About OKGN WMAN
Shannan Schimmelmann, MBA
WMAN investor,
Indigenous Export Navigator,
Community Futures
Okanagan Women’s Mentoring and Angel Network (WMAN) is leveling the playing fieldfaced by women owned and gender diverse businesses seeking investment and working to increase the number of women angel investors and board members in Western Canada.
Our goal is to build an empowered community of female entrepreneurs and investors.
Partners in each Okanagan WMAN fund meet regularly to learn how to invest in companies, discuss opportunities, vet deal flow, make investment decisions and help mentor investees.
In the Okanagan, 25 - 35 women each invest $5,500 for a pool of up to $150,000+/-, which is then used to co-invest in women-led and gender diverse companies the group thinks will generate the best return.
"All-women teams raised 1.9% of VC funds last year (2022), a percentage that skyrocketed to 17.2% when the team was mixed-gender. This trend has remained consistent for at least a decade."
- Pitchbook 2023
The inaugural OKGN WMAN fund kicked off on International Women’s Day 2021.
In addition to increasing the access for women to equity, other key WMAN priorities include building a healthy and diverse entrepreneurship ecosystem in Western Canada, with a particular focus on social impact ventures and femtech.
Research around the world demonstrates that after participating in an accelerator program women land 2.5 times as much bank financing - however men land 2.5 as much equity financing.5
NACO -- Mobilizing Angel Capital for Canada's Women Entrepreneurs
NACO’s 2022 Annual Report on Angel Investing in Canada features the launch of OKGN WMAN and reports on the status of women angel investment in Canada. The report shows that:
- In 2021, angel investment jumped 53% over 2020 and the amount invested was 150% higher.
- A total of 27% of the members of Canadian Angel organization in 2021 were women, up from 24% in 2020.
- In 2021 there was a 60% increase in participation by women angels.
- Angel organization invested in 600 deals in 2021 - a total of $212.9M was invested.
- The median size of investment in 2021 was $84,000 and the mean size was $346,000.
- Business with 1-5 employees accounted for 43% of investments and with 6-10 employees for 25% of investments.
- Information technology (31.2%), healthcare (21.1%), consumer discretionary (14.4%), industrial (7.1%) and then financials (6.7%) were the top sectors for investment in 2021.
In partnership with academic institutions, investor groups and innovation organizations across Canada, NACO is developing a solution to empower Canadian women. NACO is developing a sophisticated online education and investment platform that empowers women entrepreneurs and angel investors with a customized learning experience and access to their national network of 50 incubators and accelerators, 45 angel organizations and 4,200 investors.
- Diversity wins is the third report in a McKinsey series investigating the business case for diversity…These findings emerge from our largest data set so far, encompassing 15 countries and more than 1,000 large companies…The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability.
Our 2019 analysis finds that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile…
Moreover, we found that the greater the representation, the higher the likelihood of outperformance. Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30, and in turn these companies were more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all. A substantial differential likelihood of outperformance—48 percent—separates the most from the least gender-diverse companies.
- Women received a record amount of U.S. startup venture capital in 2019, according to recent figures. But while female founders securing 2.8 percent of total startup investment in the United States may be lauded as a historic achievement, it’s not something we should be complacent about. A 2020 Crunchbase report shows that even if we combined VC investment in female-founded and mixed co-founded companies in 2019, it still amounts to only 9 percent of all investment. Considering women represent over 40 percent of all entrepreneurs in the country, and plenty of statistics showing that women significantly outperform men in business, a lot more needs to be done. Read article >
In December 2020, a study from small business accounting software, FreshBooks found that, on average, women-owned businesses in Canada are taking nearly twice as long to recover from the financial setbacks brought on by COVID-19 compared to businesses owned by men. Based on a variety of studies women are more likely to care for children and the elderly which means taking time away from their business and businesses dominated by women like education and healthcare were the first to be locked down.
The State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada: 2020 - New report from the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub shows women entrepreneurs face structural inequalities which are exacerbated by COVID-19…The report synthesizes government, academic, and expert research to highlight some of the structural barriers facing diverse women entrepreneurs in Canada. The research shows clearly that COVID-19 has amplified structural barriers, has affected women entrepreneurs more than men and has affected Indigenous, racialized and other diverse entrepreneurs most of all…women account for over 37 percent of self-employed Canadians or 1,050,000 (2019).
In January 2021, research from International Finance Corporation, Women’s Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative and World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab, in partnership with Village Capital shows that after participating in an accelerator women land 2.5 times as much bank financing and men land 2.5 as much equity financing.
- MarketWatch, October 2020: research keeps popping up that says female fund managers outperform males. A study published by Goldman Sachs found that 48% of female-managed funds outperformed from the market low in March through August, compared with 37% for all-male funds. Funds managed by females also held up better in the Covid-19 market meltdown that hit bottom in March. During the trailing 12 months, female-managed hedge funds have outperformed, reports Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research. Women hedge fund managers delivered nearly double the performance of men from January 2000 through May 2009, a period bookended by the dot-com meltdown and financial crisis, says a study by Hedge Fund Research. The same study found female-managed funds held up much better in 2008, falling 9.6% compared with 19% for male-run funds.
Read article >
Rhonda Hymers,
CIWM, CIM, FCSI, FEA
WMAN Investor;
Portfolio Mgr./Wealth Advisor
RBC Dominion Securities
Help us level the playing field for women led businesses
Karen Christiansen,
FCPA, FCA, CPA, CA
WMAN Co-founder & GP;
Partner, MNP