Entrepreneurial climate shifting: Aboriginal women-led businesses up by 406 per cent.

• Author: Sky, Loretta
• Position: Aboriginal Business

In 1971, a few dedicated and committed women met and founded the Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA). The association is a non-profit voluntary organization, which has been instrumental in advocating and establishing programs on social; education, economic and justice issues affecting Aboriginal women and their families.

The ONWA has fostered, built and maintained bonds and relationships with community-based organizations to deliver a multiplicity of programs and services, to the people of this area and the province. Having an established presence at the municipal and provincial level for more than 25 years ensures that our access to information is extremely high, and the referrals that we can provide to our clients is enhanced because of this.

The association has entered negotiations with various provincial ministries to increase the variety of services it presently offers to the Aboriginal community in Ontario. Success is best achieved through the fostering of close associations with groups who have a history of providing support services to their group of individuals.

Outreach programs funded by the Ministry of Education, the Ontario Women's Directorate and Canadian Heritage have allowed the association to provide more economic and business development initiatives.

As a result of the variety of initiatives ONWA undertakes, we have become a resource tool for many organizations requiring information and statistics about Aboriginal women in Ontario.

The ONWA is diverse and culturally sensitive to the needs of its membership and believes that the Aboriginal Business Service Network assists the membership by providing an opportunity to access resources to ultimately become self-reliant.

Aboriginal women are Canada's largest untapped resource. The entrepreneurial culture is changing to further accommodate women entrepreneurs. Estimates of female entrepreneurship indicate that:

* In 1975 less than 19 per cent of self-employed Canadians were women

* In 1992 women created 33 per cent of new firms in North America

* Now, one-third of self-employed Canadians are women.

* The growth of Aboriginal women entrepreneurs from 1981-1996 has doubled that for...