Diversity Report

Incubator services geared towards radicalized entrepreneurs are severely lacking. Get the facts about the gaps and its impact

We spoke to 60 entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous, or LatinX to understand how being underrepresented has affected their business experiences. 89.5% of survey respondents felt they have faced business challenges that are directly related to their ethnicity.

We analyzed four of Ontario’s leading government-funded entrepreneurship incubators: Communitech (Kitchener), DMZ (Toronto), Invest Ottawa (Ottawa), and MaRS (Toronto). There was no representation of African/Caribbean Canadian, Latin Canadian or Indigenous communities at the board level, and very few at the executive level or in mentorship teams.

We also examined what diversity-focused programming was available within these four organizations. Existing programming addressed gender equality, but did not focus on other aspects of underrepresentation such as race.

While Incubators are rising to the challenge of gender Diversity:

  • Boards lack overall Diversity, particularly from the identified Underrepresented communities.
  • Diversity increases as decision making power decreases.
  • Lack of value is placed on the Diversity of mentors, particularly from the identified Underrepresented communities.

Key Findings

We’ve compiled key findings from the Current State of Diversity Within Ontario Incubators Report.

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Diversity Report

Innovate Inclusion conducted a scan of four leading Ontario government funded Incubators. We analyzed the ethnic diversity of advisory boards, executive teams, start-up teams and mentors. Additionally, we noted diversity focused programming available at each location.

The objective of this report on The Current State of Diversity Within Ontario Incubators was to make recommendations designed to support the challenges that underrepresented entrepreneurs* face while launching and growing their business with a focus on technology.

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