WEALTH generation is a crucially important topic for racialized people in business. As a first-generation wealth creator, I’ve learned a great deal about how power and privilege work and the challenges facing racialized groups.
I’m personally full of hope for the wealth and prosperity we can build as a collective, collaborative and connected community. There is mutual benefit to be reaped by giving diverse groups access to tools, networks and support systems to help their businesses grow. After all, what’s good for the social fabric of our community here in Manitoba is also good for business.
When I first moved to Winnipeg, my language barrier and lack of a psychological safety net led to deeply rooted insecurities. Coming to this country as a teen without my parents to guide me, I was left to fend for myself without the comforts of community support.
I grinded hard to keep up with my white peers, only to lose myself in my work. The lack of those supports and my obsession with work took a considerable toll on my mental health, which required years of therapy to rebuild.
Looking back, I know what I went through resulted from the overt and covert discrimination and racism I faced as a newcomer in Canada. Nearly one in every four Canadians identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of colour. This diverse representation is seen when we walk down the street, enter our workplaces or gather for special events like this one.
While we know this much is true, what may be less apparent is the significant income gap between racialized and non-racialized people.
Here are two quick facts.
- First, men of colour make only 78 cents for every dollar a white man brings home.
- Second, this gap widens dramatically when it comes to women of colour, with only 59 cents paid per dollar compared to their white male counterparts. We also witness this disparity when it comes to wealth generation.
According to a recent RBC report:
- Household wealth and personal savings are essential to investing in business development, especially in the startup phase.
- Racialized business owners are more likely to spearhead innovation, which gives Canada a huge competitive advantage in the global marketplace.
Unfortunately, racialized people are less likely to own homes or financial investments – which also means fewer businesses; in fact, only 13per cent of private business owners are people of colour.
In a world where this ratio is representative of our population, we would see 100,000 new businesses on the map and more upward mobility across the board.
What we know today, which has been true for generations, is that racialized people aren’t making as much as our non.racialized peers -not even close. When there’s no opportunity to get the ball rolling, racialized communities risk falling further and further behind. Here are some takeaways on how you can become champions of co-creating first generation wealth:
- Collaborate with government partners, non.profit organizations and like-minded businesses to develop funding initiatives that can help racialized business owners set-up and expand their businesses.
- Actively seek out diverse groups who can add fresh perspectives to the way you do business. Working with these enterprising leaders will allow you to reach untapped markets while providing new economic opportunities for these communities.
- Be intentional in your allyship by empowering racialized team members with more opportunities to lead and grow within your organizations. Hold yourself accountable to those commitments.
- Provide financial literacy resources to help racialized employees understand how they can put their savings to work and properly invest in assets that will help build intergenerational wealth for their futures.
- Be bold, be ferocious.
Together, let’s change the paradigm by establishing equitable, generational wealth for ourselves, for others and for the next generations of business leaders.
