{"id":47038,"date":"2018-06-05T12:33:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?p=47038"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:43","slug":"carleton-event-explores-growing-role-for-women-entrepreneurs-in-india-and-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/2018\/carleton-event-explores-growing-role-for-women-entrepreneurs-in-india-and-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"杏吧原创 Event Explores Growing Role for Women Entrepreneurs in India and Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n 杏吧原创 Event Explores Growing Role for Women Entrepreneurs in India and Canada\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

By Dan Rubinstein<\/em>
\nPhotos by Josh Hotz<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Female technology entrepreneurs in Canada and India can play a key role in the growing and increasingly important economic relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s economy is expanding at a tremendous rate and Canadian companies want to diversify their international markets, which creates an opening for traditionally under-represented enterprises in terms of sector and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was one of the messages shared at Canada-India: The Road Ahead<\/a>, a day of panel discussions and networking hosted by 杏吧原创 University\u2019s Canada-India Centre for Excellence (CICE) on June 4 to explore investment opportunities in the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, which brought together government and diplomatic officials, academic researchers and businesspeople, including a delegation<\/a> of more than 50 companies visiting from India, also served as the official launch of 杏吧原创\u2019s Canada-India Accelerator Program (CIAP<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CIAP will provide seed funding, access to business incubation services, mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs, connections to large corporations and other supports for 100 women-led technology startups \u2014 50 from each country \u2014 over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program was announced<\/a> last February by Navdeep Bains, federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and is a partnership between the CICE and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE<\/a>), India\u2019s national regulator for a network of 10,500 colleges and institutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCanadian women entrepreneurs in tech need to understand what\u2019s available to them in India,\u201d said Janice McDonald, an award-winning serial entrepreneur and president of Ottawa-based business management consultancy The Beacon Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing opportunity, and the Government of Canada has signalled in a really strong way that we want to have everybody in the game and playing. We don\u2019t want to leave 50 per cent of people on the bench. So, we need to ensure that women get the support they need, such as strong networks and mentorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDonald was speaking at The Road Ahead as part of a panel on female entrepreneurship moderated by Kasi Rao, president of the Canada-India Business Council, who noted that \u201cthe Canadian brand is a powerful emerging brand,\u201d especially considering trade uncertainty in the era of Brexit and U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s protectionist policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To take advantage of Canada\u2019s momentum, \u201cwomen need to ensure that they have a robust network,\u201d said McDonald, \u201cand can find the information they need to grow their businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they establish connections in India, female-led Canadian tech start-ups will experience a business culture that\u2019s more receptive than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe glass ceiling is breaking quickly in India,\u201d said Nadira Hamid, CEO of the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber and one of McDonald\u2019s co-panelists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More and more companies are opening onsite child-care centres, she said, and men are \u201cadjusting\u201d and becoming more accustomed to working for female leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese steps are enabling women to remain in business and reach senior levels,\u201d said Hamid, and at the same time they are creating a climate that\u2019s more welcoming to foreign women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cE-commerce has definitely opened doors,\u201d added fellow panelist Seema Aurora, president and CEO of Ottawa\u2019s TAG HR, \u201cbut it\u2019s still necessary to ensure that you\u2019re following the right business steps, to ensure that you\u2019re delivering what you\u2019ve promised and that you\u2019re getting what you\u2019ve asked for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen entrepreneurs tend to give up early, and we have to encourage them \u2014 to remind them that everybody fails, that you need to get up and dust yourself off, and that hopefully you will have learned from that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Road Ahead featured distinguished guests such as Vikas Swarup, the High Commissioner of India to Canada, and Jordan Reeves, the Mumbai-based Consul General of Canada to India, as well as Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndia has transformed at a dizzying pace over the last five years,\u201d said Swarup. \u201cPeople in Canada might have in mind the India of the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBig business will always find its level. It knows how to navigate the markets. But small- and medium-sized enterprises are often not even aware of the opportunities that exist. Canada should focus much more strongly on India than it has so far. Canada needs to bring India to the centre as an export market. India is still in the periphery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a little jaded,\u201d said Reeves, who has been in Mumbai for the past three years after spending a decade in China. \u201cThe world has seen China rise and we\u2019re not giving India as much attention as we should<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCanadian companies are being out-competed by Asian companies, which have financing from their home countries. We haven\u2019t found the right formula in Canada yet to support our companies so they can go after business in India.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had the honour of leading the first-ever municipal delegation from Ottawa to India two years ago,\u201d said Watson. \u201cOur delegation represented the hi-tech and clean-tech sectors as well as other industries, business and tourism associations, and the academic sector. In particular, what struck me was the thirst for more information on clean-tech — a burgeoning sector in Ottawa and one that fits well with India\u2019s need to address clean water and air issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a very good start,\u201d Watson said about the trade mission to India. \u201cIt was something that should have been done a long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe City of Ottawa and our economic development agency Invest Ottawa are focused on India because it represents an important and growing market for our city,\u201d he added. \u201cInstitutions like 杏吧原创 and the Canada-India Centre for Excellence represent an effective way to strengthen the Canada-India partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Road Ahead also provided a forum for speakers such as Gavin Armstrong, founder and CEO of Lucky Iron Fish, established in Guelph, Ont., in collaboration with 杏吧原创 Interim President Alastair Summerlee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian social enterprise is working to spread an affordable palm-sized iron product, shaped like the kantrop fish throughout much of the world, but like a leaf in heavily vegetarian India, that can be added to cooking pots to address the devastating impact of iron deficiency and anemia which predominantly affect children and women in counties such as India, hindering their cognitive development and productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boiling a Lucky Iron Fish \u2014 or Leaf \u2014 in a cooking pot for 10 minutes provides a person\u2019s daily iron needs without changing the taste, colour or smell of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need a simple solution to this complex global problem,\u201d said Armstrong, explaining that the product, which is manufactured in Bowmanville, Ont., and Pune, India, costs less than $10 for five years of household use and has a compliance rate of more than 90 per cent. That compares with $670 for five years of iron supplement pills for a family \u2014 an approach that has side effects and a compliance rate below 30 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of Hill + Knowlton Strategies, was another featured speaker at The Road Ahead, gearing his remarks to the Indian businesspeople in attendance and noting that \u201cthere has never been a better time for India to invest in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, which included panels on investment, real estate and educational connections between the two countries, was introduced by Summerlee, 杏吧原创 Vice-President (Research and International), Rafik Goubran, and Pradeep Merchant, a member of the CICE governing council and 杏吧原创\u2019s Board of Governors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA stronger Canada-India partnership holds the promise of greater prosperity and security for both countries,\u201d said Merchant, noting that the Indian economy will comprise 10 per cent of the global economy within 15 years and that the large Indian diaspora in Canada helps to link the two cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to create the right investment climate through sound policies and strategies,\u201d said Merchant. \u201cThere are opportunities in sectors ranging from urban planning and agriculture to health care, natural resource, and technology. Canadians who fail to appreciate the economic opportunities in India do so at their own risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dan Rubinstein Photos by Josh Hotz Female technology entrepreneurs in Canada and India can play a key role in the growing and increasingly important economic relationship between the two countries. India\u2019s economy is expanding at a tremendous rate and Canadian companies want to diversify their international markets, which creates an opening for traditionally under-represented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":47040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-47038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-canada-india-centre"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47038"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47213,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47038\/revisions\/47213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}