When women and girls fully participate in Canada’s economic, social, and political life, the whole country wins. Ultimately, empowering women and minority entrepreneurs will ignite economic potential, innovation, and inclusivity all across Canada. However, women continue to face systemic barriers that limit their progress and advancement.
The Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, announced $530,000 for Pitch Better Inc. to improve economic and leadership opportunities for Black and equality-seeking women entrepreneurs.
This funding will support the FoundHers Labs Venture Studio, an innovative project aimed at fostering women's entrepreneurship and advancing gender equality in the business sector, including startups in e-commerce, healthtech, fintech, edtech, AI and machine learning, and cleantech. FoundHers Labs Venture Studio focuses on addressing the unique challenges faced by Black and equity-seeking women entrepreneurs by providing support through research, network engagement, financing, education and capacity building. In doing so, FoundHers Labs is poised to stimulate economic growth and create jobs that will directly benefit Black women and their communities.
Through funding and other support, the Government of Canada is working to create systemic change by addressing gender norms and attitudes, ensuring women are part of the dialogue and solutions, increasing networks and collaboration, encouraging more effective and equitable sharing of resources, and improving policies and practices.
“Black and equity-seeking women are some of Canada’s most creative, resourceful and capable assets – but the business ecosystem in Canada does not always include them to their fullest capacity. Through the FoundHers Labs Venture Studio project, federal funding will allow Pitch Better Inc. to ignite economic potential and innovation and advance inclusivity by addressing barriers to gender equality faced by Black and equity seeking women in the tech industry. The future of Canada depends on diverse and inclusive homegrown innovation, and opening doors for all Canadians to participate is a priority for the Government of Canada and our country.” Says the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
Women’s wages have seen steady growth since the 1990s, yet disparities remain significant. In 2023, Canadian women earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by men, highlighting a 12% wage gap. To address this, the Women’s Economic and Leadership Opportunities Fund has been established with an investment of up to $100 million. This fund aims to support organizations in launching new initiatives or scaling existing ones to enhance economic security, prosperity, and leadership representation for women and girls.