New report identifies diversity gap in supports for women entrepreneurs in Windsor-Essex

A new report is renewing calls for more support for female entrepreneurs in Windsor-Essex who are people of colour.

The report, released by RISE Windsor Essex — an organization that supports entrepreneurial women — shows there is a lack of services for female BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) entrepreneurs in the area.

"For instance, there's no specific Indigenous, immigrant, or Black women-specific ... programs, so that's something we definitely need to address," said Tashlyn Teskey, manager of projects and research at Workforce WindsorEssex, which is a member of the RISE network.

 "Right now, we're finding that they're definitely underrepresented in terms of just the full entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially among women."

Razia Mwondha, who opened a store in Windsor earlier this month, has experienced the struggle of trying to start a business first-hand.

Mwondha, who came to Canada more than 20 years ago from Kenya, said that while she's worked other jobs, she's always worked as a seamstress at home.

"I always had sewing in my house," she said. "Finally, I thought I should get a store."

"It's a dream of mine, so it finally came true."

But getting to the point of opening the store — 7byRaz African Fashion and Accessories — was challenging, Mwondha said on Monday.

"I had to go on YouTube and learn how to open a businesses, what licences I needed, and how to do an incorporation by myself," she said.

There wasn't much financial assistance available either, and in the end, Mwondha covered the costs of opening the store from her savings.

Mwondha said she'd like to see more support for women entrepreneurs who are members of minority groups from all levels of government.

"We don't know who to contact," she said. "If you go online and search, you don't really find anything. And then when you do try to apply, you don't get a response."

"Some of them don't respond, and then the rest, they just say no."