The Women of Ontario Social Enterprise Network (WOSEN) is a province-wide collaborative composed of five social innovation and system change organizations led by Pillar Nonprofit Network in partnership with NORDIK Institute, Social Innovation Canada, and Social Venture Connexion with support from Lean4Flourishing. WOSEN is funded in part by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
Since its launch in 2019, WOSEN has been redesigning the entrepreneurial ecosystem to meet the needs of women and non-binary founders from diverse, equity-seeking groups. WOSEN’s focus is women who have business solutions that put people and the planet first (i.e., social enterprises). Their approach shifts the focus from current entrepreneurial support models and financing structures that are readily available and easy to deliver to models that holistically support the entrepreneur’s learning journey and aspirations. This approach has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs across Ontario to start and grow their businesses and has unlocked millions of dollars in capital for these initiatives.
“The Government of Canada is investing in the potential of women-led organizations so they can grow, thrive, and create good jobs. Through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, we are empowering women-owned businesses in Canada through investments and supports such as WOSEN,” said the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
The report, Centring Equity: Catalyzing system change through a collaborative, cogenerating knowledge network, contextualizes the initiative within current social change practices and community development principles. Its aim is to advance equity, providing a critical reflection on WOSEN’s approach to and resulting impact on participants and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“The study indicates WOSEN’s commitment to centring women, engaging founders and ecosystem supporters (e.g., business developers, coaches, funders/investors) and outlines emergent collaborative and co-creative practices that provide space for knowledge sharing and cogenerating innovative pathways forward to support women-owned and women-led ventures,” states Dr. Jude Ortiz, NORDIK’s Research Coordinator who leads the Developmental Evaluation component of the project.
Ortiz underscores, “The program has increased the collaborators’ understanding of diverse founders’ contexts and needs, and fosters the development of critical infrastructure (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, relational networks and resource flows) founders need to match their potential to flourish locally and/or globally. It simultaneously builds the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s professional development, wellness, agency and resilience for centring equity.”
To activate systems change and advance equity in entrepreneurial systems, the WOSEN collaborative has intentionally developed and integrated three interconnected strategies into their work. They are: i) Embody and embed a culture of collaboration and co-creation to transform transactional relationships into a knowledge co-generating network; ii) Link and leverage the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s resources to create effective supports and leverage and reallocate assets to enable founders to flourish; and, iii) Gather meaningful data for targeted solutions though robust qualitative and quantitative data collection tools to continuously respond to arising concerns and emerging innovation and evolution.
Underpinning WOSEN’s engagement and interaction at the project and program level is their Design Principles, an anti-racist, decolonizing framework. It creates space for co-leadership, incorporating diverse voices and perspectives into the co-production and delivery of entrepreneurial supports, and offers flexibility to respond to emerging needs as the programming and project unfolds.
To date, the project has engaged more than 940 participants from over 140 different rural, urban and First Nation communities across Ontario, and has assisted in unlocking $8.8 million for women founders. Founders noted programs provided an inclusive and empathetic space with multiple ways to participate in meaningful ways. Participants also suggested the programming was energizing and increased their confidence, self-motivation and ability to develop their ideas and launch their business. Some founders connected with key investors through WOSEN’s programs. Ecosystem supporters (e.g., business developers, coaches, funders/investors) appreciated increasing their understanding about how colonialism, white supremacy and intergenerational trauma influence women founders, and a number of them identified ways for incorporating their learnings into their workplaces. Members of the WOSEN collaborative credit the WOSEN learning journey as incredibly enriching and transformative in the way they work with founders and communities, and in their personal lives. They cited numerous ways their ability to generate and deliver equity-centred entrepreneurship supports has increased.
The Centring Equity report is the second publication capturing the initiative’s collaborative learning and impact. The first report, Outstanding By Standing Together, The Story of WOSEN, Interim Report is also available here.
Read the report here. To learn more about WOSEN, please visit https://wosen.pillarnonprofit.ca/.
About the partners and funder
WOSEN is a collaborative led by Pillar Nonprofit Network in partnership with NORDIK Institute, the Centre for Social Innovation and Social Venture Connexion (SVX). NORDIK’s SEE is the lead for the Northern Ontario region.
NORDIK Institute (Northern Ontario Research, Development, Ideas and Knowledge) is an innovative community development and research hub that has evolved from the Community, Economic and Social Development (CESD) program and research at Algoma University. It is committed to the practice of holistic community development and has established strong links with other research institutes, universities and colleges. NORDIK builds local research capacity by working closely with its community partners and providing mentorship to new researchers and community development practitioners.
Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (SEE) is an initiative led by NORDIK Institute to support the development of the social economy through the building capacity of social entrepreneurship by strengthening the ecosystem.
Pillar Nonprofit Network strengthens individuals, organizations and enterprises invested in positive community impact. Pillar Nonprofit Network supports nonprofits, social enterprises and social innovators by sharing resources, exchanging knowledge and creating meaningful connections across the three pillars of nonprofit, business and government. Pillar Nonprofit Network believes that a connected network sparks collaboration and a willingness to lean on each other to help build an engaged, inclusive and vibrant community.
Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada) is an emerging pan-Canadian initiative to connect social innovation practitioners, build the capacity of our sector, and elevate this work in Canada and beyond.
Social Venture Connexion (SVX) is a nonprofit diversified financial services firm driving impact for investors, organizations, funds and enterprises. We provide knowledge and insights, design strategies and products, manage funds, operate a platform for raising impact capital and making impact investment, and support systems change initiatives. We work across sectors that deliver meaningful impact:climate, food, equity, housing and community real estate, helping investors find and make impact investments and issuers raise impact capital.
For 13 years, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation, growth and job creation in Canada’s most populous region. The Agency has delivered impressive results, which can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving productivity, growing revenues, creating jobs, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects, our Southern Ontario Spotlight, and FedDev Ontario’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.