– a disconnect from available services
– anxiety about risk
– the uniqueness of their business venture
– the desire for flexibility in life
– business start-up mindset may not be focused
on business growth and wealth creation

11. 2. New immigrants often become
entrepreneurs
– to avoid discrimination in the workplace
– out of necessity (e.g. unrecognized
professional credentials)
– because they have business experience in
country of origin
– because they have business ties to country
and region of origin

12. 3. For particularly marginalized communities
such as
• refugees,
• low income people, and
• people with disabilities
entrepreneurship through co-operative or
social enterprise models are important
tools for economic inclusion.

13. 4. Aboriginal and First Nations
entrepreneurs face barriers in
entrepreneurship that are often based
more on ethnicity than gender.
– Aboriginal women may seek support from
their community before women-serving
organizations but do share many gender-
based challenges as well.

14. 5. Younger entrepreneurs are
– more likely to build social and environmental values
into their business
– more likely to turn to entrepreneurship to create
fulfilling and meaningful employment
– less likely to display gender‐specific differences in
their approaches to entrepreneurship
This suggests that gender-based
programming for this group may not be as
high a need.

15. 6. The value of organizing deliberate networking
opportunities for similar-stage entrepreneurs.
7. The value of one-on-one business coaching
focused on business growth.
8. The value of targeted initiatives for women to
set specific business-growth goals that include
identifying realistic financial needs.

16. 9. The important role of philanthropy as part
of the ‘path to success’ for lower-income
or isolated women entrepreneurs.
Including:
• Grants to groups that support women’s leadership
and entrepreneurship.
• Targeted programs and services that reach
specific groups of entrepreneurs through
community partnerships (e.g. Aboriginal women
and immigrant women).
• Business education and support programs (e.g.
network development, one-on-one coaching or
skills training).

17. So... What Next?
Current State Desired State
• For a number of • Through business
reasons, many growth, women
women entrepreneurs entrepreneurs
are not growing their assume a greater role
businesses and are in economic
not accessing development;
available services and providing leadership
financing. and employment.

18. Using a Gender Lens in the Credit Union
Sector: Impact Investing and Women
Entrepreneurs
• Promotes gender equity and women’s
leadership in organizations.
• Provides access to capital for women - from
microenterprises to high growth companies.
• Develops products and services that benefit
women and therefore helps to create a more
equitable and just society.

19. What does “gender lens” mean?
Using a “gender lens” means examining
socially constructed roles, behaviours,
activities and attributes that a society
considers appropriate for men and
women.

20. What does “impact investing”
mean?
“Investments intended to generate
measurable social and environmental impact
along with a financial return.”
“Investments” can take the form of private
equity/venture capital, debt and fixed
income.
Global Impact Investing Network www.thegin.org

21. Informed by a gender lens, investments in each of
these three areas not only promotes equity but can
also enhance a credit union’s business
performance.
Access to Capital
Workplace Equity Products and
Services

22. Applying a Gender Lens to
Workplace Equity
We’re on the right track!
• In Canadian banks, women have gone from 2.6% of
senior management in 1987 to 32.4% today and are
65% of the entire workforce.
• In credit unions, 80% of the overall workforce is female,
with 25% of executive management and 65% of
management being female.
What we know:
• Gender diversity improves business performance.
• Gender and racial diversity increases a company’s
market share.

23. Applying a Gender Lens to
Workplace Equity
Tools for assessing best practices and
success in diversity include:
– Diversity Audits
– Gender Audits
– Affirmative Action Programs
– Leadership Development Programs
– Hiring Targets
– Disability Accommodation Programs
– Strategic Diversity Planning

24. Identify existing
resources and
solutions
available

25. Applying a Gender Lens to
Products and Services
• Impact investing is an emerging concept and practice
responding to the interests of both values-based
investors and entrepreneurs.
• Developing unique approaches to serving women and
other historically disadvantaged communities is an
important area of impact investing.
• This project illustrated the enormous value of learning
more about what women entrepreneurs need to grow
their businesses and then providing support through
one-on-one business coaching.

26. Are you speaking to me?
• If I believe you are seriously
interested in knowing me,
helping me, respecting me and
my needs – not only because
you want to sell me something
today, but because you value my
business in the long term – I will
be yours for life and recommend
you to my friends, family, and
community.

27. What does “wealth” mean to me?
• Independence
• Control over life
choices
• Freedom from
discrimination in the
workplace
• Ability to provide for
well-being of children
and community

28. Do you know what I need?
• Reaching out to women and asking them what services
and products they need, want and may be getting
elsewhere.
• Don’t wait for me to walk in the door.
• Women entrepreneurs who participated in this project
were seeking relationship-focused services from their
financial institution.
• They had a high level of interest in understanding more
about financing, in general, and specifically accessing
targeted supports to help grow their businesses (e.g.
business coaching).

29. Applying a Gender Lens to
Accessing Capital
• Access to capital is about removing
barriers to ensure capital is being
accessed for the best opportunities without
discrimination.
• This means deliberate, proactive
strategies to understand, engage and
ultimately serve women and other
historically disadvantaged groups “where
they are.”

30. What are the outcomes when we
invest in women?
For women:
• Increased economic independence.
For credit unions:
• An increase in the credit union’s market share with
women entrepreneurs that is more fully aligned to co-
operative values.
For society:
• Increased economic development that includes the full
potential of entrepreneurial creativity, rather than
excluding potential talent – talent often historically
ignored.

31. Is investing in women more of a risk?
No, women business owners tend to be:
– More frugal with spending
– More cautious with expanding their businesses
– Grow their businesses slowly
Why?
– Because historically disadvantaged groups are
inherently risk averse.
– Typically they do not have assets to lose and are
more inclined to
– protect family resources.

32. The Opportunity is There
Targeting women entrepreneurs who want to
grow their businesses is smart and strategic.
Many women entrepreneurs are ready to take a
larger role in economic development but need
to be connected to the financing, education and
networks to do so.

33. Resources
• Websites
• Articles
• Studies

34. End Notes
Sources

35. Project Partners
Project partners:
This project was funded by