From one press conference to another, Canada is bailing out sector by sector, industry by industry, individual by individual, and demography by demography, such that no one falls through the cracks. However, some groups are somehow not only falling through the cracks, but are not getting the necessary skills and resources crucial to enable them prepare for an entirely brand new Canada that will emerge when the pandemic fades away, if at all.
Black women owned small business owners are hit the hardest by the COVID-19 Pandemic with so many of their businesses unlikely to go beyond the pandemic. Most of these businesses are still in the startup phase. As such, they do not qualify for any of the government support, coupled with childcare, and running a family, they still have to keep an eye on their business surviving the pandemic. Some might qualify for the individual benefits or work full time to pay the bills, but still require some support to keep growing their business, help that has come solely from the Black Canadian Women in Action (BCW in Action), an Edmonton based nonprofit, struggling to find resources to support the growing community of Black women hoping to live the Canadian dream – owning and running a business.
Black women like other immigrants face unique challenges in starting a business way before the pandemic came into place such as language, resources, childcare, and other support. Jeanne Lehman, the Executive Director of BCW told Diversity Magazine, “As an organization that advocate, train, support, and promote Black women start and operate businesses, we have trouble finding resources to help these bright minds in our communities that are small business owners and who are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Annie Dene-Wade, owner of The Privatory Ltd. located on Whyte Avenue, Edmonton, one of over 1,000 women who make up the vibrant BCW community is currently mowing over which of the government support her business will qualify for after a COVID-19 strategy presentation on Zoom last week organized by BCW.
“BCW has been very supportive during this pandemic period. When I called Jeanne, she is very supportive and responsive to my needs…,” Megan Vernon, the owner of Melanin Studio located in the Oliver Square neighbourhood of Edmonton shared her reaction after taking part in the COVID-19 seminar.
BCW has organized a couple of COVID-19 information sessions when they could get free presenters. They however are unable to organize the heavily demanded psychological and emotional support for the women, as well as, move their other programs online due to the cost involved.
Alèthe Kaboré, CEO and In-house Designer of kYN Apparel has invested in fabrics, and other material for designs to sell at summer events but stuck with the materials and her startup capital tied down as there are no events. “…I don’t qualify for anything. With no employees and difficulty to show a huge drop in revenue, it’s like we are not considered for being small or being in the startup stage…”
The May 16 announcement saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $15 Million financial support to women entrepreneurs in Canada. The question remains, if our forgotten BLACK sisters will also benefit from this funds.
Jeanne and her community of Black entrepreneurial women who want to live the Canadian dream say they will keep asking the most obvious question, “Why is it that difficult to get resources to help our communities?”.
