entrepreneurial mindset in bc, canada - women's enterprise centre · 2019-06-26 · 5 about...

Entrepreneurial Mindset in BC, Canada RESEARCH SUMMARY

2

About the Authors

• Laurel Douglas, MBA, Dip. CED CEO, Women’s Enterprise Centre

• Dr. Lynn Sparling, CPA CMA Professor, Okanagan School of Business

3

The Plan TODAY’S PRESENTATION

1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research

4 Findings and Conclusions

5 Implications

4

1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research


5 Implications

5

About Women’s Enterprise Centre

• Non-profit, leading business resource for existing and aspiring BC women business owners

• Provide business loans and advice, skills training, mentoring and a supportive community

• Over $1.62B in economic activity from our loans since 1995

SUPPORTING WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS IN BC, CANADA

Cecilia Mkondiwa Senior Director, Program Delivery, WEC

6

Why This Research?

• Board End: Women entrepreneurs have access to role models, champions and mentors and have the mindset to realize their business potential.

• To this end, we needed to determine: • If women business owners (WBO) have an

entrepreneurial mindset • Whether Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile™ is a

relevant development tool for our clients

ACHIEVING OUR ENDS

Raghwa Gopal CEO, Accelerate Okanagan

WEC Board Member

7

1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research


5 Implications

8

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Collection of motives, skills and thought processes that

distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs

(Davis, Hall & Mayer)

Contributes to entrepreneurial

success

WHAT IS IT?

Section 2: Entrepreneurial Mindset and EMP

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Research by Davis, Hall & Mayer

• Wanted to determine variables that distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs

• Normative data includes 330 respondents: • 89% white • 38% female • Southeast US • 161 entrepreneurs


LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE AT ECKERD COLLEGE

Kerrilee Auger WEC Skills Development Officer, Kelowna

Certified EMP Practitioner

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Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile™ WHAT IS IT?

Tool used to gather EM data for comparison in this paper

Benchmarking tool to assess EM on 14 dimensions: 7 Traits Scales and 7 Skills Scales

Compares scores to averages of entrepreneurs and corporate managers


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EMP Scales: Traits & Skills

Traits • Personality characteristics • Less susceptible to intervention

Skills • Cognitive and behavioral skills • Can be learned and improved

with intervention

SKILLS CAN BE IMPROVED


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What Is Measured?

14 DISCRETE SCALES OF EMP

TRAITS • Independence • Preference for Limited Structure • Nonconformity • Risk Acceptance • Action Orientation • Passion • Need to Achieve

SKILLS • Future Focus • Idea Generation • Execution • Self-Confidence • Optimism • Persistence • Interpersonal Sensitivity

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1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research


5 Implications

14

Research Context

Eckerd College Data

US women entrepreneurs US corporates

BC Data

North/South Urban/Rural Growth/ Non-Growth

Southern BC corporates

HOW RELEVANT IS EMP TO OUR SETTING?

Section 3: Our Research

• We introduce economic, geographic and demographic factors to add context to EM profiles

• Compare the EM profiles of various sub-groups of women:

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Methodology

• Descriptive study April to July, 2017 • Respondents filled out demographic survey then

completed EMP assessment • Goal: 200 responses, 100 from

each of Northern BC and Southern BC • Limitations of volunteer sampling

MINDSET MANIA


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Northern vs Southern BC ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CONTEXT


Northern BC Southern BC

Profile Primarily rural Urban

Area (sq miles) 193,051 1,113

Population 316,000 2.55 million

Largest city Prince George 226 people/km2

Vancouver CMA 5,249 people/km2

Industry Resource extraction, forestry, mining

Professional services, health care, tourism

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1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research


5 Implications

18

Respondent Profile TOTAL 188 RESPONDENTS

Southern/ Northern (n=188)

55% Southern BC

45% Northern BC

Urban/ Rural

(n=188)

65% Urban

35% Rural

Entrepreneur/ Corporate

(n=185)

80.5% Entrepreneur

19.5% Corporate

SME/IDE (n=125)

82% SME

18% IDE

Section 4: Findings and Conclusions

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BC Women Entrepreneurs’ EMP

HOW DID THEY SCORE?

