FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2026 [Toronto, ON, Canada] – A new report released by the Innovators & Entrepreneurs Foundation (IEF) underscores a persistent gap in Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem: equity-deserving entrepreneurs are actively building businesses, but their realities are not consistently reflected in the systems, policies, and programs designed to support them.
Based on input from IEF’s national network of approximately 7,000 entrepreneurs, the findings point to a disconnect between how entrepreneurship is commonly understood in policy and public discourse, and how it is actually experienced by those operating outside of traditional centres of influence.
Across the network, entrepreneurship is not defined by a single role or stable pathway. Instead, many individuals describe holding multiple jobs or income streams simultaneously, often balancing self-employment with other forms of work to maintain financial stability. This reflects a broader reality in which entrepreneurship is frequently shaped by necessity as much as by opportunity.
The research also highlights a recurring theme: the perspectives of marginalized entrepreneurs are often absent or underrepresented in mainstream decision-making spaces. As a result, programs and policies intended to support entrepreneurship can unintentionally exclude those who do not fit conventional definitions of “business owner,” particularly micro-entrepreneurs, solo operators, caregivers, disabled founders, and those working in rural, remote, and northern communities.
Respondents consistently pointed to structural barriers such as limited access to capital, eligibility rules that favour larger or employer-based businesses, and a lack of tailored programming that reflects the complexity of running small or informal ventures. Many also noted that entrepreneurship is frequently misunderstood as uniformly profitable or easily scalable, a perception that does not reflect their lived experience.
IEF notes that these findings reinforce the need to broaden who is included at “the table” when entrepreneurship policy and programming are designed. Without intentional inclusion of equity-deserving voices, gaps in funding, access, and support systems are likely to persist.
The organization will continue to elevate these perspectives through its ongoing CANIE Have Your Say research series in 2026, with a focus on ensuring that underrepresented entrepreneurs are not only counted, but meaningfully reflected in the systems that shape their economic opportunities.
About Innovators & Entrepreneurs Foundation
Innovators & Entrepreneurs Foundation (IEF) is a national charity dedicated to celebrating, educating and supporting founders and innovators belonging to racialized and/or equity-deserving groups as they navigate the unfair barriers of institutional, structural, and interpersonal biases.
Our mission at IEF is to support, educate, and celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship among business owners who belong to racialized and/or equity deserving communities across Canada.
For more information: www://ief-fie.ca
Download the report here : https://bit.ly/4jBnJG3
Report by Deirdre Cleveland
Media Contact: media@ief-fie.ca
Address: 18 King St E, Suite 1400, Toronto, ON, M5C 1C4
About IEF’s Business Finance and Investment Readiness Programming: https://ief-fie.ca/education/
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