Toronto and Vancouver are two of top cities in the world for women entrepreneurs: Dell research

When impediments to female entrepreneurship are removed, there is a dramatic uplift in a city’s economic prospects, according to Dell in its 2017 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index, which was completed in partnership with IHS Markit.

Revealed at the tech giant’s eighth annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network Summit, the report ranks cities on how well they foster high potential women entrepreneurs, based on five pillars: capital, technology, talent, culture, and markets.

While New York City, the San Francisco Bay area, London, Boston, and Stockholm are the top-five cities for women in business, Toronto is the first Canadian city on the list, placing ninth. Vancouver also made an appearance, coming in at number 26.

Toronto ranks third in culture, a critical enabler for women’s participation in commerce and measured the prevalence of relevant mentors, networks, and role models, as well as the predominant attitudes and expectations of a particular society toward women entrepreneurs. Additionally, the city ranks fifth in markets, or whether the city’s market is sufficiently sized so that scale can be achieved and to what extent local policies level the playing field for women-owned businesses, as well as seventh in the amount, value, and frequency of capital available to women entrepreneurs.

More detailed information about Vancouver was unavailable.

Interestingly, of the top 10 cities overall, only the Bay Area and New York rank in the top 10 across all five pillars.

“Globally, women’s entrepreneurship rates are growing more than 10 per cent each year. In fact, women are as likely or more likely than men to start businesses in many markets. However, financial, cultural and political barriers can limit the success of these businesses,” Karen Quintos, EVP and chief customer officer at Dell, says in the report. “By arming city leaders and policymakers with data-driven research and clear calls to action, we can collectively improve the landscape for high-potential women entrepreneurs, which in turn dramatically lifts a city’s economic prospects – as what is good for women is good for the economy.”

Elizabeth Gore, entrepreneur-in- residence at Dell, adds that it is in the world’s best interest that women entrepreneurs everywhere thrive.

“The WE Cities Index can be used as a diagnostic tool to help ensure that lawmakers are enabling women entrepreneurs to succeed,” she continues. “Each of the cities on this list can learn from one another and encourage political change to attract and support women entrepreneurs. The resulting change will be felt at not just a city level, around the world as we develop an ecosystem where all entrepreneurs can thrive regardless of gender.”

In the Index, Dell notes that this research is not about “showing how these 50 cities stack up against each other, but more importantly, about arming city leaders and policymakers with the insights needed to improve conditions for women entrepreneurs and subsequently for the health and well-being of their local economies.”

Currently men-owned businesses are more than three times more likely to break the USD1 million mark. The untapped potential of women in business globally is “equal to the economic output of China and India,” a phenomenon known as “the third billion,” the report quotes Booz and Co., a global strategy consulting firm.

“With more resources and attention, the world could see many more women-led businesses breaking the USD1 million barrier, thereby creating more economic prosperity and jobs,” Dell concludes.

The full list is below:

1. New York City
2. Bay Area
3. London
4. Boston
5. Stockholm
6. Los Angeles
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Singapore
9. Toronto
10. Seattle
11. Sydney
12. Paris
13. Chicago
14. Minneapolis
15. Austin
16. Hong Kong
17. Melbourne
18. Atlanta
19. Amsterdam
20. Portland (OR)
21. Berlin
22. Taipei
23. Pittsburg
24. Tel Aviv
25. Copenhagen
26. Vancouver
27. Houston
28. Johannesburg
29. Barcelona
30. Seoul
31. Munich
32. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
33. Nairobi
34. Dublin
35. Warsaw
36. Belfast
37. Milan
38. Beijing
39. Tokyo
40. Bangalore
41. Kuala Lumpur
42. Sao Paulo
43. Dubai
44. Shanghai
45. Mexico City
46. Lima
47. Guadalajara
48. Istanbul
49. Delhi
50. Jakarta