Carleton University is a partner in the new
Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) consortium, which was recently awarded close to $9 million over three years by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and is being led by Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute.
Carleton is one of eight regional hubs that includes VentureLabs, Mount Royal University, the University of Manitoba, the PARO Centre for Women's Enterprise, Université de Montréal, OCAD University and Dalhousie University. WEKH will draw on the subject matter expertise needed to ensure the representation of women across regions, throughout linguistic communities and in under-represented groups.
“Carleton is a natural choice for a regional hub on women’s entrepreneurship because we have a long history of research and education on women and work, as well as award-winning programs in entrepreneurship,” said Lorraine Dyke, vice-provost and associate vice-president (Academic).
Women own fewer than 16 per cent of Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses, but it is essential to Canada’s competitiveness that women are full participants in the economy. Advancing gender equality has the potential to add $150 billion in incremental GDP to the Canadian economy by 2026.
The capacity of
Carleton’s Centre for Research and Education on Women and Work (CREWW) will be positively impacted by the new hub. CREWW will help develop ecosystem education/training resources and facilitate collaborations between ecosystem partners. The CREWW director will also be part of the WEKH advisory board and other working committees.
“We are pleased to be working with Ryerson University, the lead institution, on the WEKH,” said Luciara Nardon, director of CREWW. “As a consortium partner and regional hub we believe that Carleton has considerable assets to bring to this partnership and is well positioned to help shape public policy and practice.”
In creating this one-stop source of knowledge, data and best practices for women entrepreneurs, the federal government is ensuring that women entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them will have the information they need to increase the participation of women in the economy across the country.
WEKH, which is part of the
Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, will advance research, gather important data and share knowledge, data and best practices related to the advancement of women's entrepreneurship in Canada. The WEKH will also deliver a report on the progress of women entrepreneurs in Canada.
