Interview with National Advisory Committee member - Laura Didyk

Watch Laura's video below
The Leading Lenders’ team had the chance to sit down and chat with Laura Didyk, Vice president, Client Diversity at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). As a long-time advocate for small businesses and inclusivity, Laura leads BDC’s national approach to support Canada’s diverse entrepreneurs and help them thrive in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In this interview, Laura answers questions about the Leading Lenders’ initiative and related topics. (A written version of the interview is also available below.)
Question #1: In your opinion, what is a leading lender?
Women make up 50% of the population and therefore half of its potential. Female entrepreneurship is then necessary for making progress in our society and in our economy. Women entrepreneurs represent a huge untapped potential and a leading lender in my mind is someone who understands what our economy has to gain by having more women entrepreneurs in Canada, and more diversity in Canada. They (leading lenders) understand the many challenges that women face in starting and scaling up their businesses. Then, they actively seek out aspiring women entrepreneurs to work with and assist them to start and scale-up their businesses.
Question #2: What inspires you about the Leading Lenders project?
At BDC, our purpose is to ensure that all entrepreneurs have access to the resources, the financing, the advice, and the networks that they need to succeed. Since only 16% of businesses in Canada are majority female-owned, we know that the majority of them do not have the resources that they need to be able to work with and to be able to grow their businesses. So, we know that the majority of commercial bankers don’t often meet women entrepreneurs because only 16% of them are women-owned. Therefore, they don’t always understand the challenges that these women have when they are starting and scaling up their businesses. They don’t always understand the reasons for them owning their businesses. What inspires me about Leading Lenders is that we are educating. The tools are teaching commercial bankers to really take an interest and to understand the challenges that women entrepreneurs face and then to actively seek out these women entrepreneurs and help them. It’s a tool so that all lenders can understand and adapt to the needs of women entrepreneurs. Collectively, then we can increase the number of women entrepreneurs in Canada and as a result our whole country will benefit.
Question #3: In your experience, what are the most significant barriers women entrepreneurs face when trying to access business financing?
Women can often face barriers when trying to build and grow their businesses. For example, many studies have shown that women led businesses operate with fewer resources. They tend to launch their enterprises with less financing than men and they operate with lower levels of debt and equity beyond the start-up phase. This starts a vicious cycle, and it continues through their whole business. They start with fewer assets, they start with fewer initial loans and in turn it leads to more likely being denied in the future because they haven’t started to build that credit for their business. So, then they are denied in the future which then may stun their growth because debt is something that businesses often need to help grow business. Entrenched male networks also contribute to the limited access to certain networks and as a result women entrepreneurs have to go at it alone. They don’t have a buddy that’s a banker, they don’t know who to turn to. COVID-19, I believe, has hit women business owners even harder because women-owned businesses tend to dominate the industries that involve human interactions and industries that have been the hardest hit, for instance education, health, wellness, hospitality, retail and the lockdown has just exacerbated it. Then there is the challenge of women also having to be a mom rather than an entrepreneur and so they just haven’t been able to get out there. So, the barriers really in accessing financing is that they just don’t start with the money, they aren’t able to build the credit, they have fewer networks, they are in industries that tend not to be a capital asset intensive, so they don’t have necessarily that collateral for the lender and that’s where us as leading lenders really need to learn and appreciate some of these challenges and be able to actively reach out and assist women entrepreneurs.
Question#4: What tips would you offer to lenders who are looking to support a woman entrepreneur during her journey?
The first thing would be to access the Leading Lenders’ toolkit. The second thing would be that we are encouraging everybody internally within BDC with our women entrepreneurs’ strategy to reach out, to listen and to learn and then to offer solutions and ideas. And if we don’t have the solution for that entrepreneur, there is somebody within the ecosystem that can help. There are many organizations doing great things for women entrepreneurs and so we as lenders have a role to play to understand what everyone in the ecosystem is doing to be able to point that woman entrepreneur in the right direction. Beyond that, I also recommend that you purchase, with your wallet, from women entrepreneurs. You help promote them, you build a relationships with them. Understand the challenges that they face by becoming a leading lender and understand what organizations are out there that may assist them.
Laura Didyk is a member of the Leading Lenders’ National Advisory Committee. We invite you to learn more about Laura by visiting her page on our website.
