Happy Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day has been celebrated on November 19 since 2014, and is now recognized in 144 countries across the globe.

As a province, Alberta ranks amongst the highest regarding the representation of women entrepreneurs – with organizations like Alberta Women’s Science Network (AWSN) and Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) providing support in continuing to grow this number to reach the full potential of Alberta’s entire population. AWE has partnered with us on the ASTech Awards this year, with the “Women in Innovation” Award – and we were extremely pleased to have a very high number of candidates in this category – and an outstanding list of 6 Finalists.

In championing the ASTech Awards – and having “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Leadership” as one of the Areas of Focus – we were met with 2 sets of comments:

• Prior to the ASTech Awards (from some general audience voices): “Do you still need to have a focus on supporting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion anymore? It seems like everyone has the same opportunities now.
• Post ASTech Awards (from some of the finalists in multiple EDI Categories): “Thank you for shining a spotlight on the importance of supporting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through the ASTech Awards”

So where does this leave us? Human nature is often – if a problem is not witnessed or experienced by an individual themselves, they may not believe it is real. The reality is in the results – there are not an equitable number of diverse leaders in tech businesses. The good news is that, if we all champion conditions where all people can thrive – things get better for everyone. 

So thank you to all who champion Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) – you are making things better for us all, and for our children who are already leaders in EDI.

Thanks everyone – and Happy Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, to all!