Women are a growing part of the Canadian economy and once again this year their importance is being showcased in the RBC Canadian woman entrepreneur awards.

The awards have been running since 1992, and to date have had over 4000 women nominated for awards.

To be eligible for an award the nominee must earn her primary income from the business and must be the one responsible for its daily operations.

“To be eligible for an RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award, a nominee must own a profitable business registered and operating in Canada for three full years as of May 31st, 2007,” said Lisa Constanzo, Event Coordinator for The Powerpoint Group. “At a minimum, this business must have three complete 12-month periods of financial statements.”

Six awards in total are presented to the nominees. A full description of each award can be viewed at http://www.theawards.ca. The awards are:

• The new Exporter Award
• The Deloitte Start-Up Award
• The Intel Innovation Award
• The RBC Momentum Award
• The Bell Trailblazer Award
• The Energy Savings Group of Companies Lifetime Achievement Award

”If someone you know qualifies [for any of the above awards], then a nomination form can be found here: http://www.powerpointgroup.com/documents/2007NominationForm_001.pdf,” said Constanzo. “The nominee will then receive an application package, which will need to be filled out by August 10, 2007.”

Each award recipient receives an 18 karat gold brooch.

“These awards provide national recognition to Canada’s women entrepreneurs whose successful businesses and achievements contribute to the Canadian and global economies as well as to their communities,” said Teresa Perri of RBC.

Some interesting facts about women entrepreneurs were found on the award’s website (http://www.theawards.ca):

• Canadian firms run by women, create new jobs at four times the rate of the national average, collectively providing more jobs than the Canadian Top 100 companies combined
• The number of women incorporated businesses more than doubled during the last decade
• There are 821,000 self employed women contributing $18 Billion dollars to the Canadian economy

“Women owned businesses have tripled in the last two decades and are growing at more than twice the rate of male-owned businesses. The winners and nominees are shining examples of Canadian individuals and companies that are innovative and competitive,” said Judi Levita, Media Relations Manager for RBC. “Furthermore, their relentless pursuit of unique business strategies creates value for their customers and our economy.”

The award recipients will be announced on Tuesday November 20, 2007 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

More information on the awards can be found at: www.theawards.ca.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to visit CanadaOne's article knowledge base for more informative articles.