TRAITS • Independence 2.6 • Prefer Ltd Structure 3.1 • Nonconformity 3.7 • Risk Acceptance 3.9 • Action Orientation 3.8 • Passion 4.2 • Need to Achieve 4.2

SKILLS • Future Focus 3.3 • Idea Generation 4.0 • Execution 3.9 • Self-Confidence 3.7 • Optimism 4.1 • Persistence 4.3 • Interpersonal Sensitivity 3.9

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Research Objectives

1. Do BC Women Business Owners score higher on EM measures than US WBO?

2. Are there differences in entrepreneurial mindset between WBO in Northern BC and WBO in Southern BC?

3. Are the mindsets of urban WBO similar to those of rural WBO?

WE ASKED 6 QUESTIONS


Lisa Will Stonzwear Inc., Vancouver

WEC Loan Client

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Research Objectives (cont’d)

4. Do women running high-growth companies score higher on EM measures than women with low-growth businesses?

5. Does the EM profile of female entrepreneurs vary based on different factors such as number of employees, age, or years in business?

6. Do Southern BC female entrepreneurs score higher on EM measures EM than Southern BC corporates?

WE ASKED 6 QUESTIONS


Christina Willard-Stepan WillStep Coaching, Cumberland WEC Volunteer Mentor

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RO1 COMPARISON: BC WBO vs US WBO


Are BC WBO are more understated?

TRAIT BC Mean

US Mean

Independence 2.61 2.81

Limited Structure 3.07 3.50

Nonconformity 3.72 3.86

Risk Acceptance 3.92 4.06

Action Orientation 3.84 4.09

SKILL BC Mean

US Mean

Idea Generation 4.04 4.24

Execution 3.94 4.10

Self-Confidence 3.66 4.11

Optimism 4.10 4.38

Persistence 4.28 4.54

Interpersonal Sens. 3.89 3.66

Comment:

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BC Women Entrepreneurs’ EMP

1

2

3

4

5

Inde

pend

ence

Ltd.

Str

uctu

re

Non

conf

orm

ity

Risk

Acc

epta

nce

Actio

n O

rient

.

Pass

ion

Nee

d to

Ach

ieve

Futu

re F

ocus

Idea

Gen

erat

ion

Exec

utio

n

Self-

Conf

iden

ce

Opt

imism

Pers

isten

ce

Inte

rper

sona

lSe

ns.

HOW DID THEY SCORE?

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Is this the Northern pioneering spirit?

3.60

3.90

3.69

3.72

3.93

3.75

Self-confidence

Risk Acceptance

Noncomformity

Northern WBO

Southern WBO

Comment:

RO2 COMPARISON: Northern vs Southern BC WBO

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Does this show the resourcefulness needed to live off the beaten track?

3.76

3.95

3.97

4.12

4.07

3.77

3.52

3.72

3.73

3.86

3.78

3.47

Noncomformity

Risk Acceptance

Action Orientation

Idea Generation

Execution

Self-confidence

BC rural

BC urban

Comment:

RO3 COMPARISON: Urban vs Rural BC WBO

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SME/IDE DEFINITIONS

Source: MIT Entrepreneurship Center


Small-Medium Enterprise (SME)

Innovation Driven Enterprise (IDE)

Focus Local/regional markets Global markets

Product/service Not considered innovation Based on innovation that offers competitive advantage

Ownership structure

Sole proprietorships or partnerships

Many different investors and diverse structures

Examples Main street businesses, mom and pop shops

Technology start-ups and export businesses

% of respondents 81.6% 18.4%

RO4: Defining High-Growth vs Low-Growth BC WBO

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1. Future Focus (S) is the only difference between IDEs and SMEs

2. SMEs and IDEs are more alike than we assume, therefore:

All women entrepreneurs possess the mindset to have high-growth businesses!

