Investing in small business is good for economic recovery

With small businesses accounting for 70% of total global employment, they will be central to leading the economic recovery in a post-COVID world. But in the current environment, we are seeing the livelihood of countless local businesses being impacted. And while all sectors are affected by the pandemic, the service sector – retail, hospitality and food services – has felt its effects more severely and women entrepreneurs are overrepresented in this sector.

In September, I had the privilege to witness the drive and innovation of women entrepreneurs first hand through the international WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Challenge of which BMO is a sponsor. All women entrepreneurs residing in UN regions who had created businesses to solve for one or more of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals were invited to participate. As a panel judge, I was impressed to hear from women around the world who created scalable, local solutions to solve for global problems. The winner, Valrie Grant of Jamaica’s GeoTechVision, spoke of her efforts to get tablets into the hands of students to make education more accessible – a technological barrier many of us didn’t truly appreciate until the pandemic.

As we consider growth opportunities in a post-COVID world, providing access to capital to women entrepreneurs now will play an important part in the recovery of our economy.

This year, on Women’s Entrepreneurship Day on November 19, as part of our continued commitment to women entrepreneurs, BMO will be awarding $10,000 in grant funding to 10 winners through our BMO Celebrating Women Grant Program. Through the 1,000 applications received, we heard many inspiring stories of courage and determination.

We’re also encouraging the purchase of products and services from women-owned and women-led businesses. By doing so, we are using our spending power to bolster the local economy and help make the world a more equitable and sustainable one. Think about how you can use your spending power to empower these businesses and all small businesses this year. They need us more than ever.