The Leading Lenders’ team had the chance to sit down and chat with Laura Didyk, Vice president, Client Diversity at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). As a long-time advocate for small businesses and inclusivity, Laura leads BDC’s national approach to support Canada’s diverse entrepreneurs and help them thrive in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In this interview, Laura answers questions about the Leading Lenders’ initiative and related topics. (A written version of the interview is also available below.)
Question #1: In your opinion, what is a leading lender?
Women make up 50% of the population and therefore half of its potential. Female entrepreneurship is then necessary for making progress in our society and in our economy. Women entrepreneurs represent a huge untapped potential and a leading lender in my mind is someone who understands what our economy has to gain by having more women entrepreneurs in Canada, and more diversity in Canada. They (leading lenders) understand the many challenges that women face in starting and scaling up their businesses. Then, they actively seek out aspiring women entrepreneurs to work with and assist them to start and scale-up their businesses.
Question #2: What inspires you about the Leading Lenders project?
At BDC, our purpose is to ensure that all entrepreneurs have access to the resources, the financing, the advice, and the networks that they need to succeed. Since only 16% of businesses in Canada are majority female-owned, we know that the majority of them do not have the resources that they need to be able to work with and to be able to grow their businesses. So, we know that the majority of commercial bankers don’t often meet women entrepreneurs because only 16% of them are women-owned. Therefore, they don’t always understand the challenges that these women have when they are starting and scaling up their businesses. They don’t always understand the reasons for them owning their businesses. What inspires me about Leading Lenders is that we are educating. The tools are teaching commercial bankers to really take an interest and to understand the challenges that women entrepreneurs face and then to actively seek out these women entrepreneurs and help them. It’s a tool so that all lenders can understand and adapt to the needs of women entrepreneurs. Collectively, then we can increase the number of women entrepreneurs in Canada and as a result our whole country will benefit.
Question #3: In your experience, what are the most significant barriers women entrepreneurs face when trying to access business financing?
Women can often face barriers when trying to build and grow their businesses. For example, many studies have shown that women led businesses operate with fewer resources. They tend to launch their enterprises with less financing than men and they operate with lower levels of debt and equity beyond the start-up phase. This starts a vicious cycle, and it continues through their whole business. They start with fewer assets, they start with fewer initial loans and in turn it leads to more likely being denied in the future because they haven’t started to build that credit for their business. So, then they are denied in the future which then may stun their growth because debt is something that businesses often need to help grow business. Entrenched male networks also contribute to the limited access to certain networks and as a result women entrepreneurs have to go at it alone. They don’t have a buddy that’s a banker, they don’t know who to turn to. COVID-19, I believe, has hit women business owners even harder because women-owned businesses tend to dominate the industries that involve human interactions and industries that have been the hardest hit, for instance education, health, wellness, hospitality, retail and the lockdown has just exacerbated it. Then there is the challenge of women also having to be a mom rather than an entrepreneur and so they just haven’t been able to get out there. So, the barriers really in accessing financing is that they just don’t start with the money, they aren’t able to build the credit, they have fewer networks, they are in industries that tend not to be a capital asset intensive, so they don’t have necessarily that collateral for the lender and that’s where us as leading lenders really need to learn and appreciate some of these challenges and be able to actively reach out and assist women entrepreneurs.
Question#4: What tips would you offer to lenders who are looking to support a woman entrepreneur during her journey?
The first thing would be to access the Leading Lenders’ toolkit. The second thing would be that we are encouraging everybody internally within BDC with our women entrepreneurs’ strategy to reach out, to listen and to learn and then to offer solutions and ideas. And if we don’t have the solution for that entrepreneur, there is somebody within the ecosystem that can help. There are many organizations doing great things for women entrepreneurs and so we as lenders have a role to play to understand what everyone in the ecosystem is doing to be able to point that woman entrepreneur in the right direction. Beyond that, I also recommend that you purchase, with your wallet, from women entrepreneurs. You help promote them, you build a relationships with them. Understand the challenges that they face by becoming a leading lender and understand what organizations are out there that may assist them.
Laura Didyk is a member of the Leading Lenders’ National Advisory Committee. We invite you to learn more about Laura by visiting her page on our website.
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