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Canada’s Trade Ambitions Need More Than Trade Deals Barriers to women’s access to finance can weaken markets for Canadian exports. A model pioneered in Niger shows how they can be overcome.
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s trade disputes reshape Canada’s relationship with the United States, the government is seeking new markets for Canadian exports. Trade agreements can open doors. But what they deliver depends on the markets that lie beyond. Around the world, women face barriers to saving, borrowing, and investing, including discriminatory lending and restrictions on property ownership, undermining the strength and stability of economies. The World Bank estimates that if women entrepreneurs had equal access to finance, their businesses could add US$5 to $6 trillion to global GDP.1 In Niger, women devised a solution: pooling their savings and taking turns using the pot to invest in farming and other ways to earn income. In 1991, the development organization CARE worked with them to evolve that practice into the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) model. Members could borrow from the fund and repay with interest, allowing it to grow. Thirty-five years later, nearly 30 million people across 67 countries have joined VSLAs. Last year alone, members saved an estimated US$1.8 billion.
The gains begin w it h members: capital PH RE to invest, money for O TO CA ZO/ CR ED I T: A . M A R R A Z school, funds for emergencies. Multiply those gains across millions of people, and they ripple outward: businesses grow, jobs are created, and spending increases. In Vietnam, Hoang Thi Duong struggled to make ends meet processing cinnamon. After joining a VSLA, she formed a cooperative that now employs over 170 people seasonally. “For the first time,” says Duong, “I see women in my village earning steady income [and] planning for the future.” Canada’s trade ambitions depend on the strength of foreign markets. VSLAs show how locally led approaches that expand women’s access to finance can build that strength from within. References: 1. World Bank, 2024
Read the full story at CARE.ca
The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), reflects on women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, economic opportunity, and creating pathways for future generations. Why is women’s leadership important to Canada’s future? When women succeed, the benefits extend beyond the individual. We create jobs, strengthen communities, drive innovation, and expand Canada’s economic potential. Women-owned businesses are central to building a stronger Canada.
How is the government helping women entrepreneurs? Through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, we have supported more than 600,000 women across Canada, including through loans of up to $50,000, mentorship, training, networks, and access to new markets. Support reaches women in rural, remote and northern communities.
What is your message to the next generation? Be ambitious, stay curious, and keep learning. You do not need your entire future mapped out. Learn from setbacks, never underestimate what you are capable of, and when you can open a door for women and girls, do it.
Read the full interview on innovatingcanada.ca.
This article was sponsored by CARE Canada.
Publisher: Anna Alymova Business Account Manager: Maya Mezerhane Content & Client Success Manager: Nicole Kansakar Country Manager: Samantha Taylor Creative Director: Kylie Armishaw Digital Traffic Manager: Vansh Chandwaney All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve Maclean’s Magazine or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.
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How Canadian Tech Is Turning Complexity Into Clarity Canchek and Onyen show how Canadian technology can solve difficult business problems without adding more complexity.
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or more than two decades, Laurie Clark has built and commercialized technology around a simple idea: start with the problem. “The tools have changed enormously, but the objective hasn’t,” she says. “Solve a real problem and make life easier for the person using it.” Today, Clark is principal and co-founder of Canchek Corporation and CEO of Onyen Corporation, two Canadian technology companies working in different areas but built around the same philosophy. Canchek helps organizations understand who they are doing business with through anti-money-laundering and compliance technology, including identity verification, sanctions screening and adverse-media intelligence. Onyen addresses a different challenge: helping organizations understand, manage, and report risk. Its technology brings together infor-
mation that is often scattered across spreadsheets, departments, and systems so it can be collected, validated and reported more consistently.
Start with the problem Clark believes this practical approach is an opportunity for Canadian technology companies globally. “Canada produces excellent technology,” she says. “I think we need to be much more confident about taking it to the world.” That same thinking shapes her view of artificial intelligence. AI may be powerful, she says, but it should never be the starting point. “Putting AI into something doesn’t automatically make it useful. Start with the problem. Then determine how technology, including AI, can solve it better.” For Clark, the measure of good technology is ultimately simple: does
Laurie Clark, principal and co-founder of Canchek Corporation & CEO of Onyen Corporation
it make difficult work easier and help people make better decisions? “I’m not interested in making technology look impressive,” she says. “I’m interested in making difficult things easier.”
To learn more, visit canchek.com/contact or onyen.com/demo. This article was sponsored by Canchek & Onyen.
Written by Abigail Cukier
Walking the Talk — How the United Nations Association in Canada Leads from Within The United Nations Association in Canada inspiring change by encouraging female participation and growth within their organization.
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he United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) connects Canadians to the United Nations; convening people, communities, and partners to help shape global goals with local action. For UNA-Canada, representing the interests of women and girls must be central to this work, both within the organization and externally in the programming run across Canada and internationally. Looking within, women make up over 75 per cent of the management and senior leadership team, playing a pivotal role in the organization. Erica Mongiat as CFO and Head of Programmes, Kali Petropoulos as Director of Philanthropy, and Joan Broughton, who has worn many hats having been involved in the organization for 50 plus year and continues to play a crucial role in facilitating intergenerational
knowledge exchange. UNA-Canada supports the advancement of women from within, with three of their current managers having started out as programme participants. When looking externally, UNACanada’s programming ensures there is focus on women and girls. The Science and Technology Employment Programme provides quality green employment opportunities for youth in natural resources. In 2025, 59 per cent of placements were women and for 2026, it’s sitting at 53 per cent and growing. Through UNA-Canada’s SDG Council, a youth-led body designed to advance Canada’s implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, a young woman has developed an eight-week fellowship for her peers to receive diplomacy and policy training.
Equity and leadership for women and girls have to be a focus every day, not an annual commitment. We will keep driving systemic change, because it is the only kind that lasts. For UNA-Canada, systemic change is a constant practice. As President and CEO Aki Temisevä puts it, “Equity and leadership for women and girls have to be a focus every day, not an annual commitment. We will keep driving systemic change, because it is the only kind that lasts.” Written by Sonya Friesen
To Help the UNACanada continue to support women and girls, donate today:
This article was sponsored by United Nations Association in Canada.