B.C. business owners celebrate female entrepreneurship on International Women's Day

In celebration of International Women's Day, female entrepreneurs gathered on Wednesday for a pop-up market at Royal Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Many expressed the importance of supporting small, women-owned businesses, which remain a fraction of the number of businesses owned by men, according to Statistics Canada.

“Businesses majority-owned by women accounted for 17.5 per cent of all private-sector businesses in Canada in the second quarter of 2022,” the federal agency says on its website.

Miki Talebi, the CEO and founder of Oomé, told CTV News entrepreneurship is something she wanted to do her whole life, but she was always risk-averse. That's something she attributes, in part, to her gender.

“I think that sometimes we feel that there are certain paths that we should be taking. I’m a mom of two children, and so there’s a lot of guilt, and trying to balance owning a business and being a great role model for your children,” she said.

After losing her dad in 2020, Talebi finally took a leap of faith and launched her business 10 months ago.

"He was a great entrepreneur, great salesperson, he had a great pastime of smoking food. And he has given me his old smoker,” she said, adding that she turned that passion into her business selling smoked tofu.

“It’s been amazing. The women in this industry have been such an inspiration. There are so many great entrepreneurs and I’ve leaned on them for advice,” she said.

Talebi said not enough women are encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship.

“The food industry is very male-dominated and people that are higher up definitely call the shots. So finding some strength and persevering in my own way (is important),” she said.

Other business owners agree, saying for women, there is a lack of mentors and less capital funding.

“So, we’re just starting to embark on our own fundraising, and that’s a whole new challenge,” said Samantha Rayner, the co-founder of the sustainable housewares company Better Basics.

“It would be nice to see more women in the mix or men supporting women in helping to take their little business to that next level,” she continued.

She said such challenges make it even more difficult to run a business as a woman.

“Financially, it’s not as secure as what you’re used to, but then you get the reward of putting your energy into something you’re building and … the community of women around us have been so supportive,” she said.

Rayner told CTV News that women are innovative and provide diversity in thought in business.

“Oftentimes, we are creating things that we see that we need and, of course, only a woman can do that herself," she said. “I feel like this is the future of business, is women going after the something they believe in."