Black Immigrant business owners in Canada face various challenges. This can range from limited access to funds to start or grow their businesses, lack of representation, and systemic barriers that limit their ability to compete and grow. These challenges make it difficult for Black business owners to compete and succeed.
Mr. Jaygbes Napoleon Ogbole is an Entreprenuer. He is currently the spokesperson for The Nigerian Canadian Association GTA (www.ncagta.com), he is responsible for Community Economic Development at BIPOC Foundation (www.bipocfoundation.org), and the Country Head of Africa’s Young Entrepreneur (www.ayeorganization.com).
Mr. Ogbole stated that addressing these challenges requires a range of policy and systemic interventions. The government of Canada introduced various initiatives to support Black business owners. These include the Black Entrepreneurship Program, a $221 million initiative aimed at helping Black business owners, immigration policies to attract skilled immigrants, including entrepreneurs, research and data collection on Black business owners in Canada.
Indeed, the government of Canada recognizes the achievements and contributions of Black immigrants and their communities to make Canada a prosperous country.
The study “Black Business Owners in Canada,” part of the Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series (Catalogue number11F0019M) by Statistics Canada was released February 22, 2023, examined the socioeconomic characteristics of Black business owners in Canada and compared them with the characteristics of White Canadians and people from other racialized groups.
There has been a lack of data on the number of businesses in Canada owned by Blacks until December 2021, when the federal government created the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. This study on “Black Business Owners in Canada” is the first to fill the information gap in identifying business owners in Canada by race. The study, based on the data from the 2021 Census, showed that Black communities represent 4.3% of the Canadian population and are the third-largest racialized group after the South Asian (7.1%) and Chinese (4.7%). The study’s outcome confirmed that Black business owners are generally immigrants and operate in almost all industries.
The top five countries of origin of Black immigrant business owners in Canada based on this report comes from Nigeria (14.2%), Jamaica (12.1%), Ethiopia (10.5%), Haiti (10.2%) and Somalia (4.7%). This is an exciting fact that Nigerians represent a large portion of Buinesss Owners in Canada. Indeed Nigerians are often recognized for their industriousness and determination haven faced numerous economic, political, and social challenges over the years, which have forced many Nigerians to migrate and remain resilient in whichever country they relocate.
In the study, most Black immigrants in Canada come from the Caribbean. However, this has changed recently, where 65.1% of Black immigrants admitted since 2011 come from Africa, specifically Nigeria, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Based on this study, Black-owned business in Canada operates in the transportation and warehousing industry (34.3%) and have the largest number of Black-owned unincorporated businesses, followed by real estate and rental and leasing (13.4%) and professional, scientific and technical services (10.4%).
The study assigned a racial profile to a business to determine the business owner’s race if more than half its shares are held by individuals identifying with a race group (White, Black and other racialized groups). The study reaffirmed that the country of origin could affect the probability of a person becoming self-employed based on existing data from Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) maintained by Statistics Canada that immigrants from Western Europe or West Asia were likelier to be business owners than their African or Caribbean counterparts.
For new immigrants and black business owners looking for funding and support, targeted outreach and networking opportunities, do contact BIPOC Foundation. We are mandated to create significant entrepreneurship opportunities for diverse communities, Economic Empowerment, and Financial.
BIPOC Foundation has received $2.6M in funding from Prairies Economic Development Canada to establish a business accelerator program for Black entrepreneurs in Western Canada. According to Clement Esene, the Executive Director, BIPOC Foundation exist to strengthen a network of underestimated and underserved entrepreneurs and founders through capacity building and access to resources that will encourage positive economic participation.
BIPOC Foundation is holding the Redefine Conference 2023: Maximizing the Potential of Underrepresented Talents and Entrepreneurs in Canada. This event will occur on April 27-28, 2023, from 10 AM – 2 PM MST daily online and in person. Registration is now open at https://www.bipocfoundation.org/events/
Canada continues to experience labour shortages and has been implementing policies to promote greater diversity and inclusion in the Canadian business landscape. Canada offers a favourable business environment with a stable economy, low business costs, and a highly skilled workforce. There is a wide range of business opportunities across various industries for investors and immigrants.
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