Cracking The Corporate Market Difficult for Women Entrepreneurs
Women entrepreneurs are also experiencing difficulties selling to the corporate market. The top challenges cited by women entrepreneurs, according to Women Entrepreneurs of Canada's Submission to the Prime Minister's Task Force on Women Entrepreneurs, include learning about opportunities (70 percent), reduction in the number of opportunities due to the bundling of smaller contracts into fewer large contracts (50 percent), and the increasing need for corporate cost cutting (45 percent).
Women Entrepreneurs of Canada's recommendations for overcoming these obstacles include setting up a database that recognizes large organizations that have supplier diversity programs in place, coupled with a list of women business suppliers that company buyers could access, the institution of supplier diversity programs throughout all levels of government to support women businesses seeking to sell their products and services, and the institution of a policy for federally tendered contracts that includes targets for women owned businesses.
Because the bundling of contracts results in fewer contracts available to women businesses for budding, Women Entrepreneurs of Canada also calls for governments and large corporations to review the move to larger, consolidated tenders and increase their supplier diversity efforts. Meantime, women businesses should "be encouraged to form joint venture or strategic alliances to bid on contracts of large corporations".
Regional Disparity in Business Success of Women Owned Businesses
Curiously, business women in Atlantic Canada do less well than women entrepreneurs in other regions of the country. "Women entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada appear to be a relative disadvantage in terms of the skills and experience they bring to business start-up and growth... Financing obstacles are also particularly acute for women-owned firms, especially for start-up and early-stage investments" (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; News Release).
Women entrepreneurs need to be better informed of regional and/or national initiatives and programs that are available, says Women Entrepreneurs of Canada, and need more programs that specifically address regional disparity such as the Women in Business Initiative run by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), which seeks to improve the growth and competitiveness of women owned businesses.
Page 3 of this article discusses how Canadian women in business are faring globally. Click "Next" to continue reading...