RO4 COMPARISON: High-Growth vs Low-Growth BC WBO

They’re not so different after all. Comment:

Angela Nagy GreenStep Solutions, Kelowna WEC Loan Client

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Higher on: •Preference for Limited Structure (T)

May hire employees to carry out the more mundane tasks they would rather not complete themselves

•Risk Acceptance (T) More willing to take on responsibility for employees’ livelihood

Lower on: • Interpersonal Sensitivity (S)

May demonstrate that they are more task-oriented than people-oriented


RO5 COMPARISON: BC WBO Demographics They like to delegate. Comment:

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Higher on: •Traits of Independence, Nonconformity, Risk Acceptance and Passion • Skills of Future Focus, Idea Generation, Self-Confidence and Persistence

Lower on: • Skill of Interpersonal Sensitivity

RO6. COMPARISON: BC WBO vs BC Women Corporates

WBO outscore corporates on 8 dimensions. Key Finding:

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Observations: Traits

• Risk Acceptance varies significantly • Highest scores from WBO in higher-risk

locations/sectors

• Consistently high scores for all BC WBO on Passion (mean=4.22) and Need to Achieve (mean=4.22) • Motivated to become entrepreneurs

to make larger impact

PATTERNS HAVE EMERGED

Daiya Anderson Origin Wines, Kelowna

WEC Loan Client

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Observations: Skills

• Davis et al. suggest “self-efficacy” is combination of three Skills

• BC WBO rate high on 2 of 3 • Increasing Self-Confidence

could improve business outcomes

PATTERNS HAVE EMERGED

Self-Confidence

3.66

Optimism 4.11

Persistence 4.27

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Opportunities for Further Research

• Measure the effect of EM Skills training on business outcomes

• Gather EM profiles of: • WBO in BC tech sector • Indigenous entrepreneurs in BC • Males vs female entrepreneurs

EXPAND OUR UNDERSTANDING

Tiffany Bell Haida Gwaii Community Futures,

Masset WEC Volunteer Mentor

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1 About the

Project

2 Entrepreneurial

Mindset and EMP

3 Our Research


5 Implications

35

Create data subsets to reflect demographics Break out data by categories such as geography, urban/rural, business type (IDE vs SME)

1 Expand normative data Ensure adequate sample sizes from each category

2 Conduct follow-up research Long-term study may add insight whether experience or EM interventions help improve EM scores on the Skill scales

3

Implications for EMP Tool OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

Section 5: Implications

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Implications for Support Orgs

• Support organizations need to be flexible enough to help entrepreneurs who possess a variety of EM profiles

Offer flexibility in support services

• Should not be used to make sweeping generalizations about the mindset of women entrepreneurs it is an individual development tool

Understand the EMP tool’s limitations

• SMEs and IDEs do not have significantly different EM profiles, which means there is no unique profile of an IDE that differentiates them from SME

Use mindset as a uniting factor for SMEs and IDEs

HOW WE CAN IMPROVE OUR SERVICES


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Strategies to Improve BC WBO Mindsets

• Interventions have the potential to generate economic growth •This is the only significantly different factor between SMEs and IDEs,

and this is a Skill that can be taught

Develop the Skill of Future Focus to achieve

economic growth

• Self-Confidence can affect women entrepreneurs’ ability to access financing, enter non-traditional fields with larger growth opportunities, or access new markets

Improve the Skill of Self-Confidence

•More information/training can make risks seem more manageable to WBO so they can develop this Trait and take calculated risks

Foster the Trait of Risk Acceptance to encourage

business growth

WE CAN HELP THEM


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Laurel Douglas CEO, Women’s Enterprise Centre [email protected] 250.868.3454 ext. 108 womensenterprise.ca

QUESTIONS?

@businesswomenbc

Thank You

entrepreneurial mindset in bc, canada - women's enterprise centre · 2019-06-26 · 5 about...

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