Canada’s Business Development Bank is Investing in Women Entrepreneurs

Just last week, the Business Development Bank of Canada announced its initiative to, “finance business acquisitions for aspiring CEOs,” with a focus on women entrepreneurs, The Logic reports in the article, “BDC launches a $50M search fund to help women acquire companies.” Bearing witness to an international effort putting the futures of women in business to the forefront is thrilling. Canadian women entrepreneurs have an opportune moment to jump on this and sow the benefits.

As Catherine McIntyre’s press release states,

“BDC’s fund is designed to capitalize on a looming ownership transition, with more than one in six small- and medium-sized business owners expected to sell or close their business in the next five years—or 142,000 entrepreneurs by BDC’s count. By backing women as buyers, BDC hopes to lift the share of female-owned SMEs, which stands at just 19 per cent. ‘There’s a huge opportunity there to rebalance the equity within the ownership space,’ said Sévrine Labelle, managing director of the Thrive Lab, the division of BDC that supports women entrepreneurs.”

19% is very low compared to U.S. statistics that boast women owning 43.2% of all small businesses. There is much potential to be lauded from this exciting investment that the BDC is establishing.

Who should apply for such a stepping stone? “Good candidates for the program range from seasoned managers or repeat entrepreneurs to recent MBA grads keen to run their first company…They don’t necessarily need past CEO experience, just the leadership skills and financial savvy to steer a profitable firm.” wegg® hopes that this search fund can serve as a life changing endeavor for any and all women who seek it out!