The bank's commitment to The Scotiabank Women Initiative is a significant increase from its original $3 billion
The important role that Canadian women play – and have the ability to play – in the economy, has been recognised by Scotiabank.
The bank is giving a significant boost to a fund it originally announced in 2018, The Scotiabank Women Initiative, by increasing the capital available from $3 billion to $10 billion by 2025.
The initiative gives women-owned and women-led businesses in Canada access to capital. The original backing – and more - was deployed ahead of schedule in 2021.
“We’ve seen incredible success and growth in The Scotiabank Women initiative in its first three-years, with over $4 billion in capital deployed to date and thousands of women engaged across Canada,” says Dan Rees, Scotiabank's group head of Canadian banking. “In response to the pandemic, we surpassed our original commitment early, as we helped women entrepreneurs transition to a virtual environment during unprecedented economic challenges.”
The 2022 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada report shows that women owners account for a large percentage of new businesses (37.4% of self-employment in 2019) in Canada, employing over 1.5 million employees and contributing about $150 billion to the economy.
“With a renewed $10 Billion commitment, we are furthering the Bank’s mission to advance women-led businesses, which are essential components to the recovery of the Canadian economy,” added Rees.
The Scotiabank Women Initiative® is expanding the amount of capital deployed to women-owned and -led businesses in Canada to $10B, up from $3B. SWI co-chair Sloane Muldoon talks about the impact she hopes this will make and why it is important for her to “pay it forward.”
— Scotiabank Views (@ScotiabankViews) May 16, 2022
