When Lola Adeyemi started a company making chickpea stews and roasted carrot soups like the ones she grew up eating in Africa, she was expecting an uphill battle.

The food industry has notoriously low margins and fighting for grocery store space alongside longtime household brands can be difficult B次元官网网址� and thatB次元官网网址檚 before one factors in AdeyemiB次元官网网址檚 race.

The Toronto woman, who was raised in Nigeria, dipped into savings, landed loans and grants and turned to her husbandB次元官网网址檚 small consulting business to start ItB次元官网网址檚 Souper.

Her products can be found on shelves at Sobeys, McEwan and Foodland Ontario, but Adeyemi wishes it was easier for entrepreneurs like her to find support.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 want to be a unicorn. I donB次元官网网址檛 want to be the only Black female and immigrant entrepreneur here,B次元官网网址� said Adeyemi, as she drove around dropping off samples to potential customers.

B次元官网网址淚 want others to be here too.B次元官网网址�

Her experience is common for Black entrepreneurs in Canada. They often find themselves underfunded and unsupported by venture capitalists, who pour money into companies run by people in their existing networks, which are predominantly white and male.

Quantifying how much less funding Black business owners are receiving is tough because such metrics are seldom tracked in Canada, but entrepreneurs and investors estimate it to be on par with B次元官网网址� or even worse than B次元官网网址� the U.S.

Less than one per cent of the US$543 billion in venture capital offered in the U.S. between 2015 and 2019 was given to Black and African American founders, according to business information platform Crunchbase. ThatB次元官网网址檚 just US$4.9 billion.

Meanwhile, only two of 300 grants the Canadian government offered women-owned businesses went to Black-run companies in 2018, said Amoye Henry, the co-founder of Pitch Better Canada, which helps under-represented communities access capital.

Pitch Better has so far offered pitching advice to 306 Canadian companies and helped 50 find funding.

B次元官网网址淧eople want to give money to and invest in people and things theyB次元官网网址檙e very comfortable with, that look like them and that they can trust will get their money back,B次元官网网址� she said.

Black business owners without university or Ivy League educations lack connections with wealthy alumni networks that offer ties to Bay Street or Silicon Valley.

The few that secure some funding are often resistant to taking it because they canB次元官网网址檛 rely on family, friends or banks if they run into trouble, she added.

B次元官网网址淭hey just feel like they wonB次元官网网址檛 be able to pay the debt back B次元官网网址� white people will just take on the debt and try anyways,B次元官网网址� Henry said.

She and Pitch Better Canada co-founder Adeela Carter have had to plead with Black founders to take sums as low as $150,000.

B次元官网网址淚 remember saying I will help you find the money (if it comes to that), just take the money,B次元官网网址� said Henry, of one situation.

B次元官网网址�(The founder) was just like B次元官网网址業 donB次元官网网址檛 want to ruin the opportunity for future black founders, if I take it and I canB次元官网网址檛 pay it back.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Isaac Olowolafe Jr. has worked with early-stage financing since 2015, when he noticed a dearth of Black founders in Canada and started Dream Maker Ventures, an investment arm for his real estate-focused asset management firm.

By 2019, he was also running the Black Innovation Fellowship, a Ryerson University-backed initiative to support Black-led startups.

However, heB次元官网网址檚 an anomaly. A 2019 study from the Canadian Venture Capital Association showed that only eight partners at the 145 private equity firms surveyed were B次元官网网址渧isible minorities.B次元官网网址�

Black people made up 3.5 per cent of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 population in 2016, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada. Visible minorities made up 15.6 per cent of the population that year.

Of the 132 partners at surveyed venture capital firms, the association found only 24 partners or 18 per cent were visible minorities.

The survey did not specify how many of those partners were Black, but Henry and Olowolafe Jr. said there are few in Canada and thatB次元官网网址檚 part of the problem.

Many of the Black entrepreneurs behind funds keep a low profile, said Henry, because they only have so much money to disperse and they worry that advertising their willingness to invest in the community will make them a magnet for too many pitches they canB次元官网网址檛 support.

But even getting to that point is tough, Olowolafe Jr. pointed out.

Olowolafe Jr. believes raising venture capital for Black entrepreneurs relies on relationships because investors will write cheques for people they know and trust.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not about recreating the wheel, but basically doubling down on what works for other communities and bringing it back to the Black community,B次元官网网址� he said.

Addressing unconscious bias is also part of the solution, said Ariel Gough, the co-founder of Nova Scotia-based fragrance company Bailly.

B次元官网网址淓verybody has unconscious bias based on their experience, how they grew up and who they were around, but itB次元官网网址檚 important we recognize that we may not be judging entrepreneurs solely on their ideas or their objectives or their potential,B次元官网网址� she said.

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Venture capitalists, she said, want to see traction, but getting there takes money most Black founders donB次元官网网址檛 have.

B次元官网网址淚t can be very discouraging coming out of those meetings,B次元官网网址� Gough said. B次元官网网址淵ou often feel like all the hard work you have put into your business has not got you anywhere.B次元官网网址�

Adeyemi noticed funding opportunities have slowly cropped up for Black entrepreneurs after the death of George Floyd in police custody last year.

As companies pledged to help Black communities more, she found a $75,000 grant, but sheB次元官网网址檚 always conscious that the momentum incidents like FloydB次元官网网址檚 death created can easily dissipate.

That would be a shame, she said, because the benefits of investing in Black entrepreneurs are widespread.

B次元官网网址淲hen you empower people that are marginalized or even just a black community, youB次元官网网址檙e empowering the whole country.B次元官网网址�

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

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