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Entrepreneurship is hard.

That's a given but what most people don't realize, is just how much harder it can be for a woman than a man because men don't face as many hurdles in their road to success. Indigenous and other women of colour have many more hurdles to clear and its long past time to be talking about these problems openly.

In this episode, Janice McDonald and I get into the nitty gritty of what makes this conversation so difficult, what many incubators, accelerators, financial institutions and investors in Canada haven't yet figured out about serving their female clients, and how getting all of this right will help everyone - not just women, but the entire Canadian economy. This is not a women's problem. It's a global problem and it's going to take all of us to fix it.

I love this conversation because it focuses on Canadian women entrepreneurs and what they really want and need. Many accelerator programs these days are focusing on what they think women lack. Instead, they should try recognizing the unconscious bias that makes accessing support services difficult for women.

Janice McDonald is President and founder of The Beacon Agency, a boutique advisory firm working with innovative brands to make the good they do count. It offers customized breakthrough insights in entrepreneurship, business strategy and leadership training. She also is an Advisor for Cornell Queens EMBA program and works with international executives on New Venture/Management Consulting Projects and she is an advisor for Sprott School of Business Carleton University.

She is the co-author of two national studies on women as entrepreneurs in Canada:

1. A Force to Reckon With - Women, Entrepreneurship and Risk (2016), which debunks the myth that women are risk averse and;
2. Everywhere, Every Day, Innovating - Women Entrepreneurs and Innovation (2018), examining how and where women are innovating in Canada.

Both were conducted in partnership with Carleton University and BMO, and both uncovered systematic unconscious bias, and additional challenges women face in running their businesses that men simply don't face.

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