Within the next five years, more than 142,000 Canadian business owners plan to close, sell, or transfer their companies—which means that just over 17 per cent of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country will be up for grabs. Based on these numbers, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) saw an opportunity—not just to keep these SMEs Canadian-owned but to increase the number of Canadian women entrepreneurs at the same time.
As a result, the BDC launched the $50-million Thrive Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Fund—the first of its kind in the country—to help aspiring women entrepreneurs identify, acquire, and lead Canadian SMEs. Currently, women own only 19 per cent of Canadian SMEs. The BDC wants to change that, and it believes acquisition is a crucial strategy.
“We realized that in order to have more women entrepreneurs in Canada, not only do we have to support them in creating businesses, but we also have to support them in acquiring those that are already established,” says Sévrine Labelle, managing director of the BDC’s Thrive Lab for Women, which manages the fund. “If we really are serious about our ambition to see a more inclusive ecosystem—a more equitable, diverse economic landscape—we need to see more women owning businesses and leading those amazing businesses.”
Announced in September, the Thrive ETA Fund includes $10 million for Canadian private equity funds that already support women-led acquisitions and $40 million for individual Canadian women who are ready to purchase a business, aiding them with capital for both search funds and acquisitions. There will also be an accelerator program that includes skills training, expert mentorship, and peer-to-peer connection.
It’s all part of a plan to keep Canadian SMEs locally owned. “One mandate that we have at BDC is to make sure that we can build a strong Canadian-owned ecosystem,” Labelle says. “Those businesses that are or will be for sale, if there are no Canadian buyers, they will be sold to external interests.”
And while the founder journey might be an enticing (albeit highly glamorized) one, Labelle points out that it’s less risky to buy an existing business than to build one from scratch. That’s why the Thrive ETA Fund is focusing on women who find successful, established companies that are already profitable, have an existing customer base, employ a strong team—and, of course, have growth potential.
“What we really wanted to do was to create a tool where we could support women in acquiring bigger businesses,” she explains. “But you know, those transactions are typically around $15, $20, $25 million, so those are a little bit too big for an individual woman to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to buy that with my personal money and a loan at the bank.’ You typically need investors to be able to do that. With our fund, we’ll be able to invest alongside those women in order to acquire those businesses.”
As for the specific types of businesses that the BDC has in mind, she points to “those companies that serve our community,” whether it’s elderly care services or parts manufacturers. “When you acquire an established business, it might be less sexy in some ways,” she admits. “We’re talking about traditional businesses: manufacturing, service-based businesses. But those businesses work, and they’re super important for our economy and serve customers with real needs.”
That’s exactly what Jessica Cullen found. She was accepted to Regenerative Capital Group’s CEO-in-Residence program, which, while not exclusive to women, is similar to the Thrive ETA Fund in providing aspiring entrepreneurs with not only acquisition capital but also guidance and community. (Too new for Thrive alumni, BDC suggested Cullen as someone who benefitted from the type of mentorship the fund will provide.)
Canadian women aged 15 and up earn an average of 89 cents for every dollar earned by men. This means it’s less likely a woman has her own funds to invest in a business.
Cullen was given the support to search for and acquire her own business. In the end, she found two: Smithers-based Raven RSM and Surrey-based Dynamic Rescue Systems, both of which provide safety and medical rescue training and gear. For her, it was crucial to find companies that not only presented growth opportunities but also met her interests and expertise.
“I searched the whole country over until I found the best possible team and the best possible match,” she says. “It’s so interesting to have someone who’s not a founder take over, because I think it’s so important that there is that match of passion and interest and skill set. I was lucky to find it in both of these companies.”
Cullen grew up immersed in entrepreneurship. Her dad owned two small hardware and lumber stores in Waterloo, Ontario, and watching him was an early education in customer service, operations, and leadership. It also planted in her the desire to run her own company one day, but getting there wasn’t so simple. After a stint as a professional triathlete, she worked her way up the corporate ladder—namely at Home Hardware Stores Limited, where she served as director of marketing and later as director of operations. “I certainly had an entrepreneurial spirit,” she says. “But I didn’t see a path for me to own my own company.”
A big hurdle for her was the gender imbalance in the industry. “If you don’t see yourself reflected,” she says, “then it doesn’t seem like a viable career path.”
Capital is, of course, also a big factor when it comes to women breaking into entrepreneurship. For one thing, women generally have less wealth: according to Statistics Canada, Canadian women aged 15 and up earn an average of 89 cents for every dollar earned by men. This means it’s less likely a woman has her own funds to invest in a business.
There are also other elements of sexism at play. “Another hurdle is bias in the space: even sellers being open to sell to young women, for example,” Labelle says. “And bias in the financial ecosystem as well, on the bank side.”
Labelle also points to impostor syndrome—especially when it comes to the actual purchasing transaction—as standing in the way of many women who might otherwise pursue entrepreneurship. “It’s okay not to have that kind of experience,” she says. “It’s why we’re there, also: to provide that kind of experience and to support women during those phases of the acquisition.”
For her part, Cullen acknowledges that she didn’t walk the “typical” CEO path of getting an MBA (her degree is in English literature and French). Instead, she brings persistence and dedication from her athletic career, the communication and relationship-building skills she developed at Home Hardware, and a swath of soft skills built over time from simply being a woman in the world.
“I am not your quintessential search-fund background,” she says. “I think that to continue to shape the future of business, you need to bring new perspectives.”
Read more from our Winter 2025 issue.
