A total of 110 companies led by women and with a turnover of more than five million dollars per year are found in the third edition of the magazine’s list Firsts in business unveiled on Wednesday. This year, it is the high number of emerging entrepreneurs that is attracting attention.
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This year, it is the high number of emerging entrepreneurs that stands out.
“The objective is to give models to those who are in entrepreneurship and to professionals”, explains to the Duty the editor-in-chief, Déborah Levy. There are few gendered statistics on female entrepreneurship, she adds. Hence the importance of the list, which is presented as a census rather than a ranking, and which is not exhaustive. It nevertheless allows “to measure the growing contribution of women to the Quebec economy,” believes Ms.me Levy.
Third Edition
At the top of this third edition of the list are 15 companies that post a turnover of more than 50 million dollars per year. Cook it, which specializes in ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat meals, is notably entering this category, as is the agency lg2. They are surrounded by Aliments Asta, Nationex, Trudeau, Germain Hôtels and Biron Groupe Santé, which notably performs screening tests for COVID-19.
“It’s an immense source of pride,” says Pénélope Fournier, partner and president of the Montreal branch of lg2. The 43-year-old woman is one of 53% of emerging entrepreneurs on the charts who have taken over the reins of an existing business.
Interestingly, several agency employees were able to buy the company a few years ago, and the transfer was completed in 2015.
“It was a very noble decision by our founders, to sell it to the employees. At that time, in our industry, the majority of companies were sold to foreign interests,” says Pénélope Fournier, who adds that a succession project has been created within the agency to maintain this model.
The leaders of lg2, who are also shareholders, have 61% women in their ranks. It makes a very tangible difference in terms of management, thinks Mme Fournier, with values such as empathy and benevolence which are valued.
“The emphasis is no longer really on profitability, but profitability is a consequence of benevolent management,” she underlines. “What is beautiful is the balance. Our male colleagues are just as important as us, and we share the same values. »
More challenges
Thirty-seven new companies joined the three categories of the list, which lists in this latest edition only companies with a turnover greater than or equal to five million dollars.
“While in previous years, companies with a turnover of more than a million dollars were welcomed into the prize list in the ‘Start-up’ category, the popularity of the initiative has led to a tightening of the criteria”, explains the magazine. The compilation and analysis of the data were carried out by the firm Léger.
Twenty companies have been added to the category of medium-sized companies, which have a turnover between 10 and 50 million dollars, and there are fourteen more in the category of “living forces”, small and medium-sized companies with a annual turnover between 5 and 10 million dollars.
According to data disclosed by Firsts in business, 39% of women leaders are between 45 and 54 years old. Sixteen regions of Quebec are represented in the census, proof that several companies are active outside Montreal. And, a sign that they are not all in traditionally more “feminine” fields, 14% of companies come from the manufacturing sector and 11% from the field of architecture, engineering and construction.
Déborah Levy still sees some challenges when it comes to entrepreneurship and women. “Women are not like men, and they need a lot of encouragement. We need more dialogue to understand that we are not alone,” she says.
Everyday pride
Being a woman who leads is “a lot of pride and daily challenge”, thinks for her part Pénélope Fournier.
“Every day of our lives, we have to juggle work-family balance. We have to be both caring and empathetic with the people we work with, but also with ourselves,” she says.
